Frederick Haultain: Frontier Statesman of the Canadian Northwest by Grant MacEwan (review)

REVIEWS 117 enoughwhenconsidering that SiftonregardedbothLaurier and Bordenas dubious andprobablyincompetent administrators. Hall has written an excellent,well-documentedand carefully argued politicalbiography.Siftonwas,however,alsoa businessman who acquired greatwealth.Hewassecretive abouthisbusiness ventures, andleftfewrelevant private business papers. Hall provides anumberof tantalizing bitsandpieces of informationaboutSifton'sbusiness activities, but no comprehensive or authoritative pictureemerges.In part this is certainlydue to the limited information available. Oneobviously cannotfaultanhistorianfor refusingto gowherehissources failhim.Somecriticism isnevertheless possible. Hall has notexaminedcollections of companydocuments pertainingto industries in which Sifton was known to be active. The facts of Sifton's involvement in the controversial GeorgianBay Canalproject,for example,are given,but the largerandmorecomplexissues surroundinghydroelectric developments in the •92osaresummarized in a rathercursory manner.This stands in sharp contrast tothecomprehensive treatmentof issues suchastheschool clauses. Similarly, Siftoninvested inwestern lands,butnocomprehensive treatmentof western landspeculation isprovided.It isnotlikely,however, thatadditional historical information on the businessesthat Sifton became involved in would providea comprehensive pictureof hisfinances, butit mighthelpreadersto understand betterhowmoneywasin factmadein thosedays. Asapolitical biography thevolume isexcellent. The research isexceptionally thorough,and presented in a balanced andcomprehensive manner.This biographycertainlyincreasesour knowledgeand understandingof an exceptionally importantpoliticianin a periodof veryrapid nationalgrowth and development. ProfessorHall hassucceeded brilliantlyin a difficult and challenging task. TEO REGEI•R University ofSaskatchewan Frederick Haultain: Frontier Statesman ofthe Canadian Northwest. GRANT MACEWAN. Saskatoon: Western Producer PrairieBooks•985. Pp.viii, •98. $•2.95 'GrantMacEwan,'states the blurb on the cover,'isat hisbestwhenrescuing frontierpersonalities from undeserved obscurity.' The latest'lost'persontobe sorescued isSirFrederickHaultain(•857-•94•), thedominantfigurein the politicsof the North-West Territories before •9o5, first leader of the opposition inSaskatchewan (to•9••), chiefjustice ofSaskatchewan (• 9••-38), andchancellor of the Universityof Saskatchewan (•9•7-38). MacEwanisat least acapable raconteur andretailerof themythology of western history, and thebookisapleasant introduction tothebasic knownfacts of Haultain's life. For those familiar with the literature, however, there is little that is new. 118 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Haultainisstilltheunsullied herooftheWeststanding uptotheinsensitivity of Ottawa,theuncorrupted championof non-partisan politics in selfless battle againstthe evilsof partisandivision,a man whosestruggleto impose government control overCatholic schools stemmed notfrombias orprejudice but solelyfrom a desirefor a better schoolsystem.The author remains blissfully unawareof mostof theliteratureof thelastfifteenyearsbearingon territorialpolitics, thevariousschool questions, territorialautonomy, andearly Saskatchewan politics. He hasabsolutely nothing ofconsequence tosayabout whatever impactHaultainmighthavehadaschiefjusticeof Saskatchewan for overaquarterof a century.All thisisa shamebecause, evenwithoutprivate papers, a morecomplexandsubtlepictureof Haultain'slife andtimeseasily couldhavebeendeveloped. r•AvmHAI•I• University ofAlberta SoVery Near:ThePolitical Memoirs oftheHonourable Donald M. Fleming, •: The RisingYears;•: TheSummitYears.Toronto: McClellandand Stewart •985. $6o.oothe set 'Ashismemoirs demonstrate, he couldseehimselfin no otherlight thanas blameless andabove reproach.' That isonlyoneofthemanycomments Donald Fleming makes in hismemoirs aboutJohnDiefenbaker, butit is,in fact,alsoa fair assessment of SoVery Near.What emerges from thistwo-volume workis that,withoneor twoexceptions of triflingimportance, virtuallyeverything Fleming didinhislongcareerasopposition member ofparliament from •945 to •957, ministerof financefrom •957 to •962, andministerofjusticefor the lastseveral monthsof the Diefenbakergovernment wasin hismind totally correct atthetimeandremains .completely justifiedstill.Mr Fleming, inother words, isnotamantroubledwithmanysecond thoughts. Hismemoirissimply extraordinary: itslength- twovolumes, oneof 58opages, theotherof 755 pages, and no fewerthan • •o chapters; the workhe says he put into it - 'I reviewed over2oocartons of my ownpapersandmorethan xo,ooo pages of Cabinet minutes and records ... I also reviewed •2o volumes of Hansard ... t25,ooo printed,double-column pages'; anditsall-inclusiveness. Nowhereelse inthisparsimonious ageof publishing areweeverlikelytogetfull accounts of Fieming's travels,hisdetailedobservations on Royaltours,a verycomplete digest of manyof hisspeeches in and out of the Houseof Commons, anda more-than-generous sampling of the praiseheapeduponhimbyjournalists andfriends.Wealsogetmanyspecimens of Fieming's opinions onextraneous foreignmatters:'The Greeksare a very cleanand tidy peopleand very temperate'; and'Portuguese, the otherlanguage of SouthAmerica,isrelated to Spanish.' Whatmakes these memoirs worthreading,however, isnotthebanality of ...