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Pearson: The Unlikely Gladiator ed. by Norman Hillmer (review)
- University of Toronto Quarterly
- University of Toronto Press
- Volume 70, Number 1, Winter 2000/2001
- pp. 470-471
- Review
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
470 letters in canada 1999 Cold War B this biography plays Pasternak false. Barnes's hero has been burdened with a spotlessness that would render him quite uninteresting were the portrait not so entirely implausible, so transparently evasive whenever this reader's curiosity is aroused. Ivinskaya's memoir for all its falsehoods and self-justifications is more convincing; and far more detailed in its confused and compromised image of a man whose immeasurable gift of clarity and caritas was not to be righteous but always to be `anyone,' and to know what it is to be `in my position,' to listen, even with love, to that which may not be the case. (CHARLES LOCK) Norman Hillmer, editor. Pearson: The Unlikely Gladiator McGill-Queen's University Press. x, 214. $29.95 In January 1994 the Globe and Mail's Edward Greenspon compared the early Chrétien government to the 1960s Pearson administration. Lester B. Pearson, he argued, taught rookie MP Jean Chrétien how to give his ministers a great deal of latitude to do their jobs without letting the effectiveness of cabinet be undermined by ministerial in-fighting and a lack of central control. Upon reading this book, Greenspon might have added that, occasionally, Pearson taught Jean Chrétien by negative example. In his foreword to this collection of essays on his erstwhile mentor, Prime Minister Chrétien chooses to focus on the triumphs rather than the mistakes of these years: Pearson's efforts to make Ottawa bilingual and have the federal level of government reflect both cultures; the introduction of a national flag; the end to the White Canada immigration policy; and social programs such as the Canada Pension Plan and Medicare. The positive tenor is not always echoed in the seventeen essays which follow. Written by both academics and practitioners of the time, these short pieces attempt to assess Pearson's prime ministerial record and legacies. His years in office, asserts editor Norman Hillmer, were a contradiction, marked by inconsistencies and paradoxes caused by Pearson's ability to see all sides of an argument and concomitant inability to commit himself deeply or passionately to causes or ideologies. They were both triumph and failure. The theme of paradox prevails throughout the book. Pearson, writes historian Robert Bothwell, was an ordinary Canadian who developed extraordinary skills. A product of a very British Canada, Pearson first flourished as a diplomat in 1930s and 1940s London and Washington. It was in the international arena, political scientist Denis Stairs argues, that his political education happened and Pearson became a liberal pluralist, a person who believes that good politics resolves conflicts in a way that partially satisfies all parties. This, then, was the essence of the Pearson humanities 471 paradox. To the postmodern reader, Pearson's ability to accept multiple portraits of reality, each of them true but incomplete, may seem enlightened, but historians looking for certainties are less enthralled. Pearson used his talents best in the years during which he was confined to the opposition benches and did not have the responsibility to make policy decisions. It was here that Pearson demonstrated his capacity of delegating intelligently. As political historian Penny Bryden proves, Pearson deserves credit for bringing into the Ottawa orbit a number of progressive social policy planners and letting them develop public support for their ideas against the opposition of the old guard of Mackenzie King and St Laurent Liberals. Once faced with implementing controversial social programs as prime minster, however, his determination often faltered in the face of provincial or political opposition. Walter Gordon was hung out to dry when he would not let go of his fixation on curbing foreign investment, while Medicare nearly died a premature death induced by Pearson's hesitation and procrastination. As Greg Donaghy's essay reveals, Pearson's unsteady support for political friends and allies was also obvious in the arena of international relations. A Nobel prize winner and father of a distinctive Canadian style of diplomacy, Pearson occasionally interfered in the domain of his friend and rival, external affairs minister Paul Martin Sr. When Martin wanted to develop an independent Canadian policy in Asia, Pearson stalled. Grasping the reality of Canada's international...