The U.S. presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris (Democrat) and former President Donald Trump (Republican) is ongoing as of this writing. The political event du jour will likely face a slew of late results and possible recounts in close states.

So, I’m going to switch gears and tackle something that I haven’t analyzed in years. What is it? The McMichael Canadian Art Collection located in Kleinburg, Ontario.

I first went to this gallery with my parents when I was about 8 years old. They took me to see the works of the Group of Seven. I marvelled at the gorgeous landscapes full of forests, rivers and mountains. My early introduction to this important facet of Canadian art remains as strong now as it was then.

In fact, my views and ideas about the Art Collection nearly became part of the permanent record about a quarter century ago.

Let’s go back in history and find out why.

Robert and Signe McMichael donated 194 Group of Seven paintings and their Kleinburg home to the province in 1965. In the agreement between the McMichaels, Ontario government and Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Section 13 described the true mandate of the Art Collection:

“The Crown shall, with the advice and assistance of Robert McMichael and Signe McMichael, establish, develop and maintain in perpetuity at Tapawingo a collection of art reflecting the cultural heritage of Canada; the said collection shall be known as the ‘McMichael Conservation Collection of Art’ (hereinafter called ‘the Collection’), and shall be comprised of paintings by Tom Thomson, Emily Carr, David Milne, A.Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris, A.J. Casson, Frederick Varley, Arthur Lismer, J.H. MacDonald, Franklin Carmichael, and other artists, as designated by the advisory committee, who have made contributions to the development of Canadian art.”

There was a long-standing problem with the wording of this section. The original mandate clearly stated the McMichaels’ art collection was to be specifically focused on Group of Seven paintings. Other artists’ work could also be displayed, depending on their contributions to the Canadian art scene. If non-Group of Seven paintings were allowed to be brought into the gallery by the advisory committee, what would the criteria be?  This was a source of confusion for gallery administrators, the board of trustees and Robert McMichael, who served as caretaker until 1982.

Ontario Premier David Peterson then decided to stick his nose where it didn’t belong. His government changed the mandate of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in 1989 to the following paragraph, “The Board shall ensure that the focus of the collection is the works of art created by Indian, Inuit and Metis artists, the artists of the Group of Seven and their contemporaries and other artists who have made or make a contribution to the development of Canadian Art.”

This new, loosely defined mandate changed everything. By actually listing groups that could become part of the gallery – in this case, Native Canadian artists – the floodgates were opened. Modern art could easily be allowed to slip through the cracks under these new parameters.

That’s exactly what happened for a spell. More than 6,000 works were housed in the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. The original Group of Seven works became a minority shareholder in the company, so to speak.

The McMichaels were furious over this situation. They had donated their home and private collection to display Group of Seven painters, not to become a permanent residence for contemporary artists. The gallery was being operated in a manner that was completely contrary to the original mandate. The annual provincial grant of about 40 percent of its operating budget had been used to acquire so-called “cultural heritage” items such as John McEwan’s Babylon and the Tower of Babel. This eyesore of an outside sculpture of seven freestanding steel pedestals with italic letters that spelled the word “Babylon” was granted a $150,000 tax credit. That was half of what the artist actually wanted for it.

Ontario Premier Mike Harris and his PC government eventually intervened in the McMichael controversy. They wanted to protect the artwork as an important part of our cultural and artistic heritage, and restore the gallery’s original mandate. This would lead to then-Ontario PC Minister of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation Minister Helen Johns introducing Bill 112, or the McMichael Canadian Art Collection Amendment Act, 2000, in the legislature. It received Royal Assent on Nov. 2, 2000, which enabled the original mandate for Group of Seven paintings to be re-established. (Other pieces of Canadian art have since been approved and displayed over the years.)

This is where I almost entered the scene.

I was contacted by the Ontario government to speak on behalf of the McMichaels and the original gallery mandate at a committee hearing. They had read an Oct. 10, 2000 op-ed I had written for the Kitchener-Waterloo Record on this subject and got a hold of me.

I was put on a small list of speakers to help the Harris PCs build a case for the original gallery mandate. Who else was on it? The government staffer remained tight-lipped, but finally admitted to one additional name scheduled to join this effort: Toronto Sun columnist Peter Worthington.

I asked Worthington about this when we finally met years later. He confirmed what I had been told on the phone that day, but had never been asked to appear.

Neither was I.

Why? Best I can tell, the committee hearing never materialized. The government received Royal Assent for Bill 112 within a couple of weeks of making these initial arrangements. As a guess, they likely decided not to rock the boat any further.

Too bad. It would have been fun joining the late, great Sun columnist in defending the McMichaels and the original gallery mandate – and blasting away at modern art and non-Group of Seven paintings that were on display. C’est la vie.

I still enjoy going to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection with my wife and son. I’ve gone many times on my own, too. When I look at the Group of Seven painters, I always smile at their majestic work and consider what could have been had I spoken in their defence all those years ago.

Michael Taube, a long-time newspaper columnist and political commentator, was a speechwriter for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper.