Friendly (or not so much) dictator: the sequel

Globe columnist Lawrence Martin intends to do for Stephen Harper what he did for Jean Chretien. Here's the news release:

For Immediate Release: Penguin to publish a new book on Harper’s first four years

 

January 29, 2010 (Toronto) - Penguin Group Canada announced today it will publish bestselling author and Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin’s Harperland, a new book on Harper’s first four years in power.

 

The book is described by Publishing Director Diane Turbide as “the first substantive book on Harper’s highly-controversial governance. It will take us far beyond episodic journalism to give us the real measure of this prime minister's impact on the country."

 

The Martin book will chronicle how Harper has come to be the master controller, dominating every aspect of governance. It will assess his accomplishments and failings and his effect on the workings of the democratic system.

 

The "democratic deficit," as it is sometimes called, has become an issue of such concern to Canadians that they recently staged nationwide protests over Harper's decision to suspend parliament. The book will chart how, since Pierre Trudeau, Canada has seen a steep decline in its democratic standards.

 

As a two-volume biographer of Jean Chretien, Lawrence Martin described how the Liberal prime minister pushed the limits of prime ministerial power to the point where he was called the friendly dictator. Harper, says Martin, chose not to depart from the script. "Remarkably, he has come to cast an even wider and tighter net than Chretien. His power is such that the country under him can truly be called Harperland."

 

Lawrence Martin is a journalist and the author of ten books, five of which have been national best sellers. Educated at McMaster and Harvard, he has served as both Washington and Moscow bureau chief for The Globe and Mail. He was also a correspondent for the paper in Montreal, Queen`s Park and Ottawa, where he is now a national columnist. Among his books are The Presidents and the Ministers, Breaking with History - The Gorbachev Revolution, biograhies of Mario Lemieux and Lucien Bouchard and two volumes on Jean Chretien. He is the recipient of journalistic awards and McMaster University’s Lifetime Leadership Achievement award.

Comments

[ConEd]

I will be interested in seeing if Martin sheds some light on the press gallery's role during these past few years. Who Sandra Buckler bulldozed and the costs as a result? Who was complicit-- thinking here of a newscast that often got "exclusive" leaks and ran them without benifit of balance? And if the rumored obsessive creation of a enemies list of media who weren't fawning in their coverage (and trying to get some fired) is true.

[MJH]

Should be another book from central Canada trashing the Conservatives. Undoubtedly continued support for the Liberal Party of Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto

[Jim M]

Sounds like a promising book, but the democratic decline chart should show how we descended into Harper Valley, not Harperland. Small creative difference. http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Harper+Valley+PTA/21681992

[Jim M]

No mention is made above of whether the book will describe the role played by major Canadian news outlets in the decline of democratic standards in Canada. How can the story of Harper's rise to minority power be told without telling the story of the decline of news quality in Canada? Instead of measuring the decline from Trudeau to Harper, I measure from the time the Toronto Telegram became the Toronto Sun to the time more recently when someone mailed me the hardcopy of an article from an 'independent' "truckstop" tabloid as proof that Hell was found below Russia by drillers of a deep hole.