Sinc: The Incredible Behind the Scenes Story of the Sinclair Stevens Investigation

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.

This work by four journalists who covered the story in detail is, as the subtitle suggests, “The Incredible Behind-the-Scenes Story of the Sin-clair Stevens Inquiry.” It is a well written and very readable history of not only the Parker Commission, but also the background of its principal subject, the Honourable Sinclair Stevens.

The book does vindicate Erik Nielsen who, as acting Prime Minister (Mulroney was attending the G7 Tokyo Summit at the time), defended Stevens and the Government for almost two weeks in the House of Commons. The authors make it quite clear that Nielsen did not believe that Stevens was telling him the entire story. As the evidence presented to the Parker Commission illustrates, Nielsen was correct. Unfortunately, the Stevens affair politically destroyed Nielsen as well as Stevens.

The “background” reporting of the resignation reads like a good thriller. The biographical material of individuals — like Frank Stronach of Magena and Stevens’s Liberal opponent in the next election, David Scott, the Commission counsel, John Sopinka, Stevens’s counsel, and Anton Czapka, the man who made the loan to Mrs. Stevens and the Stevens family holding company — all is well written.

Yet the book has one flaw which, although not fatal, is most damning. There is no in-depth analysis of Mr. Justice Parker’s report. There is no discussion of the impact that the entire episode may have on the public’s perception of politics or politicians. The authors do not discuss the growing significance of judicial inquiries in Canadian politics and the subsequent diminishing in importance of legislative committees on privilege. Finally, the authors fail to answer John Sopinka’s important question: How do you protect “the common good” and at the same time recruit good people into public life? The answer to this question is far more important to the future of Canadian politics and politicians than is anything covered in this book. The authors have successfully completed the easy part of the story. It is unfortunate they did not even attempt to tackle the difficult issues raised by the Sinclair Stevens investigation.

This book might be considered as excellent cottage reading, but it is of questionable value to students of Canadian politics.