PHOTO: File photo of Ward 6 Councillor, former MP, and loyal Chretienite Carolyn Parrish.
Started reading Jean Chretien's memoirs, My Years as Prime Minister, last night.
Carolyn Parrish appears to be the only Mississauga parliamentarian from Chretien's time who's mentioned in the book. She's in there twice.
First, on page 315:
"The same people who accused me of muzzling my ministers and MPs now jumped on me for not severely punishing Herb Dhaliwal and Carolyn Parrish for a couple of imprudent comments they had made in the media."
Second, on page 376:
"One day in 2000, I remember, a group of Italian-Canadian Liberal MPs had come to me to complain about their colleague Carolyn Parrish. They wanted me to scold her for referring to them collectively as "the pasta caucus," which they considered a derogatory slight."
I called Parrish and asked her what she thought of the book, which she's in the middle of reading.
She said she's a little disappointed Chretien left out the colourful anecdotes she enjoyed hearing in caucus meetings, and thinks his personality doesn't shine through as brightly as it could.
As for the sections about her, Parrish said, "He was never angry with me over all that stuff." She paints a portrait of her and Chretien as kindred spirits who understood each other and who both often spoke off the cuff.
Re: her comment about the Italian MPs, she said, "They had labelled themselves 'the pasta caucus'; it was silly."
Some of the members of that caucus are not in the book, and Parrish thinks there was a good reason for their exclusion.
"He wasn't going to give them the dignity of mentioning them in his book," said Parrish. "I think it shows a lot of restraint."
Talking about Chretien's own verbal slip-ups - "for me, pepper, I put it on my plate" - Parrish said, "He was one of those spontaneous guys with not the best sense of humour. He'd say things sometimes and we'd just groan."
Now we wait for Paul Martin's memoirs, if he's bothering to write them, to see if he mentions Parrish. She doesn't think he will. Those MPs Chretien left out of My Years as Prime Minister are probably more likely to make an appearance.