Blues and Rouges, Grits and Graft

less valuable than it might otherwise be. All three books demonstrate again the close relationship between business and government. They show that while industries might enjoy considerable government aid without experiencing much interference, government could refuse aid such as tariff concessions or could intervene whenever it chose to do so. This was especially true in wartime, as the stories of Algoma and Eldorado affirm, or when security of supply was uncertain as in the case of energy policy. It is also evident that individual cabinet ministers, notably C.D. Howe and Marc Lalonde, wielded enormous influence over the direction of particular policies. In many instances in Canadian history, government may well have been "a client of the business community,"6 but this was not always so. These three books also suggest that while Canadianization may be a popular slogan, Canadian ownership does not guarantee independence of foreign markets or competition. Comparing subjects which attracted historians with one which intrigued political scientists is also instructive. Although their respective companies still operate, McDowall and Bothwell terminate their studies in the late 1950s. Their books are self-contained but leave certain questions unanswered. What happened to Algoma after the Canadian Pacific Railway acquired majority interest ? How did Eldorado fare after it lost its assured American market? Distance in time may lend perspective but it does not necessarily produce a complete story. More strikingly, Doern and Toner's study of the "volatile and often scabious world of energy politics" (446) was dated as it went to press. At that time (October 1984) the Mulroney government was only a month old, problems in western Canadian banking were not widely known, and petroleum prices had not dropped precipitously. Thus, The Politics ofEnergy is likely to be only one of several good accounts of petroleum policy in the 1980s. In contrast, although they do not tell the contemporary story of their subjects, Steel at the Sault and Journal of Canadian Studies Vol. 21, No. 3 (Autonzne 1986 Fall) Eldorado are not likely to be soon superseded as definitive works within their own limits. In sum, by providing new illustrations of old themes and by raising questions about present matters, all three volumes demonstrate the symbiotic relationship of business and politics and the relevance of business history to Canadian historiography. PATRICIA E. ROY University of Victoria NOTES * I wish to thank my colleague, Eric Sager, for his perceptive comments on the manuscript of the review. 1. Don Davis, Doug McCalla, Duncan McDowall and Tom Traves, "Introduction ," Journal of Canadian Studies, 20 (Fall 1985), p. 4. 2. John Richards and Larry Pratt, Prairie Capitalism: Power and Influence in the New West (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979), p. 157. 3. Robert Bothwell and William Kilbourn, C.D. Howe: A Biography (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979), p. 352. 4. McDowall does not examine Algoma's donations to party coffers. Such a study would be instructive. It is known that in 1940, for example, Algoma gave $10,000 to the federal Liberals. Reginald Whitaker, The Go vernment Party (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977), p. 125. 5. Saturday Night, 101 (April 1986), p. 18. 6. H.V. Nelles, The Politics ofDevelopment (Toronto: Macmillan, 1974), p. 495. Blues and Rouges, Grits and Graft STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART. Jean Chretien. Toronto: Key Porter, 1986. CANADIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT. H.D. Forbes. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1985. THE 49TH PARADOX: CANADA IN NORTH AMERICA. Richard Gwyn. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1985. 153 MR. SPEAKER. James Jerome. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1985. UP THE HILL. Donald Johnston. Montreal : Optimum, 1986. THE RISE AND FALL OF ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND OTHER ESSAYS. CB. Macpherson. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. PERSUADERS: LOBBYING, INFLUENCE PEDDLING AND POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN CANADA. Paul Malvern. Toronto: Methuen, 1985. AGENDA FOR CANADA: TOWARDS A NEW LIBERALISM. John Roberts. Toronto: Lester and Orpen Dennys, 1985. For most of us our country seems like the Canadian shield, solid and timeless , but on reflection we should realize that it is not like that. Names have changed, territory has been added, constitutional arrangements have been modified. Even the words to the national anthem have been revised. It should not, then, be surprising that our political culture has...