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Any reader’s assessment of the 49 short essays in this memoir from our longtime parliamentarian and former prime minister will be tainted by his or her political position, especially in these days of extreme political polarization and rigid party loyalty. But no one who has paid any attention at all to Canadian politics over the last half century can dispute that “the little guy from Shawinigan ” was and is a colourful, loquacious, humorous and talented raconteur.
Like most political autobiography, much space is taken up here with self-congratulatory justification for the considerable accomplishments in his forty year life in politics, and there is scant mention of the more questionable and controversial decisions made or problematic personalities within the Liberal establishment. The invoking of the War Measures ACT during the FLQ crisis of 1972 is never mentioned, the name Margaret Trudeau does not appear even once, and Chretien’s Liberal nemesis and successor, Paul Martin is mentioned once-in a list of cabinet ministers. But there are great insights into the personalities and quirks of numerous world leaders and public figures, as seen by a close observer with a keen sense of humour. Inevitably there are biases but the reader will become nostalgic when reading about politicians of a forgotten era from different parties with very different objectives and political philosophies who could nevertheless work together and even become good friends. Joe Clark wrote the Foreword with kind words of praise for the author.
Chretien’s wry sense of humour comes through in numerous anecdotes he relates. A Quebec cop stopped him for speeding on his way to John Diefenbaker’s funeral in August, 1979. Jean explained that he wanted to get there on time to see for himself that Diefenbaker was truly dead, and the cop let him off without a ticket!
This is an enlightening, light, selective, insider’s history lesson, and a contrast to the boring or sensationalized current events stories we were fed at the time of the related events. A fun read.
The Passionate Reader 