Media Coverage

Dubya's coming to Cowtown

Dave McGinn,  Financial Post  Published: Saturday, February 21, 2009

George W. Bush, the former president of the United States, will be heading from Crawford, Tex., to Calgary next month for his first public speaking engagement since leaving office, and he'll be cashing in along the way.

Billed as "A Conversation with George W. Bush," the event will be held at the Telus Convention Centre on March 17. As many as 1,500 people are expected to attend the invitation-only event.

How much will they be paying to hear the former president speak? And what will he be revealing? Organizers of the event are staying silent on details.

"We're not doing any comment on the event," said Christian Darbyshire, president of tinePublic Inc. The company has brought several high-profile politicos to Canada in the past, including former U. S. president Bill Clinton, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former British prime minister Tony Blair.

The promotional material for the March 17 event says that Mr. Bush will share his "thoughts on his eight momentous years in the Oval Office" and will talk about "the challenges facing the world in the 21st century."

Although Mr. Darbyshire declined to say how much tickets to the event will cost, or how much Dubya is being paid for his appearance in Cowtown, there's a good chance the 43rd U. S. president will be enjoying a hefty payday.

Indeed, while U. S. presidents are paid an annual salary of US$400,000, they can make much more once they leave office and hit the lecture circuit. "Previous presidents have found it often a gold mine," says Stephen Hess, a senior fellow of governance studies at the Brookings Institution and author of Presidents and the Presidency.

Martin Perelmuter, president of Speakers' Spotlight, one of Canada's largest speakers bureaus, says that former U. S. presidents can command high speaker fees. "Six-figure fees are not uncommon," he says.

Former prime minister Paul Martin must be jealous. "In Canada, it's definitely different," says Mr. Perelmuter. "It's a completely different scale. Anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 is a range that prominent well-known Canadians may charge."

As a general rule, says Mr. Perelmuter, the more popular a president is, the higher the fee he can command and the more engagements he can book. Bill Clinton, for example, received US$16.1-million for speaking at 91 events around the world from January, 2006 to June, 2007, including several events in Canada. In July, 2006, he was paid $75,000 to speak at an event organized by former New Brunswick premier Frank Mc-Kenna. In March of that same year, Mr. Clinton took home $300,000 for a speech at the Power Within speakers series event held in Vancouver.

Mr. Perelmuter is not surprised Mr. Bush is heading to Calgary, an oil-rich and conservative city that isn't much of a stretch from his home state of Texas. He's likely to find a captive audience.

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