Toking Tory

So, the provincial Liberals have their shovels out again and they’ve unearthed a 30 year old university newspaper article Conservative leader John Tory wrote when he was 21. In it, Tory admits to having smoked pot and to driving while high. All I can say is, it’s about frickin’ time.

Did anybody actually believe Bill Clinton all those years ago when he said he smoked but he didn’t inhale? Oh, that’s right, the so-called religious right did and that’s exactly who he was trying to appease with that little nose-stretcher. God only knows why – literally – when every couple of years without fail one of their leaders has his double life exposed and he’s either a hooker hirer or an intern chaser or a closeted homosexual; the very things they rail on about as sinful and sure routes to hell.

John Tory smoked some pot. He didn’t like it. He drove while stoned and even all those years ago, compared it to the stupidity of driving drunk. You know what? So did I and I didn’t like it either. I also made a left hand turn from the centre lane of a highway – the highway I was turning onto – and I’m grateful that my deadened depth perception returned and I lived to tell the tale. And now I have even more respect for Tory and for anybody who has the stones to live authentically and admit to their past and to changing their mind.

An interviewer talking to Tory this morning wanted so desperately to entice some fear out of the man. He was radiant in the hope that this would be a career ender and that Tory would be humiliated by the revelation. What he got was a sensible human being who is telling the truth: he’s very different now at 52 than he was at 21. That’s when you’re finding out who you want to be and if you’re going to amount to anything, you make some mistakes along the way.

I hope that the people who feel a politician shouldn’t be able to change their mind or make a mistake are dying off or moving away or waking up. I don’t know where I stand on voting for Tory next time around but what happened today makes me respect him even more. Sometimes people change their minds because they get more information. Sometimes they make a mistake and never repeat it. Sometimes they’re just like you and me.