The Canadian establishment Book

Four points on the Canadian scale.

This book is an entertaining work by a journalist who worked the Ottawa parliamentary beat for over 30 years and followed the careers of those Canadian business men who got involved in politics. Newman wrote this book from his notes and undocumented off-the-record revelations that he received. Newman believed passionately that democracy worked best when business leaders had control over the politicians. He was also convinced that Canada's business community had promoted an agenda that was political progressive on social issues and one which strengthened the economy.

The book does a very good job at demonstrating that a Canadian establisment did exist; that is to say that there was a network of business leaders that knew each other well, cooperated and supported the Liberal party.

"The Canadian Establishment" will always be valuable to students of Canadian history wishing to understand Canada in the post World War II era. It was easy for the general public to understand it when it came out but I think anyone who did not live through the era and follow the Canadian political news will now have difficulty following Newman's argument or keeping track of the all the characters. Anyone born after 1980 will have trouble following it unless they studied Canadian history as undergraduates.