So Very Near Volume 1: The Political Memoirs of the Honourable Donald M. Fleming

James G. Snell is a history professor at the University of Guelph,
author of In the Shadow of the Law: Divorce in Canada, 1900-1939, and
co-author of The Supreme Court of Canada: History of the Institution.

So Very Near is a two-volume reminiscence by Donald Fleming, a leading figure in the federal Conservative Party in the 1950s and early 1960s and Minister of Finance in the Governments of John G. Diefenbaker, 1957-1963. Volume One, The Rising Years, covers the years to the end of

1958, while Volume Two, The Summit Years, covers the period from 1958 to 1984.

Fleming writes clearly and ably, though he tends to shift subjects rather abruptly. While writing style does not weaken the book, the content selection does. The reader is informed in chapter after chapter and in extended detail of Mr. Fleming’s actions and accomplishments. Speeches, both in and out of Parliament, are paraphrased and quoted in paragraph after paragraph; the reader is engulfed with detail as to where the author went, whom he met and what was allegedly said.

This book desperately needed the guidance of a very strong editor. Fleming has not been pushed to develop a sense of purpose behind the writing of this book, other than the obvious self-serving function. The result is a rather pompous tone and a thrust of self-justification; the book becomes somewhat tiresome well before the end.

Rather than paraphrasing Hansard, Mr. Fleming might have devoted a little space to introspection. What was his political philosophy, for example? In the brief page in which this topic is addressed (p.74), the reader is told what the author thought of various political figures, but not of political ideas. More effective editing not only might have addressed this weakness, but might have caught some of the minor factual errors — George Drew, for example, led the national Conservative Party in two general elections, not three (p.243).

The selection of the end of 1958 as the dividing point for the two volumes is surprising. Presenting the early heady days of Diefenbaker’s vast majority government ends the book rather abruptly.

Volume Two is much more open and judgmental than the first. Fleming is quite revealing in his opinions (both directly and indirectly presented) of many of his Conservative Cabinet colleagues: Davie Fulton, George Hees, Alvin Hamilton, Howard Green, and, of course, John Diefenbaker. The accounts of Cabinet meetings, of party and manoeuvrings, and of Departmental activity all reveal a good deal of useful information. There is much that will be important to future analysts of the Diefenbaker era.

However, like the first volume, The Summit Years’ demonstrates an inability to stand back from the events and to contemplate issues of broader significance. For Fleming, these are battles still to be fought (or re-fought) — perhaps because of the reputation for failure and ineffectiveness that continues to characterize the Diefenbaker Conservative Government.