This somewhat dated autobiography is really two books meshed into one. The first is a detailed account of Oliver’s encounters with and assessment of many public figures, mostly prominent world politicians as seen by an unapologetic news hound, as the subtitle suggests. The second is an adventure documentary of the life of a risk-loving outdoorsman who enjoyed the challenges of reporting from the front lines of wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and the Middle East and long wilderness treks to shoot dangerous rapids in rivers of the far north in a canoe, often accompanied by well-known Canadian politicians, most notably Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
After a troubled childhood in Prince Rupert, shuffled between homes by alcoholic parents, Craig Oliver landed a job as a part time radio announcer there, then worked his way up to become a full time reporter for CBC. After a falling out with the bloated CBC bureaucracy, he switched to CTV, and became their chief parliamentary correspondent, a job he still performs.
The hard-drinking, lax sexual mores, and cutthroat culture of male-dominant national journalism (and many politicians, though by no means all) is portrayed in detail without apologies. There is a liberal bias to Oliver’s outlook, which he recognizes and acknowledges, but his assessment of the personalities of all the politicos he rubbed shoulders with, from John Diefenbaker to Ronald Reagan to Stephen Harper, seems balanced and fair for the most part.
It seems a pity that this book was written in 2011, and thus does not include any insights into the inner workings of our current crop of politicians. But that is understandable, given that Oliver is now 80, and has been legally blind for several years.
The writing is sparse with no wasted words and there are abundant humorous anecdotes. Jason Kenny is quoted as saying of Stephen Harper’s autocratic style of governing “The communications director for the prime minister does not believe in communicating.”
For anyone interested in the inside story of Canadian history over those 50+ years covered here, this book will be a great companion to the duller standard texts.
The Passionate Reader 