Gate Lepine -#10: Order of Canada Ceremony Like No Other - Call the cops?

What happens when Stompin' Tom and his pal Gate Lepine meet pomp and circumstance with free booze and tuxedos all around..."would they behave"?

On October 13, 2000, Kim Honey wrote this in the Globe and Mail:

“The last time Stompin' Tom Connors went to the Governor-General's estate in Ottawa, he ended up rolling through the crowd of tuxes and ball gowns in a wheelchair, hollering "Hi ho, Silver."

That was in 1996, after he was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada.

After winning one of six Governor-General's Performing Arts Awards this year, the country and western singer will be going to Rideau Hall again. He couldn't say whether he will behave.

"You never know what's going to happen when Stompin' Tom arrives anywhere"

he said in a telephone interview from his home in Southern Ontario.

Well, as it turns out, I’ve spoken to three people who were in attendance that day and yes, one might say Tom behaved but then…

When I went to visit Tom in his home a few months after the ceremony, he sat next to me at his custom, fully equipped bar, cigarette in one hand, warm Moosehead beer in the other, and told me about the award ceremony. As you’ll read here, he didn’t tell all.

As he was telling me about his big day, there was a gleam in his eye. The ceremony and all that came with it made him giddy with delight for three reasons: The first was the honour associated with the award. Receiving the Order of Canada is a big deal and he was genuinely humbled by it. The second was that Rideau Hall went out of their way to accommodate his smoking habit and three, he was allowed to wear his hat.

The sitting Governor General who stood in front of Tom that day and reached up to insert the pin in his lapel was Adrienne Clarkson. There were smiles all around.

Years later when I began to tour with my show, “Whiskey Jack Presents Stories & Songs of Stompin’ Tom”, Adrienne often accepted my invitation to join my show, on stage and off. Her playful nature and the pleasure she obviously gets from entertaining were evident at all of our meetings. She was very fond of Tom and his family having met them backstage at numerous CBC TV appearances over the decades. So, when it was time to award him this honour, she asked her staff, much to their disapproval, to arrange for a chair to be placed beside an open window so Tom could puff away and blow his smoke into the garden. This didn’t come without difficulties.

I’ll tell that story next week. It involves a clash between two Canadian celebrities, one of whom behaved like a selfish little boy.

Today’s story however is about another drama that only involved the Connors entourage. Adrienne and her staff had no idea that this incident was even happening, let alone how close they came to calling in the RCMP to break things up.

The cast members in this drama were Stompin’ Tom and his wife Lena, Gate Lepine and his wife Jean, and Tom’s assistant (he always traveled in public with an assistant), Brian Edwards and his wife.

Gate Lepine was the protagonist in this tale so I’ll let him tell it in his own words. I couldn’t find any reference to this story in Tom’s book or Brian’s book so you’re reading it here for the first time. It’s important to keep in mind one thing. The host of the event, Adrienne Clarkson invited Gate. He was her guest. That’s why the emotions ran high that night.

Transcribed from a telephone conversation we had in February, 2024. According to Gate….

Let’s start when we walk in that place. The girls want to go to the washroom. We had met Brian’s wife the day before. Jean and I had a room at the Webb Motel (as did Tom and Lena). Tom came in, Brian with his wife.

Limo’s take us to Rideau Hall and we start to walk around.

When the girls come out of the washroom, Jean and Lena aren’t too pleased with Brian’s wife. Apparently she didn’t like the way Lena was dressed - something was going on.

She left and now I’m walking with Lena and Jean, before everything begins.

Brian’s wife runs over and pokes me on the shoulder with her finger and says “we’re changing your table. You’re going to sit at another table, cuz Brian has to be with Tom, in case Tom needs him.”

I says, “who the fuck are you?” and she said “what? You met me yesterday. I’m Brian’s wife.”

“I know. I met you yesterday and you were a real nice lady and I liked you and we had a good talk, but who the fuck are you now, that you’re gonna touch me on the shoulder and tell me where to sit? Fuck off.”

I know my language was rough. Then I said to her, “tell Brian to do his own dirty work.”

She left on her tip toes, pissed off. So Jean and I and Lena are looking at each other. We don’t know what’s going on. So we slowly walked towards the table, the one I’m supposed to sit at. Adrienne’s secretary told me this a month before. I hadn’t planned on going. I talked to Tom about it and he said it was out of his hands, but that all changed when Adrienne invited me.

The secretary called and said, “Adrienne wants you here because you’re very important with Stompin’ Tom” , so I said, “alright”. I was told to rent a tuxedo. Later she sent me papers that showed what table I was to sit at and it was the table with Tom, Ken Dryden, Lena, me and Jean.

So I walked to the table. Tom and Brian were there and some other guy in a tux, I don’t know who he is. So I walked to Tom and said “somebody’s sitting in my chair,” as a joke, I’m pointing at Brian.

Tom says “oh, well Jeez Gate. I know you’d understand. I need Brian here. This is high class stuff and I might get all mixed up.”

I said, “are you kidding me?

“I know. you’d understand.”

So, I didn’t talk to Brian at all. I just gave him a dirty look. He’s kind of sheepish, looking at the floor - he’s afraid of me. He’s always been afraid of me. This is a dangerous moment right here. Anything can happen. If I explode, they’ll have to take me out in a straight jacket or handcuffs. I’m that close to flipping the table. Now I gotta count to 10 and hold everything inside.

So I turn to Tom and say, “I’ll sit where I care to sit.”

Tom says, “thanks Gate, I appreciate it.”

I put my hand in his face like “stop, I won’t talk no more Tom”. The other hand, I pointed my finger at Brian, I made like a gun and I winked at him. He looked at the floor and guess what, I ended up sitting where Brian was supposed to sit. I ended up sitting with Ken Dryden’s wife, about 10 tables away in the corner.

I walked away to eliminate the ruckus…it would have been awful. I held back. I was hurt. I didn’t say a damn thing, I didn’t talk to nobody about it. Ken Dryden’s wife and I had a good talk and I didn’t bring it up, didn’t say a word.

In the limousine (on the way to the National Arts Center) we were all very quiet. Tom says “what’s wrong?” and I said “we’ll talk about this at the Webb. I’ll tell you what the hell is wrong.”

So here we are at the Arts centre, I’m sitting next to Tom. Brian is sitting behind us. So here, I’m sitting in the right seat. There’s Jean, me, Tom, Lena and Donald Sutherland is sitting right next to Lena. We watched all the stuff going on on stage.

They’re showing clips on the screen (Tom on a skidoo) and Tom hits me on the shoulder and says “you’re not talking at all. What the hell is wrong with you?”

I says “just watch the cartoon.” He shrugged his shoulders, we went back to the motel and I really laced into him. Just Tom and I.

I said “keep that god damn Brian away from me, He’s god damn dangerous. I held my temper to save you Tom, like I saved you so many god damn times with your stupidity and your moods. I always forgive and I don’t want you to get in shit. Ever since the Maple Leaf Hotel they’ve been treating you like that. When you drink too much and you do stupid things, I have to save you.”

That’s what happened that night.

Tom should have said, “Gate’s sitting there and I’ll see you later Brian”.

At the Webb, I said “you didn’t fight for me Tom. But I fought for you in 1964. Where the hell was Brian when you were a bum in 1964 at the Maple Leaf Hotel when I sat up night after night talking to you? Would he have sat with you? Tonight he wants to sit with you. You’re Stompin’ Tom and you’re famous.”

Tom had a tear in his eye when I came up with that one.

We didn’t bring it up again but I said, “keep Brian Edwards way from me”.

Next up in 1 week: Donald Sutherland meets Stompin’ Tom, gets pissed off and acts like a child