Boundless Optimism: Richard McBride’s British Columbia by Patricia E. Roy (review)

This book is a biography of British Columbia’s most famous premier and probably one of Canada’s most prominent historically: Sir Richard McBride. No one is more qualified in my opinion to undertake this task than Patricia E. Roy, who is one of British Columbia’s leading historians and has had a long and illustrious career, publishing extensively on the ‘White Canada Policy’ in particular. The book takes Mcbride’s life from growing up in the newly created province of British Columbia in the late nineteenth century to his untimely death in London, United Kingdom, at the age of 46. Therefore, one of the strengths of focusing on McBride is that his life very much parallels the rise of British Columbia as Canada’s third most populous province.

McBride, as Roy quite rightly points out, epitomised the complementary identities most English-speaking Canadians held at the beginning of the twentieth century, who identified strongly as a British people, but also had a passionate patriotism both for Canada and for their province. Roy draws attention to significant examples of where these multiple identities came to the fore in McBride’s life. The first in his strong vocal support for an Imperial Navy: he was convinced that only if all parts of the British Empire contributed to their collective defence could the British World continue to thrive as it had done. This was of particular importance in the context of the rise of Germany. McBride’s passionate support for an Imperial Navy was one of the reasons why he was given a knighthood by the ‘mother country’, which was a common aspiration of many politicians in the Dominions.

McBride’s Canadian patriotism came to the fore in his ardent support for the ‘White Canada Policy’. Although on the surface potential Asian migration to Canada really only affected the west-coast province of British Columbia, McBride was conscious of the danger as he saw it of increasing Asian migration to the survival of Canada as a white, British nation. Therefore, he gave his strong backing to federal British Columbian politicians to apply pressure on the federal government to introduce legislation which restricted Asian migration to the entire country. McBride’s love of British Columbia was probably the most consistent throughout his political career. He went out of his way to secure ‘Better Terms’ for the province from Ottawa, and quite often appealed over its head to the Colonial Office in London. The fruits of McBride’s efforts were clearly on display with British Columbia emerging as the third most populous province and taking advantage of its vast natural resources.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and recommend it wholeheartedly to both specialists and general readers alike. It should take pride of place for historians of not only British Columbia, but also Canada and the British World in general.