Runciman mourns Senate colleague Hugh Segal

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Published Aug 10, 2023  •  Last updated 3 hours ago  •  2 minute read

Newly-minted Senator Bob Runciman, flanked by Senator Hugh Segal and Government Leader of the Senate Marjory LeBreton, listens to the government order of his call to the Senate in 2010.(FILE PHOTO) SunMedia Article content

As retired Senator Bob Runciman points out in his new memoir, he and Hugh Segal did not always see eye-to-eye.

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But over the years the pair developed a lasting friendship, and on Thursday Runciman was mourning the loss of a unique political talent in Conservative circles and a former Senate colleague.

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Segal died Wednesday evening in Kingston, at the age of 72.

“He was a very likable guy and very personable and (had) a great sense of humour,” Runciman recalled, adding Segal was “a fantastic public speaker.”

Runciman’s memoir, From Mad Dog to Senator, references Segal as one of two “Red Tories,” along with MPP Susan Fish, with whom he debated at the University of Western Ontario during Runciman’s first term as a Tory MPP. Segal, who at one point was chief of staff to Ontario premier Bill Davis, was by then a Davis confidant, and at the time Runciman had been publicly at odds with Davis over his government’s Suncor purchase.

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However, noted Runciman, the pair never crossed swords publicly beyond such civil venues, and ended up serving together in the Senate.

“He was always impressive in the Senate caucus and the national caucus,” Runciman recalled.

While Runciman is associated with the Conservative Party’s right-facing flank, Segal tacked to the old Progressive side, and did not abandon his principles when the party took a more significant rightward turn following the merger of the PCs with the Canadian Alliance.

Runciman noted it was a Liberal prime minister, Paul Martin, who appointed Segal to the Senate in 2005.

Still, he added, though Segal was frequently at odds with his fellow Tories, he did not walk away.

“He stayed with the party and the party stayed with him.”

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In fact, months after being appointed to the Senate, Segal, at one point a skeptic of the two-party merger, appeared in Brockville at a party fundraiser to credit the role of then MP Gord Brown in uniting the Progressive Conservatives and Canadian Alliance.

Segal at the time praised Brown for running as a Canadian Alliance candidate, despite his PC roots, in the 2000 election. Segal said at the time that Brown’s decision to cross the gap between the old PC and Alliance parties was one of the necessary steps toward the eventual union of the two forces into what is now the Conservative Party.

“Somebody like Gordy Brown had the courage to take that first step,” Segal told party supporters in December 2005. “He had more courage than I did.”

It was at that fundraiser that Segal described his own run for the old PC leadership, which Joe Clark won handily in 1998, as his “great overland trek to nowhere.”

And indeed, Runciman said he will miss his late Senate colleague’s wit and erudition.

“He was an upbeat speaker,” said Runciman.

“You just enjoyed listening to the guy.”

With files from The Canadian Press

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