by Conrad Black
28. Ernest Lapointe (1876–1941), King’s Quebec lieutenant and Justice minister, King, future governor general Vincent Massey (1887–1967), and Peter Larkin (1855–1930), founder of the Salada Tea Company, whom King called “my (financial) angel” and appointed high commissioner in London. King was irrationally hostile to Massey. This is the Imperial Conference of 1926. (Photo Credit 28)
29. King’s Library in Laurier House. He governed Canada from here for more than twenty years. The painting is of King’s mother (reading a life of Gladstone) – a light shone upon it at all times. Here he received Churchill, Roosevelt, de Gaulle, Eisenhower, Truman, George VI, and in an adjacent room, he communicated with the spirits of those he revered. (Photo Credit 29)
30. The governor general, Lord Tweedsmuir (novelist John Buchan, 1875–1940), Mackenzie King, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (holding, because of his polio, his son James’s arm). Tweedsmuir was a capable governor general but exaggerated his knowledge of the United States and the possibilities for effective action of his position. Though Roosevelt’s great power and dazzling personality cast their spell on King, he was not overawed and the agreements he made with Roosevelt were always valuable for Canada. (Photo Credit 30)
31. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive in Canada at Wolfe’s Cove in Quebec, May 17, 1939, on the Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Australia, formerly Kaiser Wilhelm II’s yacht Tirpitz, to be greeted by King and Lapointe in their most formal attire. Ten weeks after the king and queen departed, Britain and Canada were at war with Germany. The visit of Roosevelt, above, and of George VI were the first official trips of incumbent holders of their offices to Canada. (Photo Credit 31)
32. Charles Gavan (Chubby) Power (1888–1968), about to be associate minister of National Defence, Ernest Lapointe, King, and the Defence minister (and King’s biographer) Norman Rogers (1894–1940) announce to the country Canada’s entry into the war in September 1939. King and Lapointe had already proclaimed the formula to avoid a reenactment of the crisis of 1917: full participation by the country, but voluntary overseas service. (Photo Credit 32)
33. King and Louis St. Laurent announcing victory in Europe, May 8, 1945: Power had retired, and Lapointe and Rogers had died, but King had recruited St. Laurent as successor to Lapointe and Laurier, and he, King, soldiered on through and out of the war. “After World War I, ‘business as usual’; after World War II ‘orderly decontrol’; always he led us back to where we were before.” (Photo Credit 33)
34. De Gaulle and King in 1944; they both railed against the authority of the Big Three and got on well together. Neither really spoke the other’s language so the source of King’s mirth here must remain a mystery. (Photo Credit 34)
35. Churchill graciously attended a Quebec cabinet meeting in September 1944, with the just reelected Maurice Duplessis, now on his best war-time behaviour as a Gaullist sympathizer and head of Quebec’s Victory Bond Drive. (Photo Credit 35)
36. Louis S. St. Laurent and his wife, Jeanne, with Mackenzie King at the trumped-up convention where St. Laurent was chosen to succeed King. Recruiting St. Laurent when Lapointe was incurably ill was one of King’s many brilliant strokes. Despite his apparent joviality, King was sick at the thought of retiring after twenty-nine years as Liberal leader. (Photo Credit 36)
37. Four prime ministers: Louis St. Laurent, Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, and Lester Pearson at Ottawa airport in 1954. St. Laurent and Pearson were well respected by foreign leaders. (Photo Credit 37)
38. Duplessis campaigning in 1952 with all-time French-Canadian hockey hero Maurice “Rocket” Richard. (Photo Credit 38)
39. Eight-term Montreal mayor Camillien Houde (1889–1958) and the popular and electrifying archbishop of Montreal Paul-Émile Cardinal Léger (1904–1991), in 1954. (Photo Credit 39)
40. René Lévesque interviewing External Affairs secretary Lester Pearson in Moscow in 1955. (Photo Credit 40)
41. U.S. president John F. Kennedy, Governor General Georges-P. Vanier, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, and Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Diefenbaker in front of Rideau Hall in Ottawa in 1961. Kennedy (correctly) could not believe that this erratic leader represented sensible Canadian opinion. (Photo Credit 41)
42. Pierre Trudeau, John Turner, Jean Chrétien, and Lester Pearson, 1967. All would be prime ministers and between them they led the federal Liberal Party from 1958 to 2003, thirty of those years as prime minister. (Photo Credit 42)
43. Biculturalism Royal Commissioners André Laurendeau, editor of Le Devoir and former politician, and university president and former CBC head Davidson Dunton said Canada was facing its greatest crisis. (Photo Credit 43)
44. Quebec premier Johnson recruited French president de Gaulle to assist him in his jurisdictional contest with Ottawa. He got more than he bargained for. De Gaulle came to Quebec in 1967 and urged it to secede. (Photo Credit 44)
45. Pearson, Trudeau, Paul Martin, and Premier Daniel Johnson at the end of Pearson’s last federal-provincial conference, in early 1968, where Trudeau and Johnson clashed sharply. The battle lines between Quebec and Ottawa were drawn and the skirmishing was intensifying. (Photo Credit 45)
46. Prime Minister Trudeau, followed by Quebec premier Robert Bourassa (far right), leaving the funeral of Quebec Labour minister Pierre Laporte in October 1970, after the murder of Laporte by the Front de Libération du Quebec. (Photo Credit 46)
47. Chinese leader Deng Xiao-ping receives Pierre Trudeau and his young wife, Margaret (behind). Trudeau had long been interested in China and opened relations with the People’s Republic in 1971. (Photo Credit 47)
48. Fidel Castro greets Margaret and Pierre Trudeau in Havana. Trudeau lavished altogether unjustified attention on secondary Communist leaders, and Fidel responded by whistling out an immense crowd of well-wishers to greet him. (Photo Credit 48)
49. British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, U.S. president Ronald Reagan, Brian Mulroney, and West German chancellor Helmut Kohl at a G-7 meeting. Mulroney got on well with all of them and they were all seminal leaders of their countries. Mulroney contributed valuably to the successful end of the Cold War and helped transform an Open Skies summit meeting in Ottawa in 1991 into a meeting between the two Germanys and the four occupying powers to discuss and agree the reunification of Germany. (Photo Credit 49)
50. Lucien Bouchard stares skeptically as leader of the federal Opposition at Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in Parliament. Bouchard almost won the 1995 Quebec independence referendum, but Chrétien recovered with the Clarity Act of 1999. (Photo Credit 50)
51. Residential progress from Champlain’s Habitation: Papineau’s seigneurial manor house at Montebello, La Petite-Nation, built between 1817 and 1850. (Photo Credit 51)
52. Dundurn Castle, built on Burlington Heights by Sir Allan Napier MacNab in 1835. MacNab (1798–1862) led the militia in suppressing Mackenzie’s rebellion in 1837. He was a long-serving legislator and led the government with Papineau’s old side-kick Augustin Morin. Papineau’s home shows the elegance of the more refined seigneurs, where Dundurn Castle shows the taste and means of a politician who said “All my politics are railroads.” He was a flamboyant rascal who yet rendered some service in all his roles. (Photo Credit 52)
53. Ravenscrag, the home of ship-owner, bank president, and political intriguer Sir Hugh Allan. Built in 1863, it presaged the palaces of the Robber Barons and from here Allan made the arrangements that brought down Macdonald and Cartier over the Pacific Scandal, in 1873. (Photo Credit 53)
54. Ever more opulent residences for Canadian titans of industry: In the early twentieth century – Sir Henry Pellatt’s Casa Loma in Toronto, 65,000 square feet, completed in 1914, almost evokes Ludwig II of Bavaria. (Photo Credit 54)
55. In the early twenty-first century – Paul G. Desmarais’ magnificent and secluded palace on tens of thousands of acres north of La Malbaie, Quebec, completed in 2003. This represents 400 years of progress in residential construction from Champlain’s Habitation 75 miles away. (Photo Cr
edit 55)
Photographic Credits
1. Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, Norway/Bridgeman Images;
2. Private Collection/Bridgeman Images;
3. Champlain on Georgian Bay by John David Kelly © McCord Museum;
4. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France; Giraudon/Bridgeman Images;
5. Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN no. 3919911;
6. Archives de la Manufacture, Sèvres, France; Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Images;
7. Louis XIV, 1638–1715, Library and Archives Canada, C-042278;
8. Colbert, Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN no. 4312672;
9. Talon, Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN no. 2909677;
10. François de Laval, Library and Archives Canada, C-005183;
11. La Vérendrye at the Lake of the Woods, Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1939-60-1, C-006896;
12. Sir Isaac Brock, Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1991-30-1, e010767950, e010767951, C-007760;
13. Hon. Louis Joseph Papineau, politician, Montreal, QC, 1865 / William Notman (1826–1891) © McCord Museum;
14. William Lyon Mackenzie, Library and Archives Canada, C-001991;
15. Lord James Bruce Elgin, Library and Archives Canada, C-003670;
16. Hon. Sir Francis Hincks; William James Topley, Library and Archives Canada, PA-025467;
17. Hon. George Brown, politician, Montreal, QC, 1865; William Notman (1826–1891) © McCord Museum;
18. I-7956, Hon. George-Étienne Cartier, Montreal, QC, 1863; William Notman (1826–1891) © McCord Museum;
19. Montreal 1849, ©McCord Museum;
20. R-A7518, Courtesy of the Saskatchewan Archives Board;
21. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France; Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Images;
22. Private Collection/Peter Newark/American Pictures/Bridgeman Images;
23. Rt. Hon. Robert Borden and Hon. Winston Churchill leaving the Admiralty. Library and Archives Canada / C-002082;
24. Sir Robert Borden speaks to wounded man at Base Hospital. In the background is soldier, James Clifford Hiscott. March, 1915 Canada. Dept. of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada;
25. Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King and his dog Pat I at Laurier House. Library and Archives Canada / C-087858;
26. Hon. R.B. Bennett and Senator Arthur Meighen. Library and Archives Canada / C-023539;
27. Regina riot. Royal Canadian Mounted Police / Library and Archives Canada / e004666103;
28. Canadian delegates attending the Imperial Conference. Aitken Ltd. / Library and Archives Canada / C-001690;
29. Gar Lunney / National Film Board of Canada. Photothèque / Library and Archives Canada / PA-141113;
30. Lord Tweedsmuir with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Yousuf Karsh, Yousuf Karsh fonds / Library and Archives Canada, Accession 1987-054;
31. William Lyon Mackenzie King / Library and Archives Canada / C-035115;
32. National Film Board of Canada. Photothèque / Library and Archives Canada / C-016770;
33. Nicholas Morant / Office national du film du Canada. Photothèque / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / C-022716;
34. National Film Board of Canada. Photothèque / Library and Archives Canada / C-015126;
35. #21993656 – Churchill and Duplessis. Courtesy: The Gazette photo archives;
36. National Film Board of Canada. Photothèque / Library and Archives Canada / C-023281;
37. National Film Board of Canada. Photothèque collection / Library and Archives Canada / C-004047;
38. #21993657 – Richard, Bellemare and Duplessis. Courtesy: The Gazette photo archives;
39. Houde and Cardinal Léger. Photo by Davidson, The Gazette © 1950;
40. Soviet / Library and Archives Canada / PA-117617;
41. Duncan Cameron/Library and Archives Canada/PA-154665;
42. Duncan Cameron / Library and Archives Canada / PA-117107;
43. Duncan Cameron / Library and Archives Canada / PA-209871;
44. Toronto Star via Getty Images;
45. Library and Archives Canada;
46. Beck/Montreal Star/Library and Archives Canada/PA-151863;
47. Duncan Cameron/Library and Archives Canada/PA-136978;
48. Duncan Cameron/Library and Archives Canada;
49. Erik Christensen/Globe and Mail;
50. The Canadian Press/Tom Hanson;
51. Montebello – Manoir Papineau; courtesy Archives du Quebec;
52. Dundurn Castle; courtesy Hamilton Public Archives;
53. “Ravenscrag”, Hugh Montagu Allan’s residence, Montreal, QC, 1901 | Wm. Notman & Son © McCord Museum;
54. City of Toronto Archives;
55. Courtesy QMI Agency;
Chapter openers: Introduction, Chapters 1–7: Library and Archives Canada; Chapter 8: Gazette archives; Chapters 9–10: Canadian Press.
Notes
PRELUDE
1. Robert Bothwell, The Penguin History of Canada, Toronto, 2006, p. 18.
2. Edgar McInnis, Canada: A Political and Social History, Toronto, 1947, p. 23.
3. David Hackett Fischer, Champlain’s Dream, New York, 2008, p. 116. (Fischer, as is his admirable custom, provides a plethora of primary sources to support this quotation and these events.)
CHAPTER 1
1. David Buisseret, Henry IV, London.
2. James McDermott, Martin Frobisher: Elizabethan Privateer, New Haven, 2001.
3. Samuel de Champlain, The Works of Samuel de Champlain, 6 vols., Toronto, 1922–1936, reprinted 1971, pp. 1, 63–65.
4. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, New York, 1925, last two pages, all editions.
5. David Hackett Fischer, Champlain’s Dream, New York, 2008, p. 147.
6. Ibid., p. 227.
7. Ibid.
8. Champlain, op. cit., vol. III, p. 328.
9. Fischer, op. cit., p. 269.
10. Champlain, op. cit., vol. II, p. 228.
11. Fischer, op. cit., p. 279.
12. Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays, trans. Donald M. Frame, Stanford, 1957, pp. 122–23.
13. Champlain, op. cit., vol. V, p. 7.
14. Fischer, op. cit., p. 410.
15. Fischer, op. cit., p. 433.
16. Fischer, op. cit., pp. 467–68, 472.
17. Nicolas Denys, Histoire naturelle des peuples, des animaux, des arbres & plantes de l’Amérique septentrionale, & de ses divers climats, Paris, 1672; English edition, The Description and Natural History of the Coasts of North America (Acadia), trans. and ed. William F. Ganong, Toronto, 1908, p. 149.
18. A. Leblond de Brumath, Bishop Laval, Makers of Canada, London and Toronto, 1926, p. 84.
19. Robert Bothwell, The Penguin History of Canada, Toronto, 2006, p. 51.
20. Ibid., p. 48 (“they were shoveled aboard ship”).
21. Edgar McInnis, Canada: A Political and Social History, Toronto, 1963, p. 52.
22. Anka Muhlstein, La Salle: Explorer of the North American Frontier, New York, 1994, p. 76.
23. McInnis, op. cit.
24. McInnis, op. cit., p. 53.
25. Vita Sackville-West, Daughter of France, London, 1959, p. 190. She described Frontenac as “an extremely self-satisfied man.… He once spread his new breeches and doublets all over [la grande Mademoiselle’s] dressing table, greatly to the astonishment of the king’s brother” (ibid.).
26. Charles W. Colby, The Fighting Governor, Toronto, 1920, p. 12.
27. Ibid., p. 86.
28. Muhlstein, op. cit., p. 76.
29. Ibid., p. 165.
30. Pierre Margry, Découvertes et établissements des Français dans l’ouest et dans le sud de l’Amérique septentrionale, 1614–1754, Paris, 1876–1886, vol. III, p. 330.
31. Colby, op. cit., p. 98.
32. Ibid., p. 115.
33. Cited in Colby, ibid., pp. 121–22.
34. Ibid., p. 129.
35. Ibid., p. 130.
36. W.L. Morton, The Kingdom of Canada, Toronto, 1963, p. 90.
&n
bsp; 37. Arthur R.M. Lower, Colony to Nation (Toronto, 1977 edition), p. 53.
38. Morton, op. cit., p. 113.
39. Ibid., p.115.
40. Ibid.
41. Morton, ibid.
42. Morton, op. cit., pp. 123–26.
CHAPTER 2
1. Arthur R.M. Lower, Colony to Nation: A History of Canada, Toronto, 1977, p. 91.
2. W.L. Morton, The Kingdom of Canada, Toronto, 1963, p. 134.
3. Stanley M. Pargellis, Lord Loudoun in North America, London, 1933, pp. 136–38.
4. Fred Anderson, Crucible of War, New York, 2000, p. 298.
5. Horace Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second, vol. III, London, 1846, pp. 229–30.
6. Anderson, op. cit., pp. 492–93.
7. Antony Beevor, The Fall of Berlin, 1945, New York, 2002, p. 204.
8. A.G. Bradley, Lord Dorchester, Makers of Canada, Toronto, 1926, pp. 24–25.
9. Edmund S. Morgan, Benjamin Franklin, New Haven, 2002, pp. 86, 90.
10. Ibid., p. 114.
11. Ibid., p. 163.
12. Conrad Black, Flight of the Eagle: A Strategic History of the United States, Toronto, 2013, pp. 46–47.
13. Bradley, op. cit., p. 17.
14. Ibid., pp. 70–71.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid., p. 72.
17. Edgar McInnis, Canada: A Political and Social History, Toronto, 1947, pp. 142–43; Lower, op. cit., p. 76.
18. Black, op. cit., p. 48.
19. Ibid., p. 58.
20. Lower, op. cit., p. 81.
21. Ibid., p. 87.
22. Ibid., p. 143.
23. Ibid., p. 137.
