A World Unto Itself: The Political Memoirs of Don Jamieson, Vol. 2

Richard Wilbur is Supervisor of the Legislative Research Service at the
New Brunswick Legislature and author of The Rise of French New
Brunswick.

This second volume by Jamieson, a Newfoundland politician and
broadcaster, is scarcely his political memoirs. Based on sporadic
note-taking, it gives fairly detailed coverage of his activities and
observations as a federal cabinet minister in two critical years, 1970
and 1971. In the first four chapters, Jamieson provides us with a
general overview of his first years as an MP, from 1966 to 1969, and
while his observations on this freshman period are useful, they are
superficial when compared to subsequent chapters describing his role and
views as an inner cabinet minister under Trudeau.

For example, relying on detailed notes made at the time, Jamieson gives
us a rare glimpse into the lengthy cabinet debate on how best to respond
to the demands of the FLQ kidnappers. His story would have been even
better if his role as Transport Minister had not necessitated a quick
trip to Europe just when Pierre Laporte was kidnapped and Trudeau
proclaimed the War Measures Act. He did make it back for a special
cabinet meeting after Laporte’s body was found; again, we learn who
said what and why. It makes lively reading.

Jamieson comes across as a personable, pragmatic, small-c conservative
Liberal who gradually gains entrance into the inner cabinet toward the
end of Trudeau’s first administration. Some of his comments obviously
had the advantage of hindsight, but historians will probably agree with
this assessment: “Increasingly, I had the impression that, although
Trudeau and his senior staff might have had some general principles with
regard to the direction Canada should take socially and economically, he
had no overall blueprint. Indeed, there were times when he displayed a
surprising lack of knowledge of fundamental pieces of information that
were familiar to most businessmen and economists. And from the beginning
of his administration, he had never articulated for cabinet any sweeping
concept that might guide our thinking.”

Jamieson might perhaps have written a more complete account of his time
in Ottawa if he had been spared, but what he did manage to leave us is a
tantalizing glimpse of how power was wielded and decisions were taken
during a couple of tumultuous years.