Not My Party

This outspoken, timely book by former Mulroney Cabinet Minister Tom McMillan indicts Stephen Harper for destroying the historic Canadian Conservative Party while prime minister and party leader, accusing him of turning a force for progressive Canadian values into an American Republican-style vehicle for right-wing ideologues. Lamenting Harper’s hyper-partisan “cult of personality” politics, McMillan argues the Conservative Party is no longer the enlightened national institution founded by Sir John A. Macdonald and nurtured by successive Tory leaders until the 2003 Reform/Canadian Alliance Party merger.

In a crisp, conversational tone, McMillan contrasts this new brand of Conservatism with Robert Stanfield’s 1960s/’70s “politics of thoughtfulness,” assessing the impact of Stanfield’s legacy on successive Conservative leaders. He urges Conservative progressives to reclaim their party from right-wing extremists and revive its commitment to nation-building and national unity; to re-brand itself, once again, as Progressive Conservative.

A fascinating political memoir from a long-time Conservative Party insider, Not My Party explores the evolution—or devolution—of Canada’s Conservative Party, how backroom party politics operates, and political leaders succeed or fail.