Hedy Fry turned 65 the other day. But the indefatigable, long-shot candidate to lead the federal Liberal Party into the next election barely noticed.
She was too busy doing what she does best: Causing a stir.
Ms. Fry's milestone birthday happened to fall on the same day as Vancouver's outrageous, outlandishly popular Gay Pride Parade, and there she was, front and centre.
Decked out in deep purple as a "gay" nineties dance-hall girl, complete with high-heeled boots and long black gloves, Ms. Fry drew waves of applause.
Her prize-winning float was crowded with gyrating, bare-chested cowboys. In the centre was a throbbing mechanical bull with plenty of riders.
Afterward, she spent three hours seated in a small booth chatting in her trademark, effusive manner to all who happened by.
So much for a sedate passage to the ranks of senior citizen, eligible for official retirement.
"It's just another birthday to me," she said the next day, during a rare break at her Westside heritage home, blue jeans and a white shirt replacing her purple Pride togs. "Age is a state of mind. It has to do with how much energy you have, how much stamina. I do the parade every year."
Ms. Fry seems taken aback when it is pointed out that she is the oldest of the 10 candidates seeking to replace Paul Martin.
"Am I? " she responds. "Well, maybe marginally by a year or two. I think some candidates are 61 or 62. Bob Rae? Isn't he in his 60s? "
(Mr. Rae is 58. After Ms. Fry, the oldest leadership aspirants are Michael Ignatieff and Ken Dryden, both 59.)
Dynamic thinking has nothing to do with age, she insists. "There are many politicians much younger than I am who are a lot older in their thinking."
There is a larger-than-life quality to Ms. Fry that leaves few indifferent. In addition to her vitality and progressive views, she is prone to intemperate remarks, has a solid opinion of herself and rarely sees a microphone she doesn't like.
When she campaigns, she is as liable to get the finger ("I blow them back a kiss") as a hug. But she is as close to a political institution as there is in this city by the sea, winning her diverse Vancouver Centre riding in five successive elections.
Along the way, she knocked off a sitting prime minister, Kim Campbell, and rolled over Svend Robinson of the NDP, who tasted defeat for the first time in 25 years.
"You underestimate Hedy Fry at your peril," a rueful Mr. Robinson says today. "She is a very formidable foe."
Ms. Fry, a family doctor for more than 20 years and former president of the B.C. Medical Association, is now out on the national hustings.
With few funds, not one endorsement from a Liberal MP, and her reputation as a bit of a loose cannon, the only Westerner in the race is given little chance of winning. "It's the ultimate kamikaze mission," said Mr. Robinson.
Is Ms. Fry deterred? Not a whit. She believes she has something to say and enthuses that her grassroots campaign to revive the Liberal Party with bold new thinking is doing even better than she hoped.
After a summer of leadership debates, backyard confabs and small membership gatherings, Ms. Fry said ordinary Liberals are beginning to tune in. "They are interested. They're excited. They like the vision that I am articulating."
That vision, which Ms. Fry puts forward non-stop with scarcely a pause for breath, is centred on doing government differently.
Grand 15-year plans, with goals evaluated every three years, are needed to tackle three major challenges: productivity and competitiveness, environmental degradation and sustainable health care.
Her multitude of proposals include setting up job-targeted education grants, developing the North, harnessing tidal power and restricting foreign ownership of Canadian resources.
