Not My Party: The Rise and Fall of Canadian Tories, from Robert Stanfield to Stephen Harper

by Tom McMillan

Overview

This outspoken, timely book by former Mulroney Cabinet Minister Tom McMillan indicts Stephen Harper for destroying the historic Canadian Conservative Party while prime minister and party leader, accusing him of turning a force for progressive Canadian values into an American Republican-style vehicle for right-wing ideologues. Lamenting Harper’s hyper-partisan “cult of personality” politics, McMillan argues the Conservative Party is no longer the enlightened national institution founded by Sir John A. Macdonald and nurtured by successive Tory leaders until the 2003 Reform/Canadian Alliance Party merger.

In a crisp, conversational tone, McMillan contrasts this new brand of Conservatism with Robert Stanfield’s 1960s/’70s “politics of thoughtfulness,” assessing the impact of Stanfield’s legacy on successive Conservative leaders. He urges Conservative progressives to reclaim their party from right-wing extremists and revive its commitment to nation-building and national unity; to re-brand itself, once again, as Progressive Conservative.

A fascinating political memoir from a long-time Conservative Party insider, Not My Party explores the evolution—or devolution—of Canada’s Conservative Party, how backroom party politics operates, and political leaders succeed or fail.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771084246
Publisher:	Nimbus
Publication date:	02/06/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Tom McMillan is a former federal Cabinet minister, including as Minister of the Environment, and was Canada’s Consul General to New England, at Boston. He served as a Member of Parliament from PEI for nine years. Before that, he was Policy Secretary to Rt. Hon. Robert L. Stanfield, leader of the PC Party of Canada. McMillan graduated from St. Dunstan’s (UPEI) A and Queen’s Universities. A political scientist, he resides in Boston and has three daughters.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Prologue: A Chance Encounter 4

Part I Searching for Progressive Conservatism: The Robert Standfield Years

1 Politics in the Blood 8

2 An Unlikely Political Star: The Ascent of Robert Stanfield 21

3 Stumbles, Fumbles, and Bumbles 28

4 The Politician and the Academic 37

5 Honeymooning in Niagara 43

6 Planned and Processed Policy 52

7 "A rose by any other name" 73

8 The Court and Keeper of the Keys 87

9 Countdown to D-Day: The 1972 National General Election 104

10 The Sausage Factory 111

11 Brains Trust 116

12 The Ear of the Leader 128

13 Before the Fall 135

14 Of Mice and Men and Monopoly 148

Part II Inside Looking Out: Progressive Conservatism in Action

15 The Opposition Years: Baptism of Fire 160

16 Unlikely Atlantic Canadian Champion 194

17 Moose, Mountains, and Mounties 203

18 "PM, we have to stop meeting like this" 217

19 Getting an Earful 232

20 Raindrops Keep Fallin 244

21 South Moresby: A Tory Vision 264

22 Elizabeth May: My Mixed Blessing 276

23 Royal Visits, Royal Duties 294

24 The Mulroney Government 314

25 Rogues Gallery 365

26 Fighting the Home Fires 398

27 "If it moves, pension it-if not, pave it" 420

28 The 1988 Federal Election 438

Part III Outside Looking In: Conservatism from a New Perspective

29 Working for the "Vatican" 468

30 The Last Hurrahs 485

31 Conservatives in the Third Millennium 503

Acknowledgements 552

Notes 554

Index 581