Statesmen, Strategists, and Diplomats

Dutil suggests that we examine each prime minister against three broad criteria: impacts on government structures, policies, and personal styles. This is a reasonable framework, moving us away from a purely descriptive account of a prime minister’s activities. The chapters concludes with short matrices that summarize how that prime minister fared, based on Dutil’s three criteria. It’s an innovative scorecard that aims to answer the question: What did this prime minister actually do on external affairs?

In a similar vein, the book concludes by ranking prime ministers on their foreign-policy performance and their overall legacy. There are clear winners, losers, and middle-range performers. For some historical fun, readers should do their own scoring before reading the academic assessors; for the record, I disagree with the book regarding William Lyon Mackenzie King and Brian Mulroney (I give the former a lower score and the latter a higher rating).

The substance of this fine book is found in the individual chapters on each prime minister, highlighting episodes that general biographies might overlook. For example, Barbara Messamore examines Macdonald’s role in the 1871 Treaty of Washington negotiations, including the vexed issue of American fisheries’ access to Canadian waters. She shows how Macdonald overruled his minister of marine and fisheries, Peter Mitchell, who had initiated aggressive enforcement actions against the Americans. The prime minister sought a bigger fish in the form of a reciprocal trade agreement, but he was also suspicious of the British government, which exercised senior international authority at that time. The prime minister alone was able to find a balance between competing domestic and international interests.

A clear pattern emerges from these essays. First, foreign policies are inevitably tied to domestic considerations, and the domestic is usually dominant. Second, the most successful prime ministers work in close partnership with the ministers responsible for foreign affairs or international trade. This has been especially true in recent years, given the technical complexity of files. The prime minister who hogs the puck will score fewer goals! And third, there is remarkable continuity in the issues that demand Canadian international attention — notably, trade and defence relations with the United States, protection of ocean boundaries and resources, and effective alliances within multilateral frameworks.

One other issue is alluded to but not deeply examined in this volume: our desultory military preparedness. It lurks in the background, taking front stage only when Canada has participated in global wars. Military capacity, together with development aid and legal expertise (especially in trade), are the core tools of international relations. The records and views of Canadian prime ministers in this area are worthy of deeper study.