REGINA – This week marks an important milestone in the distinguished career of Ralph Goodale.
Goodale is one of four individuals receiving an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree this week from the University of Regina, their highest honour, alongside Sol and Elsie Samuelson and Bob Steadman. Goodale receives his Honorary degree Tuesday during the second day of the three-day convocation ceremonies.
For Goodale, he receives the honour from the same institution where he got his first degree back in 1971, although it was still part of the University of Saskatchewan back then.
“It became the University of Regina in 1974, so I guess I have the distinction of predating the University for longevity,” Goodale said in speaking to SaskToday.
“But it is a great privilege to receive an honorary degree, and especially from the university where you really started your post-secondary education, this is the place that began to open doors and prepare your studies and your way of thinking and working on issues, getting you ready for real life to follow, so it's a great honour to have this recognition, and I'm very grateful.”
When he studied in Regina, Goodale said he “began in the Arts program, political science and economics were the two — political science was my major and economics was the minor in the degree.”
As it turned out, both subjects came in handy in a career that spanned decades in Saskatchewan and Canadian politics.
“I had no idea that I would be actively engaged in a political career for 40 or 50 years and then go on to work in the diplomatic world,” said Goodale. “I was obviously interested in those things and anxious to study them and learn about them, but I thought more as an observer than a participant.
“But one thing led to another. I got to know a number of people in the political process, both federally and provincially, and got involved in some activities, going to meetings, going to conventions, volunteering during election campaigns, participating in the process in various ways…. and before I knew it I was a political candidate myself, and I guess to the surprise of a lot of people, including myself, I won that first election. So that led to full-time engagement for the next 35 or 40 years.”
It was long after Goodale got that first degree that he ended up first working in politics.
“My B.A. was in 1971, and my law degree came the next year, 1972,” Goodale said.
“I articled for one year and then joined the political staff of Otto Lang, who had been the dean of law at the University of Saskatchewan. But he had by that time been elected as a member of Parliament from the Saskatoon area, and he was in the federal cabinet as minister of justice and minister of transport. And I joined his staff, and while I was there, an election came along in 1974, and he strongly suggested I should run in that election.”
“And I thought this was just going to be a learning experience,” Goodale said. Instead, he ended up becoming the member of Parliament for Assiniboia for the next five years.
It was the start of a long career in elected office that would eventually include stints in the federal cabinet as Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Finance, and later Minister of Public Safety, among others.
But it was not always smooth sailing for Goodale at either the federal or provincial level. Both he and the Liberal Party experienced years in the political wilderness in Saskatchewan.
“Political life is like that. You have to be prepared for the ups and downs,” said Goodale.
“And I guess I learned that through very direct experience. But we won the first election, but not the next two or three. And I switched my attention to the provincial side of the equation and worked as the leader of the Liberal Party provincially for seven or eight years, was elected to the provincial legislature in 1986, and then returned to the federal scene in 1993, and was then the member of Parliament for Regina Wascana from 1993 until 2019, which I believe is the longest record for a member of Parliament from Regina.”
Not long after his defeat in the 2019 federal election, in 2021 Goodale was appointed to serve as Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom for almost five years.
He said he had a “very interesting time” being in charge of the Canadian embassy there and representing Canada in the United Kingdom.
It came at “a time when there was a good deal of turbulence in global affairs and certainly in domestic British politics,” Goodale said.
“The period encompassed Brexit and COVID at the beginning. The war in Ukraine, Putin's attack on Ukraine, began during that period of time. The royal family went through a whole variety of changes.
“The Queen, Queen Elizabeth II, had her Platinum Jubilee. And then later that year in 2022, she passed away. There was a magnificent state funeral in which Canada was very extensively represented and participating. The accession to the throne then by King Charles (III), who was working on a whole variety of reconciliation efforts with Canadian Indigenous people. The war in the Middle East, in Gaza, broke out shortly thereafter, followed by a whole bunch of elections around the world, including one in the UK and one in the United States.”
He noted the British government went through four different prime ministers during his time there. “They're now working on number five,” said Goodale.
“And the United States, of course, elected or re-elected Donald Trump. And there has been the whole turbulence flowing from Mr. Trump's activities around the world. So it was a very busy period. And all those things had implications that affected the Canadian High Commission in the UK.”
Goodale expressed appreciation to the University of Regina for the education he got there, to prepare him for all the challenges in his career.
“I am enormously thankful to the University of Regina for the recognition of this degree, yes, but more importantly, for the education that was provided to me as I was beginning my career in law and business and politics and diplomacy,” Goodale said.
“The tools that I got back then from the University of Regina provided a good, solid foundation, and I am very appreciative of that. And as we go forward into the future, dealing with all of these problems around the world of national security and war and peace and the impact of technology and the turbulence of politics and the economy, as we're dealing with all of that, compounded by fake news, disinformation, foreign interference, and all of the extremisms that we have to contend with – what we need, the best defense, the best way to succeed in a world like that is to have a well-educated population. So institutions like the University of Regina are more important than they have ever been.”
When he receives his Honorary Degree from the University of Regina Thursday, Goodale said he will give a “very short” speech to those convocating. The university had advised all of the honorary degree recipients they get to take the floor for about four or five minutes. “So they want to make sure your remarks are short and sharp and to the point, and that's good advice.”
As for what advice he might have for the graduates of today who are entering the workforce and building their lives with this new degree, Goodale had this to say:
“Well, no doubt the world is a lot more complicated today than it was when I graduated back in 1971. The challenges are larger and everything moves faster, and it can be a pretty daunting outlook for young people coming out of university and facing what is a very dangerous and divided world. And I guess I would say two or three things about that.
“Number one, don't be intimidated. The world needs the creativity, the goodwill, the hard work, the talent, the skill, the brainpower. The world needs that new generation of young people contributing to the well-being of society.
"Number two, be ambitious. Dream big. As you plot out how you would like your life to unfold, have a big plan. Be ambitious about what you want to accomplish.
“And then finally, as you go through life and deal with all sorts of people and all sorts of circumstances, you will encounter a lot of folks, and I think the general rule should be treat them with goodwill, respect, and kindness. I think that will achieve a lot more and move you a lot further than the alternatives.”
