Allan Gregg

Allan Gregg (born January 14 1952) is a Canadian pollster, political advisor, and pundit.

Early life

Gregg was born in Edmonton, Alberta. He was the eldest child in his family which consisted of three boys and one girl. Gregg graduated from Harry Ainley High School at the second top of his class with honors. Gregg then went on to study political science at the University of Alberta. He was shortly a professor while working on his PhD, but was stopped short because of the birth of his first child in 1975.

Tory strategist

Gregg has long been involved in Canadian politics, but decided to travel south of the border to work with master Republican Party pollster Richard Wirthlin and learned much from him. He then returned to Canada in the late 1970s. He first came to national attention as the national campaign secretary of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada successful effort in the 1979 federal election.

Soon after that campaign, Gregg founded Decima Research, a joint polling/public relations firm. The company became the Tory party's polling firm, and Gregg played an important role in the 1984 election when the PC Party was led by Brian Mulroney. With the Tory victory, Decima Research and Gregg entered the halls of power, and he was frequently at Prime Minister Mulroney's side. Decima and Gregg worked for the federal Tories, operated in many provincial elections, and expanded world-wide, participating in over forty-five elections on three continents.

Gregg was an unusual-looking figure in Canadian politics, and especially in the Tory party. He adopted a unique style including gold earrings, bright red shoes, long hair, and a great deal of leather clothing. He founded a record label, The Song Corp., and was co-manager of the Tragically Hip. He also served a five year stint as president of the Toronto International Film Festival.

He rose to greater prominence in the 1988 election where he handled communications and polling for the PC Party. Long an advocate for negative campaigning, he directed the famed "bridge bombing" attack on Liberal leader John Turner that was designed to break the bridge linking anti-free trade voters to Turner. The offensive was a success, Turner's popularity dropped, and the Tories were re-elected. He also played an important role in the 1992 Canadian referendum where he crafted the message that the doom of Canada would be the certain result of a "No" vote.

1993 election

Gregg was given even more responsibility in the 1993 federal election campaign. He was senior pollster as well as top strategist and communications manager. Some felt that Gregg should not have participated in the campaign, since his wife was battling cancer, and his father had just died, but he decided to work on the election anyway.

The 1993 Tory campaign was an unmitigated disaster for all concerned, but especially to Gregg. Other campaign leaders complained that his many duties meant he missed too many meetings. Gregg again pushed for negative tactics, crafting an attack ad that the public saw as attacking Liberal leader Jean Chrétien's facial deformity. The backlash to Gregg's ad led to the complete collapse of Tory support. The Tories reduced to two seats in the Canadian House of Commons.

The effect of Gregg's miscalculation was total. While the Tory campaign was not going well, the television ad (which aired on only one evening) was the tipping point. Modern Canadian national politics actually has very few seminal campaign moments, but much like the 1984 Mulroney Turner debate ("You had an option") and the 1995 Quebec referendum unity rally, this advertising mistake was critical. Tory organizers complained that Liberals were behind, and largely orchestrated, the public out cry. Regardless, several years later Gregg wrote about this in the pages of "Saturday Night" magazine, where his "mea culpa" rang hollow, as he continued to argue that "the ad tested well in the focus groups."

Pollster

After the campaign, Gregg left public life for a time. He quit Decima, and sold his share of the company for millions of dollars. He cut his hair, and turned to a more reserved form of dress.

After a year off, he founded a new company, The Strategic Counsel, a market research and consulting firm, but one geared towards business rather than politics. He returned to the public eye as a columnist in Maclean's Magazine and a frequent pundit on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news for several years.

Gregg also has a weekly television show, "Allan Gregg in Conversation with..." on the public broadcaster TVOntario. It has a half-hour, in-depth interview format, in which the subject of the interview is usually an author discussing a current release. The books discussed are usually of a political or medical nature.

In 2001, he strongly denounced negative campaigning in a lecture at the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University, saying that it would destroy politics as we know it and "invite totally unaccountable forces" to "influence society without the countervailing force of representative democracy". [http://www.carleton.ca/jmc/newsevents/kesterton/gregg.html]

Personal life

Gregg has three children; Christian (b. 1975), Allanah (b. 1986), and Connor (b. 1988).

References

*"Changing horses in mid-stream: Before last fall's trouncing at the polls, Allan Gregg was the Tory party's whiz kid. Today, the 42-year-old is looking for new challenges." Ian Austen, Southam News. Aug 14, 1994. pg. B.2
*"Allan Gregg's record label to partner with musicians: Takes an 'artist friendly' approach to payments, benefits" Brenda Bouw. "National Post." Mar 3, 2000. pg. C.1.
*"Campbell loyalists sore at bid to blame her for sad campaign" Rosemary Speirs. "The Vancouver Sun." Oct 30, 1993. pg. A.12

External links

* [http://allangregg.com/ Gregg's personal site and blog]