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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Macdonald, Donald S., 1932- author.

McQueen, Rod, 1944- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Macdonald, Donald S., 1932-.

Macdonald, Donald S.

Politicians--Canada--Biography.

Politicians.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (286 p.)

Distribution:

Beaconsfield, Quebec : Canadian Electronic Library, 2014.

Place of Publication:

Montreal [Quebec] : Kingston [Ontario] : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"At a certain point in our lives we are left only with our close relationships and our clear recollections." So begins Thumper: The Memoirs of the Honourable Donald S. Macdonald. 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.

Contents:

1 Ancestral Voices

2 Setting My Compass

3 Band of Brothers

- 4 The Suez and Other Crises

5 The Accidental Candidate

6 MP for Rosedale

7 Pierre and Me

8 Tomorrow's Man

9 Inside the Cabinet Room

10 Herding Cats

11 The October Crisis

12 Blue-Eyed Sheiks

13 Zap, You're Frozen

14 Meetings of the Minds

15 Heir Rampant

16 Private Life, Public Duty

17 Leap of Faith

18 Coup de foudre

19 Maggie and the Royals

20 Plugged In

Reflections on a Life.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780773581814

0773581812

9780773581807

0773581804

OCLC:

893231440