Promises, Promises: Breaking Faith in Canadian Politics

Graeme S. Mount is a professor of history at Laurentian University, the
author of Canada’s Enemies: Spies and Spying in the Peaceable Kingdom,
and the co-author of The Border at Sault Ste. Marie.

Anthony Hyde has written a cynical, not particularly well-researched,
book, whose thesis is as follows: “surely no Canadian with an IQ over
50 actually expects politicians to tell the truth. On the contrary: most
of us assume that all politicians are liars.” Politicians’ alleged
lack of integrity is contrasted with the honesty of Hyde’s mother,
once a member of the United Church’s Canadian Girls in Training
(CGIT).

Hyde reviews a history of political lies, without regard to
chronological order. Mackenzie King failed to keep his promise that
there would be no conscription during World War II; John Diefenbaker
spoke such convoluted sentences that people could not remember the
question or follow his logic; Lester Pearson was boring; Pierre Trudeau
opposed wage and price controls in 1974, and then introduced them; Jean
Chrétien and the Liberals opposed the GST, then kept it; and Sheila
Copps did not disappear into oblivion as she had indicated.

Nor are Hyde’s villains all Liberals. Among those on the cover of his
book are Lucien Bouchard, Brian Mulroney, John Crosbie, and Bob Rae.
Conventional wisdom in Ontario is that whatever one thinks of Premier
Mike Harris and his policies, the Harris government is doing what it
said it would do; however, Harris too merits a photograph in Hyde’s
gallery of rogues. The author accuses Lucien Bouchard of “avoiding”
Montreal, but Bouchard has his home there. Hyde also pours contempt on
Preston Manning and B.C. Premier Glen Clark.

Canadians should not be complacent. Real problems do exist. However,
many problems are complex, and circumstances change. Unanticipated
recessions and prolonged world wars provoke sober second thought. It is
only fair to make allowances. If Hyde is right and Canadians invariably
elect people of bad character, somebody should analyze Canadian
stupidity or wickedness. Hyde has not done so.