Document generated on 09/24/2021 11:54 a.m. Labour Journal of Canadian Labour Studies Le Travail Revue d’Études Ouvrières Canadiennes Reviews Comptes Rendus Volume 82, Fall 2018 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1058031ar See table of contents Publisher(s) Canadian Committee on Labour History ISSN 0700-3862 (print) 1911-4842 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this review (2018). Review of [Reviews]. Labour / Le Travail, 82. All Rights Reserved ©, 2019 Canadian Committee on Labour History This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ REVIEWS / COMPTES RENDUS Christo Aivalis, The Constant Liberal: 1965. He went on to become prime min- Pierre Trudeau, Organized Labour, ister in 1968 and had a significant impact and the Canadian Social Democratic of Canadian politics, from the imposition Left (Vancouver: University of British of wage and price controls to patriation of Columbia Press 2018) the Constitution with a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Throughout it all, Aivalis In academic circles, the argument contends that Trudeau did not undergo that Pierre Trudeau was firmly and con- an ideological transformation, despite sistently committed to liberal democracy, the oft heard critique that Trudeau lost rather than socialist democracy, will not his left-wing ideals as a Liberal in gov- constitute an especially controversial ernment. Rather, according to Aivalis, thesis. However, Christo Aivalis’ book, Trudeau was a constant Liberal who, The Constant Liberal: Pierre Trudeau, while welcoming of many social demo- Organized Labour and the Canadian cratic ideas, ultimately embraced liberal- Social Democratic Left, serves a much ism because he saw it as a more inclusive, deeper purpose than what its title might catch-all, political project that could sub- otherwise suggest. Aivalis’ meticu- sume the best parts of left-wing thinking. lously researched work helps students In order to make sense of this deci- of Canadian politics, history, and la- sion, Aivalis sets out to explore Trudeau’s bour studies, to better understand why ideological roots and argues that while Trudeau ultimately chose liberalism over democratic socialists like Harold Laski, socialism after decades as an ally and fel- Eugene Forsey, and F.R. Scott influenced low traveller of the Left in Quebec. The his thinking, Trudeau’s own thinking was author’s highly readable narrative – span- consistently focused on the defence and ning five decades – focuses on a series of promotion of narrow democratic and po- key policy areas and ultimately delivers litical rights rather than a class-based ap- a thought-provoking social democratic proaches to rights, freedoms, or politics analysis of the politics of Pierre Trudeau. more generally. In fact, the book reveals as much about Focusing on Trudeau’s complex re- the ideology and politics of the social lationship with the labour movement, democratic left as it does about Trudeau. Aivalis’ analysis helps readers understand Aivalis’ work is a welcome addition to the how Trudeau’s central role in labour edu- growing bodies of literature on Trudeau cation and legal support for unions in and social democracy in Canada, Québec in the 1950s and 1960s was as respectively. much, if not more, about building a bul- Despite sustained engagement with la- wark against Premier Maurice Duplessis’ bour unions and the ccf-ndp through- repressive and undemocratic Union out the 1950s and early 1960s, Trudeau Nationale regime, than it was about help- first ran for office, and won, as a Liberal in ing workers’ struggles. In other words, his Table of Contents for Reviews, pp. 5–6. LLT82A.indb 251 2018-10-09 4:37 PM 252 / LABOUR/LE TRAVAIL 82 support for striking workers and unions constitution to demonstrate the prime (most famously in the Asbestos strike minister’s commitment to liberal over of 1949) was not class-based, but rather socialist values. driven by his desire to build a coalition Aivalis, however, is also careful to capable of defeating the Union Nationale deal with instances where Trudeau’s and pushing Québec towards embrac- policy positions seemingly rejected the ing a more liberal democratic form of “liberal” label. For example, Trudeau’s politics. support for economic nationalist mea- According to Aivalis, Trudeau’s quest sures in the 1970s, like the establishment to build a broad coalition of forces of the National Energy Program and in opposition to government repres- Canada Development Corporation, and sion is what ultimately led him to join the creation of Petro-Canada as a crown the Liberal Party rather than the ndp. corporation in the wake of the 1970s oil Despite close ties to many important crisis, seemingly belied his liberal ideo- figures in the ccf-ndp in Québec, and logical commitment to free trade. Aivalis despite repeated overtures and attempts deals with such instances nimbly, dem- to recruit Trudeau as a candidate, he in- onstrating that Trudeau was not above stead opted to run for the Liberal Party. compromising his ideological approach While sympathetic to many ndp policy in an effort to address a pressing politi- positions, Trudeau saw the ccf-ndp as cal issue or impending crisis. Aivalis is alien to, and thus unelectable in, Québec. quick to point out, however, that many of Moreover, he was repelled by what he saw Trudeau’s compromises were aided and as a desperate and misguided attempt by influenced by the small ndp caucus in the party to appeal to growing nationalist Ottawa who held the balance of power in sentiment in Québec by adopting a “Two a minority parliament between 1972 and Nations” approach to Canada. Trudeau 1974. also reasoned that the ndp’s emphasis on On the constitutional front, Aivalis class-based politics would cut off a rather argues that while patriation of the large constituency of voters who did not Constitution with a Charter of Rights identify with such an approach. and Freedoms was Trudeau’s greatest Trudeau easily won his seat in the 1965 political accomplishment, it was flawed election and in 1968 captured the lead- insofar as it excluded positive social and ership of the Liberal Party to become economic rights, including specifically Canada’s fifteenth prime minister. Once enumerated workers’ rights. This argu- in power, Aivalis reveals a prime minis- ment is pursued to underscore, once ter who was big on rhetoric, but fell short again, Trudeau’s commitment to liberal when it came to implementing his vi- over socialist democracy. sion for a “Just Society,” particularly on Aivalis’ use of the federal ndp and la- the issues of progressive taxation, social bour movement as comparative anchors spending, and income redistribution. from which to assess Trudeau’s political On these issues, Aivalis demonstrates and ideological orientation is interesting how Trudeau generally deferred to his and somewhat helpful in tracking trends Bay Street-connected finance minis- in post-war liberalism and social de- ters who showed little interest in pursu- mocracy. In most cases, the comparison ing left-wing policy prescriptions. More reveals substantive differences between pointedly, Aivalis zeros in on Trudeau’s Trudeau’s Liberals, on one hand, and the unsuccessful attempt to enshrine private federal ndp and its union allies, on the property rights into the new Canadian other. LLT82A.indb 252 2018-10-09 4:37 PM REVIEWS / COMPTES RENDUS / 253 Aivalis’ choice of comparator, however, opposition of the Federal ndp, or in rela- does bring with it analytical pitfalls. Like tion to support from two ndp premiers Trudeau, individual New Democrats, who wielded much more power and influ- unions, and labour leaders, vacillated ence than any New Democrat in Ottawa? in terms of both public policy prefer- Similar questions are raised in rela- ences and ideology. While Aivalis does a tion to Aivalis’ analysis of Trudeau’s role good job at explaining why these policy in the patriation of the Constitution with shuffles occurred, the shifting power a Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the bases within both the ndp and the labour early 1980s. Aivalis argues that Trudeau’s movement sometimes make compari- lack of support for the inclusion of posi- sons with Trudeau analytically tricky to tive economic and social rights in the sustain. This is especially true in assess- Charter provides more evidence of ing Trudeau’s politics in relation to ndp Trudeau’s consistent support for a liberal premiers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. rather than socialist human rights frame- While ndp Premiers Ed Schreyer and work. While Trudeau was clearly disin- Alan Blakeney are not ignored in the terested in enshrining positive social and book, federal ndp leaders get much more economic rights (like the right to a job, attention from Aivalis. While in one housing, or a clean environment) in the sense that seems reasonable given that Charter, the same is also true, more or federal ndp leaders were going toe to toe less, of the ndp and its labour movement with Trudeau on Parliament Hill, it is also allies. In fact, no social democratic leader true that federal ndp leaders never seri- in Canada, at either the federal or provin- ously had to wrestle with questions about cial level, was championing the inclusion how to implement their social demo- of positive social or economic rights in cratic agenda in government. An primary the Charter, and none made them a con- comparative focus on ndp premiers in dition of support for Trudeau’s consti- Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and tutional package.