No Holds Barred: My Life in Politics

J.L. Granatstein, distinguished research professor emeritus of history
at York University, is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and
co-author of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Influential Canadians of the
20th Century and the Dictionary of Canadi

John Crosbie tells it like it is, and this is one book that lives up to
its title. A long-serving Newfoundland provincial and federal
politician, the scion of one of the province’s wealthiest and most
distinguished families, Crosbie held high positions with substantial
distinction. He worked for Joey Smallwood, then later turned against the
old man when he hung on to power long past his prime. He went to Ottawa,
delivered the budget that brought down Joe Clark’s government in 1979,
and then held a succession of key portfolios under Brian Mulroney, the
man who defeated him for party leadership in 1983.

Crosbie’s is a distinguished record, but readers will almost
certainly be lured into the book less by accounts of policy than by his
wonderful directness. The politically correct will tut-tut, no doubt, as
Crosbie pokes and prods every sacred cow from feminism to bilingualism
to the media. More to the point, he wins hands down each and every time,
his book being a refreshing gust of fresh (admittedly sometimes hot)
air.

Even so, Crosbie’s record should be recalled. He was a progressive
Minister of Justice, and he was one of the key proponents of the Free
Trade Agreement (although he damaged his cause by admitting that he
hadn’t read the agreement’s hundreds of pages of fine print). Above
all, he was a Newfoundlander, a politician who understood the reality of
Canada—that patronage matters. In his unapologetic way, Crosbie set
out to get everyone on his island a job, a grant, or a program. He
didn’t quite succeed, but he likely came closer than most politicians
who are far more pious about the realities of public life.