Worst of times, best of times

Brooke Jeffrey, of Concordia’s Department of Political Science, has just published the first academic book on the Liberal Party of Canada to be written since the Trudeau years.

Divided Loyalties: The Liberal Party of Canada, 1984– 2008 provides incisive analysis on a difficult period in party history and posits that conflicting positions on national unity within the party’s leadership were responsible for the difficulties the party faced in the years after Pierre Trudeau retired in 1984.

“Canadian federalism is a key issue. Trudeau had a pan-Canadian vision,” posits Jeffrey. John Turner succeeded Trudeau as party leader and led the Liberal Party into an election that lost them more than two-thirds of their Parliamentary seats. While theorists have blamed that crushing defeat on personalities or other issues, Jeffrey says it was Turner’s vision of a decentralized nation that cost the party many votes. She adds that the Liberals had always distinguished themselves from other parties with their strong centralist stance. “Turner’s subsequent support for Meech Lake tore the party asunder,” explains Jeffrey. “Turner couldn’t win with the approach he took on federalism.” Divided Loyalties applies that thesis over the next twoand- a-half decades.

Jeffrey is in a position to know. Recruited by the Liberals the year after their 1984 defeat, Jeffrey left the public service to become Director of the Liberal Caucus Research Bureau. That position made her both privy to, and in some cases directly involved in, decisions affecting the party’s direction and policies for the next several years.

“I wasn’t a card-carrying Liberal when they recruited me,” recalls Jeffrey, adding that she did know people associated with the party. “In 1984 there were a lots of comments about how the Liberals were about to disappear, or become a third party.”

Despite the negative climate, Jeffrey found her sympathies were with the Liberals. “I did not want to continue working under Mulroney. I couldn’t stay in the public service.”

Almost a decade later, in 1993, Jean Chrétien was elected Prime Minister and the party won with their third-best performance in party history.

That was when Jeffrey left Parliament Hill for Concordia University. Currently an associate professor in her department, she is also Director of the Master in Public Policy and Public Administration. Jeffrey says she’s often been asked to write about theat party’s difficult period after Trudeau’s retirement. “Initially, it seemed too painful, and too many of the people involved were still around,” says Jeffrey. But she realized the story of the challenges faced and lessons learned was an important one. “The task was enormous, and how we overcame it is a success story.”

Jeffrey began her research four years ago, contacting senior party members and politicians for interviews. Her ongoing connection to the party (she continues to be involved in party activities, and dedicated Divided Loyalties to her mentor, the late Charles Caccia) gave her unprecedented access.

“It’s remarkable how many people were willing to talk with me,” Jeffrey says. “With the exception of three or four people every politician and senior party official I approached granted me an interview.”

Add to that the store of documents, memos and materials she’s collected over the years and it is clear she was ideally suited to take on the task. Looking at the issues with hindsight, she says “it’s clear that some of the things we saw as problems in the early days were not that significant.” However, she was unprepared to discover the party had been nearly bankrupt in the wake of the 1984 election. “Finding out how close the party was to disappearing would make your hair stand on end.”

While most of her research confirmed her impressions of the party over the years, she was surprised to learn how deliberately Chrétien had governed, despite a general impression of his tenure as laissez-faire apart from the Clarity Act. “The amount accomplished during the Chrétien years has been underestimated by political scientists and Canadians.”

Jeffrey has catalogued a range of achievements she attributes to Chrétien ranging from support for environmental and social programs to his contributions to post-secondary education, such as the establishment of Canada Research Chairs and Millennium Scholarships.

In addition to presenting the Liberal Party from an insider’s perspective, Jeffrey also feels the book will be useful to help political scientists understand the day-to-day operations of Parliament.

Related links:
• More about Brooke Jeffrey
• The Liberal Party of Canada
• Concordia Department of Political Science
• Concordia Master in Public Policy and Public Administration