Thumper : the memoirs of the Honourable Donald S. Macdonald / Donald S. Macdonald ; with Rod McQueen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Macdonald, Donald S., author.

McQueen, Rod, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Macdonald, Donald S.

Politicians--Canada--Biography.

Politicians.

Canada.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

x, 275 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Kingston : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2014.

Summary:

An early supporter of Pierre Trudeau for the Liberal Party leadership, Donald Macdonald has had a career in public life spanning four decades that included posts as House leader, minister of national defence, minister of energy, and minister of finance. He chaired the landmark Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada, which led to free trade between Canada and the United States, and as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom he conferred with Margaret Thatcher and dined with Queen Elizabeth II. Drawing on extensive archival resources and contemporaneous personal diaries, Macdonald insightfully details his friendship with Trudeau, fascinating encounters with world leaders, and personal revelations about the October Crisis. In this behind-the-scenes account of the business of governing, he also describes high-stakes disputes with Alberta over soaring energy prices, the real story behind the resignation of John Turner as finance minister, and the decisive action taken against inflation using wage and price controls. Interlaced with anecdotes that reveal Macdonald's self-effacing good-nature, Thumper is a riveting memoir written with humility and candour, recalling an exceptional period in Canadian politics. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Ancestral Voices 3

2 Setting My Compass 12

3 Band of Brothers 20

4 The Suez and Other Crises 29

5 The Accidental Candidate 53

6 MP for Rosedale 62

7 Pierre and Me 72

8 Tomorrow's Man 82

9 Inside the Cabinet Room 92

10 Herding Cats 105

11 The October Crisis 114

12 Blue-Eyed Sheiks 125

13 Zap, You're Frozen 153

14 Meetings of the Minds 164

15 Heir Rampant 175

16 Private Life, Public Duty 184

17 Leap of Faith 195

18 Coup de foudre 205

19 Maggie and the Royals 214

20 Plugged In 223

21 Reflections on a Life 233.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Macdonald, Donald S., 1932-, author. Thumper.

ISBN:

9780773544697

0773544690

OCLC:

879516362