The Canadian Way: Shaping Canada's Foreign Policy 1968-1984

D.M.L. Farr is professor emeritus of history at Carleton University in
Ottawa and the editor of Life and Letters of Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

This is a personal account, written in the third person, of the
direction of Canada’s foreign policy by Pierre Trudeau and his trusted
adviser Ivan Head, during Trudeau’s years as prime minister. Judging
by the passive manner in which Trudeau participated in the preparation
of his recent memoirs, one concludes that The Canadian Way was written
by Head and reviewed by Trudeau.

The book is, of course, a justification of the actions taken by the
pair during almost 16 tumultuous years, beginning with the
foreign-policy and defence reviews and proceeding with the concern over
Arctic waters following the voyage of the Manhattan, the decision to
reduce the country’s contribution to NATO forces in Europe,
Trudeau’s participation on the Commonwealth forum, the campaign to
reduce North–South disparities, the openings to China and the Soviet
Union, the sometimes uncom-fortable relationship with the United States,
and the “peace initiative” of Trudeau’s last years in office.
Trudeau and Head were the moving spirits behind the conception and
execution of Canadian foreign policy during these years, and it is
remarkable how little the book has to say about the four external
affairs ministers who served under Trudeau. The Department of External
Affairs is also given cursory attention; it is praised for some of its
stands, criticized for others. Of the Department’s senior personnel,
A.E. Ritchie and Ralph Collins come off best.

The authors are not blind to some of the shortcomings in their record
in diplomacy. The failure of the “contractual link” to expand trade
with Europe is admitted, as is the emptiness of the protocol to consult
with the Soviet Union that was signed while Trudeau was in Moscow in
1971. But there is a reserve in the account, a distancing that is
reinforced by the precision and correctness of the book’s language. At
times one believes that one is reading a prime ministerial speech,
intended to strike all the correct notes. The reader should not look for
policy revelations in The Canadian Way, although there are some
discerning comments on foreign leaders, especially Ronald Reagan:
“[I]t was hard to conceive of someone less able to understand issues
and take responsible decisions.”

Inevitably the reader must ask: how does Head and Trudeau’s account
of their foreign initiatives compare with the full-length study
Pirouette, written by J.L. Granatstein and Robert Bothwell and published
in 1990? Pirouette is more than 100 pages longer, takes in more
subjects, deals with the whole machinery of Canadian decision-making,
and contains more critical assessments by the authors and other
observers. The Canadian Way mirrors Trudeau and Head’s deep concern
for such key subjects as the sensible assertion of Canada’s
“functional jurisdiction” in Arctic waters, the value of the
Commonwealth as a means of promoting global, understanding, and the
urgency of fairer North–South relations. For the reader wanting an
overall impression of Trudeau’s foreign policy, Pirouette is the
better book. The Canadian Way is comfortably complementary to it and
possesses the additional merit of explaining eloquently the “right
ideas” that Trudeau and Head brought to Canada’s foreign relations.
The goal of “international equity” may be largely unachievable, but
the authors deserve respect for constantly keeping it before them as
they labored.