Right Honourable Men: The Descent of Canadian Politics from Macdonald to Mulroney

David A. Lenarcic teaches history at Wilfrid Laurier University in
Waterloo.

This book, which provides mini-biographies of 10 Canadian prime
ministers, attempts to show that since the mid-19th century power within
the Canadian parliamentary system has “descended” from the elite of
politicians and their advisers to the “people,” whose standards for
judging their leaders’ performance have risen considerably over time.

The author deftly uses his knowledge of the key secondary literature
and relevant archival sources to supply a fine synopsis of prevailing
and sometimes conflicting interpretations, both contemporary and
historiographical, of these individuals. He is also not reticent about
injecting his own evaluation of the prime ministers as well as his
opinion of certain historians’ views of them. This, along with a
dollop of humorous anecdotes, helps produce an entertaining and colorful
account laced with some intriguing reappraisals. Nor is Bliss shy about
comparing both the negative and positive qualities of the prime
ministers. Mackenzie King and Pierre Trudeau emerge as Canada’s “two
greatest,” while Arthur Meighen, R.B. Bennett, and Brian Mulroney rank
among the “lesser” ones. The former at least had some realization
that “they had no power except that which derived from the people.”

This book fills a gap in the literature by painting a collective
portrait of these leaders in such a way as to highlight the evolution of
Canadian politics. Yet, the author’s case could have been made clearer
by a concluding chapter that summarized his argument, with more specific
comparative references to the prime ministers that directly linked them
to the book’s central theme. The epilogue concentrates on the Canadian
political system more than on the prime ministers, without fully
reviewing the exact connection between the two. This somewhat swims
against the tide of the book’s chapters, where the main focus is on
individual personalities.

Despite this flaw (and the unjustified omission of Louis St. Laurent),
this well-written book is an insightful and important contribution to
Canadian political history, one that both an academic and a general
audience will find eminently helpful in trying to understand the
nature—and limits—of political leadership in Canada, past, present,
and future.