Michel Gratton, was served as press secretary to Brian Mulroney, is shon in a 1986 file photo.The Canadian Press
Michel Gratton, a former journalist and press secretary to Brian Mulroney, wouldn't be remembered by many who work in the parliamentary press gallery these days.
But back in the 1980s, when life was fast and full on Parliament Hill, Mr. Gratton was known as a gifted communicator and writer who embraced that fast life. He died last week at the age of 58.
During the early Mulroney years, Mr. Gratton was a communications king. As the former Conservative prime minister's press secretary in those heady first few years in office, he was the go-to guy. To Mr. Mulroney, he was loyal, aggressive and tough.
Graham Fraser, a former Globe journalist on the Hill and now the Commissioner of Official Languages, knew Mr. Gratton as a reporter, press secretary and later as a community activist. On Monday, he recalled legendary Toronto Star reporter Val Sears's description of Mr. Gratton as a man who "looked as if he had been raised by wolves."
Mr. Fraser added: "He lived hard, and it showed."
So true. Mr. Gratton often looked unkempt and dishevelled - all long hair, scruffy beard and ill-fitting clothes. His appearance, however, belied a keen political nose and an intelligence of people and policy.
"Michel was shrewd, candid, insightful and energetic," Mr. Fraser said.
L. Ian MacDonald, Mr. Mulroney's speechwriter, had also worked with Mr. Gratton. He said that as a journalist he didn't know of anyone, "with the exception of Chantal Hébert [a Toronto Star columnist] with his facility to write and work in both languages."
Mr. MacDonald recalled Mr. Mulroney saying at one time that Mr. Gratton - who had yet begun to work for him - had the "Liberal caucus wired for sound."
Mr. Gratton knew what was going on. He later wrote a book, So, What Are the Boys Saying?, about his time with Mr. Mulroney. The title was inspired by the question Mr. Mulroney would ask Mr. Gratton at the end of every day about what the journalists were saying about his government.
Robert Fife, CTV's Parliament Hill bureau chief, worked as a print journalist with Mr. Gratton. "Michel was a gifted writer, a columnist of the working class and a musical talent. He was passionate about life and he had a wonderful sense of humour," Mr. Fife said.
But more than his Parliament Hill adventures, Mr. Gratton is recognized by so many in Ottawa for his fierce passion for francophone rights and issues, particularly in Ontario.
Last week, the Franco-Ontarian flags in Ottawa were at half-staff. They will remain so until after Mr. Gratton's funeral, which is scheduled Friday.
"We've lost a monument," said Claudette Boyer, the director general of l'Association canadienne-francaise de l'Ontario. "He was a big, big defender of the francophone affairs."
In the 1990s, Mr. Gratton helped fight to save the francophone hospital in Ottawa, a feat for which he won great acclaim.
"For all his success as a journalist, both in French and in English, I suspect the achievement he was proudest of was the survival of the Montfort Hospital," Mr. Fraser said. "Working behind the scenes, he threw himself into the campaign, body and soul, and, against all odds, succeeded."
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson remembers working with Mr. Gratton during the Mulroney years, when Mr. Watson was on the Hill as a young press secretary for the House of Commons Speaker.
"Michel was a true Franco-Ontarian," Mr. Watson told The Globe. "And without his passion and communications skills, the Montfort Hospital could easily have been shut down."