Hope Restored by Paul Hellyer

Author:Paul Hellyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Trine Day
Published: 2018-08-21T17:19:38+00:00

Agenda: A Plan for Action

The idea of launching Action Canada had not even occurred to me when I wrote the book but the press didn’t believe it. Therefore reviews were a mixed bag.

One of the more favourable reviews, that proves my point, appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press on November 6, 1971. The following are some excerpts:

“As the title indicates, this book is an account of the things to be done by the new group (Mr. Hellyer does not call it a party) founded by the author, and the reasons why. As such, it is an elaborate kind of political manifesto. There is no doubt that the author is an intensely humane man, deeply grieved about poverty, unemployment, and that anonymous swindle known as inflation.

“He has harsh things to say about economists, their orthodoxies and sacred cows, like gold as the monetary governor. For years, he says, gold has been phoney, but sustained by economic orthodoxy. We had the materials, the know-how and the men, along with the bitter need, but the orthodox economics stood in the way on our route to a better world …

“Meanwhile we judge the book to be engagingly written, in a sensitive humane spirit, well produced, having only one serious literary error (which ought to have been caught by the editor). It is the kind of book which should be read by all who are interested in the present political scene.”2

The most favourable comments came from Hugh Innes, reporting for Ryerson College Radio, who treated the book for what it was, an economic treatise, rather than a political manifesto. “The first 12 pages of the book are the best synthesis of what has happened in the last 200 years that I have read,” he said. I considered that a great compliment coming from the son of the late Harold Innes and Mary Quail Innes, both icons of the University of Toronto. The younger Innes added that “the book was clear, readable, etc.” This was music to my ears, but his finale was the sweetest note of all. “You are one of my heroes,” he said in conclusion. My reaction was, “You have just made my day.”

I became busily engaged in looking for good candidates for an election that was fast becoming imminent. The first one that was ready to run was Judy LaMarsh, who had been Minister of Health in the Pearson government. Unfortunately, she took off for South-East Asia just when we needed her. In her absence Dr. Nicholas Pohran was nominated and became our first official candidate.

There were some other “star” candidates recruited. Claude Wagner, the former Québec politician, agreed to run in a rural constituency and the exceedingly well-known star receiver for the Montreal Alouettes football team, Terry Evanshen, was set to go in Montreal. We managed to line up about 25 in all, which was probably as many as we could afford to finance.

Eventually, I began to have second thoughts about splitting the anti-Trudeau vote. John Cross, who had been one

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