"As Prime Minister I Would .," Vol. 3, 1997-98

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

There is something slightly frightening in contemplating what one would
do with the opportunity to exercise power in this or any other country.
Move this, change that, stop one program and start another. The feeling
that results from contemplating unbridled power is inevitably a bit
giddy. On the other hand, when the main proponents of the plans are
young people, there is the opportunity to see what youth think needs to
be done. And in this book, we have a remarkable collection of “young
fogies” who sound like nothing so much as members of the Business
Council on National Issues-in-training. Cut spending, slash the deficit,
roll back programs. There is not necessarily anything wrong with this
approach, but somehow we might have expected a shade more radicalism in
the young. The old French saw was that a man who was not a socialist in
his 20s or a conservative in his 40s was untrustworthy. Not in Canada,
apparently. Of course, we must remember that this book is sponsored by
Frank Stronach’s Magna for Canada Scholarship program, and it may be
that the judges gravitate toward the conservative and responsible rather
than the visionary. Again, there’s nothing wrong with this, but even
rightist platitudes pall after three or four repetitions.