In 1990, William Gairdner, a relatively unknown academic and author, burst onto the scene with The Trouble with Canada. The book was a citizen’s call to action—and a rather fierce one at that. It challenged decades-old Canadian thinking about liberty, family, taxes, history, and politics, and exposed its horrendously flawed system of left-leaning principles and policies. At a time when Canadians relished complacency and shunned innovative thinking, Gairdner’s tome woke up right-thinking individuals to the dangers that lay ahead if the country continued down the same path. In many ways, The Trouble with Canada helped rejuvenate Canada’s conservative movement with fresh ideas and a bold new political direction. Alas, the impact of Gairdner’s devastating intellectual critique only went so far.
Since the end of World War I, Canada has had a love-hate relationship with political conservatism. The Liberal Party has been firmly entrenched in government for roughly 70 percent of this time period. Infrequent conservative interludes have been taken up by either left-leaning, state-loving red Tories (John Diefenbaker, R. B. Bennett, Joe Clark, and Kim Campbell), or traditional, protectionist Tories (Robert Borden, Arthur Meighen). Even the two notable exceptions, Brian Mulroney and the current prime minister, Stephen Harper, have operated primarily as political centrists, either by choice or necessity.
The sad truth is the title of Gairdner’s excellent new book, The Trouble with Canada . . . Still!, perfectly sums up the past two decades of frustration for some Canadian conservatives. Recognizing a series of
