Inside the Tent: Forty-Five Years on Parliament Hill

Agar Adamson is the author of Letters of Agar Adamson, 1914–19 and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

Tom Van Dusen is a Tory and, as such, was close to many Tory
politicians, especially John Diefenbaker. While his portrayal of
Diefenbaker in this book comes across as something of an apologia, his
comments on Brian Mulroney add up to a strong analysis of the man’s
political character.

Van Dusen apparently had good political instincts. He often helped to
extricate politicians from difficult situations. At the same time, he
was not averse to telling them when it was time to depart. In addition
to Tories, Van Dusen worked for a number of Liberals, including Allan J.
MacEachen and Mitchell Sharp. It was while working with Sharp that he
developed and implemented plans to televise proceedings in the House of
Commons.

Unfortunately, the book contains many errors of fact: for example, the
Breton Woods Conference was not held in San Francisco, Pearson entered
the House of Commons before 1958, Evelyn Tufts (the first woman member
of the press gallery) worked for Halifax papers, and the “tainted
tuna” plant was located in New Brunswick not George Nowlan’s Nova
Scotia riding. Overall, however, Van Dusen’s book sheds valuable light
on backroom parliamentary politics.