The Canadian Military: A Profile ed. by Hector J. Massey (review)

ß Rewews CANADA The Canadian Military: A Profile. Edited by HECTOR J. MASSEY. Toronto, CoppClark,x97 •. Pp.viii, 29o.$6.95. As both Professor Masseyand his publishers shrewdlyconcluded,Canada's military institutionsare ripe for study.The current cyclicalresurgence of Canadiannationalism should entitleoneof theclassic agencies of thenationalist spiritto a freshexamination. Armedforces unification andthe change of policy reflectedin the I97o White Paperon defenceprovidea convenient transition point. Unfortunately,thoseresponsible for thisbookseemto havebeenmoreeager to exploita needthan to fill it. As any bookstore browserwill soondiscover, it is shoddily produced,carelessly edited,and, for a paperback, scandalously over-priced. If the word'profile'in thetitle impliesanysortof coherent picture of the Canadianarmedforces,this bookfits the description aswell as that notorious report on the elephantby a committee of blind men. A three-page introduction by theeditordoes notgivecoherence to whatin factisan almost accidental collection of essays. Finally,it becomes apparentthat a bookwhich appeared in I97• wasalmostwhollycompleted by the summer of •969. Consideringthe presentorientationof many of the articles,their preoccupation with the closing of CanadianForces BaseSummerside to the exclusion of such significant episodes asaid to the civilpowerin Quebecin the autumnof 197 ø mustsurely embarrass everyone connected with thebook. Theseproblems are not,of course, primarilythe responsibility of the contributors .The nine articlescollectedby Mr Masseyare, for the mostpart, respectable and DenisStairs'account of the influence of the Canadianarmed forces in our postwarforeignpolicyisa brilliantcontribution to contemporary history. R.H. Roy'sbuoyant stylemaysustain thereaderon a breathless rush REVIEWS 299 throughour military historybut too little spaceremainsfor his ostensible topic,our militarytradition.Whilehe establishes the close Britishlinksof all threeof the formerservices, he haslittle timeto explaintheinconvenience of that particulartradition,particularlyin involvingFrenchCanada,and none at all to consider howfar it hasbeensupplanted byAmericaninfluences. Those familiar with R.A. Preston's essay on military influences on Kingstonwill welcome hisextension of that topic,albeitanecdotally, to the entirecountry. G.F.G. Stanley's account of militaryeducation in Canadais devoted chieflyto postwardevelopments. He and anotherparticipant-contributor, Lieutenant GeneralG.G. Simonds, enjoyanotherroundof debateaboutthe meritsof a degree-granting militarycollege. Other contributors offer two viewsof the unificationcontroversy, both from narrowlyfocussed perspectives. Wing CommanderJohn Gellnerurgesus to rememberthat military spendingservescivilian purposeswhile Pierre Coulombe, armedwith datafurnished to theRoyalCommission onBilingualism and Biculturalism, tells us that the socialand culturalcomposition of our armedforces does not reflectthat of thepopulation asa whole.Thisastonishing discovery wouldmatterrathermoreif Mr Coulombe had a sophisticated understanding ofwhythishadhappened. However,the faultsof the booklie mainlywith the editorwho failed to provideuswith coherence (or evencarefulproof-reading) and hispublisher. Therearefrightening rumours thatthiskindof conglomerate production isthe waveof the futurein academic publishing. If that should betrue,theleastwe mustdemandis that editors worka lot harderto earntheir placeon the title page. DESMOND MORTON ErindaleCollege,University of Toronto The FinancialSystem of Canada:Its GrowthandDevelopment. •..r. Toronto,Macmillan,z97•. Pp.xxiv,645.$•o.oo. This is a comprehensive historicalstudyof the institutions of the Canadian capitalmarket.In recentyearsthe volumeof research and writing on this market hasbeengrowing.Royal Commissions have made their contributions as have private scholars, includingProfessor Neufeld. Most of this recent materialhasconcentrated uponthe contemporary scene or uponvery recent times.In it a point of view asto the functions of a capitalmarkethasbeen articulatedaswell asan analysis of the rolesof moderninstitutions in serving thosefunctions. Professor Neufeldhassought to utilizethismodernanalytical frameworkin examiningand describing the evolutionof Canadianfinancial institutions. The bookiswellorganized. It begins withanintroduction thatexplains what a capitalmarketis and does,how the variousintermediaries in it assist in the process of passing savings to investors, and how the regulations of authorities mayhelpor hampertheprocess. There followsa conspectus, runningovertwo ...