This is the book for policy wonks. The Globe and Mail’s Edward Greenspon and Anthony Wilson-Smith of Maclean’s have combined their leaks into a long, intensely detailed analysis of the Chrétien government’s time in power. Their focus is the deficit, social security reform, and the reorganization of government. Despite its importance, Quebec is treated not peripherally, but secondarily; happily there is scarcely a word on the Somalia affair that disturbingly churns on and on.

What they do, Greenspon and Wilson-Smith do very well indeed. They paint Chrétien as a Mackenzie King clone, a prime minister who believes that what is prevented is at least as important as what is accomplished. Chrétien gives his ministers a long leash and interferes only when absolutely necessary, and there is no gainsaying that this recipe has been remarkably successful if the opinion polls are to be believed. But the authors suggest that power has begun to corrupt, though not yet absolutely. Chrétien, they say, is convinced that he is always right, a habit of mind that has been and is critical in shaping his response to Quebec.

The dominant figure in this book is not Chrétien, however; it is Minister of Finance Paul Martin, the
socially conscious Liberal who has transformed himself into the King of the Deficit Fighters. The view of Martin is devastating but sympathetic, and the accounts of the minister’s ragings at his staff suggest a man on the edge; that his staff are simultaneously loyal and devoted belies this. Martin’s struggle to craft his budgets and impose his policies on his colleagues are especially well detailed, notably his alliance with Marcel Massé, who aimed to slash and decentralize government, and his near-war with Human Resources minister Lloyd Axworthy. One of the few left-Liberals in cabinet, Axworthy fought hard for a reformed but viable social safety net, but the Martin-Massé alliance simply out-argued and out-gunned him. A few billions saved, a few hundred thousand more people on welfare.

Wilson-Smith and Greenspon’s ultimate message is that Canada has changed beyond redemption. The government is dominated by bean counters, and vision has been left behind. The policy is to cut back and devolve power. There are pressing fiscal reasons for this, of course, but it is a real question if Canada can survive such an approach, no matter what happens in Quebec. No social programs of consequence, no CBC, privatization everywhere – what will hold us together? Not the praise of the International Monetary Fund or the gnomes of Wall Street.