Plain Talk!: Memoirs of an Auditor General

Kenneth M. Glazier was Chief Librarian Emeritus at the University of Calgary, Alberta.

Auditors in the corporate world are anonymous persons who stand behind the shield of their firm’s name, such as Price Waterhouse, with no mention of the names of the individual accountants who do the auditing. The Auditor General for the Government of Canada, however, is a high-profile person subject to the praise (if any) and the criticism (more likely) and often bitter attacks by members of Parliament. At the present time, 1985, Auditor General Kenneth Dye is very much in the media as he pursues his attempt before the Supreme Court to obtain additional files on the takeover by Petro Canada of PetroFina.

Hence the particular pertinence of this new book of the memoirs of a previous auditor general, Maxwell Henderson. Many people would like to know what kind of man is appointed to this important position: what was his background and training, what are his qualifications and duties. To answer these and many other questions, this book is an excellent introduction. Though Henderson was born in England and began his early training there, he spent most of his career in Canada and was proud of his adopted country. He had integrity and, while his associates did not always agree with him, they admired his frankness and honesty. He was a man of culture, participated in amateur theatre and was particularly interested in painting, as his wife was an accomplished artist. He had a sense of humour, certainly an essential attribute if one is to survive in the corporate world or government. (He tells the story of a secretary in his department who had repeatedly tried to get a working fan for the office of her important boss. Finally, in exasperation, she hurled the old one out the window onto the pavement. Then she got results with a new big fan.)

The cast of characters on the stage where he performed was an impressive list, and he gives us candid comments on all of them: Hugh MacLennan, who wrote the fitting introduction, was a good friend over many years; Sam Bronfman, a man of tremendous drive who was ruthless toward those who dared to oppose him; Cyrus Eaton, the Canadian-born tycoon, in his vast industrial complex headquartered in Cleveland, who was a small, vindictive man behind the front. There were some whom Henderson admired greatly: A. Davison Dunton of the CBC, Donald Gordon, Foreign Exchange Control Board, and others. He never established a rapport with Pierre Trudeau, and it was during Trudeau’s regime that Henderson was subject to much criticism (allegedly over policy decisions) that led Henderson to walk out.

For anyone interested in the business climate and the political scene of Henderson’s day, this book is well worth reading.