[photopress:Going_For_Green_rgb_1.jpg,full,alignleft]There’s an edited excerpt from Going for the Green in the National Post this morning. I’m in Nova Scotia, so I haven’t seen it, but there is a link online. If you’re interested in reading the excerpt — on Newfoundland premier Danny Williams — you can find it here. It is edited — the original chapter is 6,500 words, and this one is 1,500, so please consider that. Here’s a taste:
In this excerpt from Robert Thompson’s new book, Going for the Green: On the Links with Canada’s Business and Political Elite, Danny Williams, Newfoundland’s Premier, treats author Robert Thompson to a round of tales at one of the two courses he owns on The Rock.
Danny Williams is a different type of politician, one who battles former Beatles on television and who gets the occasional speeding ticket in his Dodge Viper. He’s feisty and spirited — some would say to a fault.
He is unusually rich by the standards of Newfoundlanders — some locals call him “Danny Millions” — and certainly atypical of politicians. A successful criminal and personal injury lawyer, he sold his cable-TV business to Rogers Communications for hundreds of millions before entering politics, and still has two golf courses held in trust for him while he is premier.
He’s arguably the highest-profile politician ever to rise out of The Rock. He’s been debated on CNN, scolded in the pages of The New York Times and gained headlines across Canada.
He’s also a golfer. The Willows Golf Course at Holyrood, a club owned by Williams, is 45 minutes south of St. John’s. When I meet the Premier, wearing tan pants and a black and white golf shirt, he’s both a bit shorter and a bit burlier than I expected, with neatly parted grey hair.
“They say I’m the luckiest guy — horseshoes up my arse,” Williams proclaims through his thick South Shore accent. I think he’s talking about golf, but he could be talking about his life. In his 58 years, he’s been a Rhodes Scholar, a successful television cable operator, a personal injury lawyer who dabbled in criminal cases and one of the most popular regional politicians in Canadian history. Horseshoes, indeed.
The full excerpt is here.
Hey RT, what are you doing in Nova Scotia? Enjoy your stay here.