The former federal cabinet minister The Hon. Tom McMillan discusses his new book and memoir Not My Party: The Rise and Fall of Canadian Tories, from Robert Stanfield to Stephen Harper (Nimbus, 2016), with Joseph Planta.

Not My Party: The Rise and Fall of Canadian Tories, from Robert Stanfield to Stephen Harper by Tom McMillan (Nimbus, 2016). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Not My Party

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

The book is called Not My Party: The Rise and Fall of Canadian Tories, from Robert Stanfield to Stephen Harper. Its author is the political scientist, former federal cabinet minister, former Member of Parliament from Prince Edward Island, and former diplomat, Tom McMillan. In the book he also recounts his own years in politics, first as a policy secretary to Robert Stanfield, then through his years running for the Progressive Conservative Party, his time as a minister in Brian Mulroney’s cabinet, through to his defeat in the Free Trade election of 1988, his subsequent attempts at re-election, as well as his years in Boston, where he resides today; where for a number of years he was Canada’s Consul General to New England. The book is a lively, fascinating look at the last fifty years plus of politics in Canada, with stories about people in Canada’s political past. It also laments the end of the old PC Party, and its—according to the author—devolution to a party he hasn’t been able to support, the Conservative Party that emerged after the merger of the Reform/Canadian Alliance Party. The book offers a way for progressives to reclaim their party, and it provides an argument for its place in the Canadian discourse. Tom McMillan was first elected to the House of Commons in 1979, re-elected in 1980 and 1984. In 1984, he was appointed a minister of state in the Mulroney government, going on to serve as environment minister from 1985 to 1988. The book is published by Nimbus. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, in Boston today, the Honourable Tom McMillan; Mr. McMillan, good morning.

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