Former Ontario attorney general Michael Bryant speaks to the media in Toronto on Tuesday. (Darren Calabrese / The Canadian Press)Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
It might have been the first time in his life that Michael Bryant met a camera he didn't like. But even then, on what was surely one of the worst days of his life, he was thinking about how he would come across.
Like most people charged with serious crimes, the former provincial attorney-general promptly got in touch with a lawyer. At some point shortly thereafter, he also got in touch with a public relations company. By yesterday afternoon, mere hours after a man had been killed by his car, Navigator Ltd. - a firm known for representing high-profile public figures, including former prime minister Brian Mulroney - was helping Mr. Bryant express his condolences.
As a matter of tact, it was a dubious decision. But from Mr. Bryant's perspective, it was perhaps a matter of necessity. After more than a decade in public life, this may have been his first encounter with a situation he could not control.
Long before he took a turn into murky Bonfire of the Vanities territory, Mr. Bryant's Type-A personality made him seem almost like a caricature of a relentlessly ambitious young politician - some hybrid of the Michael J. Fox characters from Family Ties and Spin City. (His small stature and frequent use of his middle initial, "J," may have contributed to this perception.)
His brashness would eventually run him afoul of his political masters, in particular Dalton McGuinty, but first it turned him into one of the hottest properties in the provincial Liberal Party.
Having spent much time around him when he first ran for office in 1999 (helping out his campaign in one of the final stages of my misspent Liberal youth), it's easy to understand what drew people to Mr. Bryant and what later turned them off him. Charismatic and relentlessly energetic, quick on his feet, the Harvard-educated lawyer projected both academic and street smarts. His campaign office was flooded with fresh-faced volunteers and became one of the few bright spots during the Liberals' dismal first campaign under Mr. McGuinty's leadership.
Some of those volunteers have remained close to Mr. Bryant over the past decade; one wound up as his chief of staff during his final stint as a cabinet minister. Others were turned off by a perceived shallowness and a sense he would tell people whatever they wanted to hear. His loyalty sometimes extended only so long as supporters were useful to him.
Underlying all this was an overachiever's supreme self-confidence. The son of a British Columbia mayor, Mr. Bryant was the sort of person who seemed to have mapped out every stage of his career. Accumulate degrees; make inroads with Bay Street power brokers and Liberal backroom boys; do time in opposition; serve in cabinet. It would not have been a surprise if he had roughly pegged the date he would launch his leadership bid.
Through his first term representing the riding of St. Paul's, it seemed to be going according to plan. Mr. Bryant's camera-friendliness and readiness with a quote were perfectly suited to opposition. He was one of the Liberals' bright young stars, and it was a foregone conclusion that once they formed government, he would be their attorney-general.
His skills, though, translated less well into government - particularly a government run by a premier who places a premium on discipline. Mr. Bryant was less discreet than other ministers in positioning himself for a run at Mr. McGuinty's job, and maintained his high profile with a run of populist policies and flashy photo-ops to promote them - among them his pit-bull ban and, somewhat uncomfortably in the current light, the seizure and crushing of cars that had been modified for street racing. By the time the Liberals were re-elected in 2007, the Premier had grown sufficiently weary of Mr. Bryant's act that he was demoted to the Aboriginal Affairs Ministry.
There, Mr. Bryant displayed an ability to contend with adversity that was surprising for someone who had rarely faced it in his career. Rather than sulking, he made a show of being enthusiastic about his new job. Not that he set aside his penchant for gimmickry, memorably turning up at disputed lands in Caledonia with a camera crew so that he could film YouTube videos of himself. But it was enough to persuade Mr. McGuinty that he deserved another shot at a senior posting, and after some lobbying Mr. Bryant found himself in Economic Development just in time for the recession.
When that, too, went sour - Liberals have complained that he failed to achieve much of substance - Mr. Bryant again proved resilient in protecting his own image. An eyebrow-raising speech to the Canadian Club, in which he extolled the virtues of "Reverse Reaganomics," helped cast him as a free-thinking renegade. Then, before he could be demoted, he managed to leave on his own terms - moving to a job heading the new Invest Toronto agency, and painting it to reporters as the result of Mr. McGuinty's heavy-handedness. He remained a major player in some Liberal circles, to the extent that he and his wife spent time this summer as guests of Michael Ignatieff at Stornaway.
The presence of Navigator notwithstanding, this week's events have taken Mr. Bryant into a world beyond political spin. Even if he is eventually acquitted of the charges against him - what exactly transpired is far from clear, and many questions have been raised about the behaviour of his alleged victim - his image may, fairly or not, be unsalvageable.
With that image likely go his leadership aspirations. There are politicians who have recovered from incidents as bad or worse, Teddy Kennedy being an obvious and timely example. But while reaction from other Liberals yesterday was sympathetic - Mr. Bryant may not have been universally popular, but he is not considered cruel or even especially short-tempered - that is a far cry from rallying around him. Perceived to have been largely out for himself, he is not the sort of figure who commands widespread loyalty.
What other people think of him is probably not Mr. Bryant's primary concern right now, given the tragic loss of life and the devastating toll it has taken on his family. But it was clearly not far from his mind yesterday. If he is somehow able to recover from this, he may just be as unstoppable as he once seemed.
With a report from Jane Taber
Adam Radwanski