What About Bob Rae?

What about him? Not much of a resume. Hardly active in the Canadian society. Too many initials after his name. And that Hon. before? Oi. How can anyone so underachieving ever lead a national party? Let alone to electoral victory?

Our friends at the Royal Conservatory of Music had some thing posted about his tainted past:

The Hon. Bob Rae, P.C., O.C., Q.C., L.L.D, OOnt, MP, is a partner at the Goodmans law firm. His clients include companies, trade unions, charitable and non-governmental organizations, and governments themselves. He has extensive experience in negotiation, mediation and arbitration, and consults widely on issues of public policy.

Mr. Rae served as Ontario's 21st Premier, and was elected eight times to federal and provincial parliaments before his retirement from politics in 1996.

Mr. Rae has a B.A. and an LLB from the University of Toronto and was a Rhodes Scholar from Ontario in 1969. He obtained a B.Phil degree from Oxford University in 1971 and was named a Queen's Counsel in 1984. Mr. Rae has received honorary doctorates from the Law Society of Upper Canada and from the University of Toronto and Assumption University.

Mr. Rae was appointed to Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada in 1998 and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000. He is a panel member of the Canadian Internal Trade Disputes Tribunal, and is on the international commercial arbitrators list of the Canadian Council for International Business, and ADR Chambers.

Mr. Rae is the Chairman of the Forum of Federations, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Ivesprint, Inc., and of the Institute for Research on Public Policy. He also serves as director of the Canadian Ditchley Foundation, and is a member of the International Council of the Asia Society. He is also Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University. He joined the Board of The Royal Conservatory of Music in 1998 and served as Chair from 1999 to 2004.

Mr. Rae is the National Spokesperson of the Leukemia Research Fund and he has recently served as the Chief Negotiator of the Canadian Red Cross Society in its restructuring. He also served recently as a member of the Canada Transportation Act Review and the Security and Intelligence Review Committee for Canada. Mr. Rae is a past governor of the University of Toronto and is currently a trustee of the University Health Network and the Trudeau Foundation. He also serves as director of Hydro One Inc., Niigon Technologies Ltd, Iter Canada Inc., Tembec Ltd., and Trojan Technologies.

Mr. Rae's books, From Protest to Power and The Three Questions, have been published by Penguin Viking of Canada. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto and Senior Fellow of Massey College.

Born in Ottawa in 1948, he is married to Arlene Perly Rae. They have three daughters: Judith, Lisa and Eleanor. Mr. Rae is fluent in English and French and speaks some Italian.