The Little Book of Reform

Penny E. Bryden teaches history at Mount Allison University in New
Brunswick.

Preston Manning’s Reform Party emerged on the political landscape in
1987 and has been making an indelible impression ever since. This tiny
book is a tongue-in-cheek assessment of the Reform Party that uses the
Reformers’ statements to introduce readers to “Reform Thought that
Reform has thought.”

The quotations are both amusing and disturbing. But the real wit of the
book lies in the editors’ explanatory, barbed, or inquisitive
introduction to each quotation. For example, “On keeping an open mind
about Reform candidate John Carpay publishing a newspaper for an
ultraconservative fringe group connected with white supremacists:
‘He’s also one of our youngest candidates and we believe in giving
younger candidates the benefit of the doubt.’—Preston Manning.”
The index is also amusing, with entries such as “all, kill them, shots
needed to” and “Medicare, for the poor, not.” This compact book,
which highlights the inanities of Reform, is an entertaining and
worthwhile 10- to 15- minute read.