Alcock given highest tribute

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This article was published 22/10/2011 (5286 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG —Former prime minister Paul Martin bestowed the country’s highest tribute Friday to mark Reg Alcock’s death at his memorial service in Winnipeg: the Canadian flag.

“When my father died, the flag that flew over Parliament Hill that day was presented to my mother. I now have it,” Martin said, his voice breaking with emotion as he directly addressed Alcock’s widow, Karen.

“On behalf of Parliament, the members who are here and the members who are in Ottawa, we have it. I would ask Bob Rae to come up and present it to you.”

Rae, the interim leader of the federal Liberal party, made his way up the aisle, a case bearing the official flag in his arms. He bowed his head in a brief private exchange, placed the case in her arms and returned to his seat.

Such moments are reserved as the highest honour a nation can bestow upon a fallen soldier or celebrated statesman.

Alcock, the former Liberal MP for Winnipeg South, died unexpectedly last Friday of a heart attack.

He was 63.

Alcock was remembered as a compassionate humanitarian, a polished speaker with a big heart who could put strangers at ease and artlessly stitch alliances out of disparate community groups.

More than that, behind the political work, the man was funny.

“I want to tell you a story of a life well-lived and anchored in grace,” said Colin Jackson, Alcock’s best friend and founding artistic director of Prairie Theatre Exchange.

There was Alcock’s affinity to attract animals — one female baboon was insanely jealous of girlfriends and a collection of piranha bizarrely bred when they weren’t supposed to, Jackson recalled.

There was Alcock’s inexplicable affection for broken-down British cars. He once rigged up windshield wipers on one car with sash cords from his apartment blinds. It wasn’t unusual to see him steer with his head out the window, in blinding rain, when the wipers gave in.

Those stories had mourners laughing out loud at the antics of a man who most people only knew from his political career as the super serious Treasury Board president with Paul Martin’s Liberals.

Hundreds of friends, neighbours, business leaders, political allies and foes packed the Immanuel Pentecostal Church, the numbers overflowing into the balcony.

Premier Greg Selinger and cabinet members past and present joined Liberals from across the country and Conservatives, including Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Manitoba Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen.

Other tributes were paid by former cabinet colleague and current University of Winnipeg president Lloyd Axworthy, Manitoba Métis Federation president David Chartrand, longtime staffer Amita Chandra and friend Cherry Karpyshin.

In addition to his widow, Karen, Alcock is survived by his children, Sarah, Matthew and Christina, and his sisters, Joan Anderton and Beverley Verkouteren.

» Winnipeg Free Press