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The Canadian Manifesto
“The bell of opportunity tolls for us, and the world, for once, will listen. It is our turn,” writes Conrad Black in this scintillating blueprint for a bolder Canadian future. "Black’s Manifesto reminds us who we were and, therefore, who we are. In doing so, he lays the groundwork for us to consider who we might yet become."
– Jordan Peterson, University of Toronto, Author of 12 Rules for Life Chipper, patient, and courteous, Canada has pursued an improbable destiny as a splendid nation of relatively good and ably self-governing people, but most would agree we have not realized our true potential. Canada's main chance, writes Black, is now before it...and it is not in the usual realms of military or economic dominance. With the rest of the West engaged in a sterile left-right tug of war, Canada has the opportunity to lead the world to its next stage of development in the arts of government. By transforming itself into a controlled and sensible public policy laboratory, it can forge new solutions to the problems of welfare, education, health care, foreign policy, and other governmental sectors, and make an enormous contribution to the welfare of mankind. Canada has no excuse not to lead in this field, argues Black, who offers nineteen visionary policy proposals of his own. He claims that this "is the destiny, and the vocation, Canada could have, not in the next century, but in the next five years of imaginative government.”
– Jordan Peterson, University of Toronto, Author of 12 Rules for Life Chipper, patient, and courteous, Canada has pursued an improbable destiny as a splendid nation of relatively good and ably self-governing people, but most would agree we have not realized our true potential. Canada's main chance, writes Black, is now before it...and it is not in the usual realms of military or economic dominance. With the rest of the West engaged in a sterile left-right tug of war, Canada has the opportunity to lead the world to its next stage of development in the arts of government. By transforming itself into a controlled and sensible public policy laboratory, it can forge new solutions to the problems of welfare, education, health care, foreign policy, and other governmental sectors, and make an enormous contribution to the welfare of mankind. Canada has no excuse not to lead in this field, argues Black, who offers nineteen visionary policy proposals of his own. He claims that this "is the destiny, and the vocation, Canada could have, not in the next century, but in the next five years of imaginative government.”
160 pages, Hardcover
Published May 1, 2019
12 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Conrad Black
51 books79 followersConrad Black is a Canadian-born British peer, and former publisher of the London Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Jerusalem Post, and founder of Canada's National Post.
He is a columnist and regular contributor to several publications, including National Review Online, The New Criterion, The National Interest, American Greatness, the New York Sun, and the National Post.
As an acclaimed author and biographer, Lord Black has published comprehensive histories of both Canada and the United States, as well as authoritative biographies of Maurice Duplessis, and presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Donald Trump.
Lord Black is also a television and radio commentator and a sporadic participant in the current affairs programming of CNN, Fox News, CTV, CBC, BBC, and Radio Canada.
He is a columnist and regular contributor to several publications, including National Review Online, The New Criterion, The National Interest, American Greatness, the New York Sun, and the National Post.
As an acclaimed author and biographer, Lord Black has published comprehensive histories of both Canada and the United States, as well as authoritative biographies of Maurice Duplessis, and presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Donald Trump.
Lord Black is also a television and radio commentator and a sporadic participant in the current affairs programming of CNN, Fox News, CTV, CBC, BBC, and Radio Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 12, 2019
The book starts from the premise that almost every Canadian their entire lives is disappointed that Canada doesn’t get more street cred on the global stage. While perhaps a bit over-stated, the strong language and sweeping generalization without a source to back it up will be a common theme.
What unfolds after this is a brief history of Canada’s glories, some of which I found pretty interesting. But it’s hard to keep consistent a statement that Canada’s history is under-appreciated and substantive with proof provided with such statements as boasting that throughout history “...the world’s great Statesmen had at least been aware of Canada.” General awareness of the existence of a Nation by leaders of great Nations seems an abysmally low standard for significance. Wouldn’t a truly great Statesmen be aware of just about every Nation?
Despite all this, Mr. Black does make excellent points that all Canadians should be proud of. He notes that Canada has only fought in just wars and always on the winning side, which I think is hard to argue and a great sign of a brilliant nation.
The author makes far too many sweeping generalizations in dismissing points that the great majority of people concede. While it’s fine to be on an island of sorts in any argument, if you are, please come prepared with something to back up what you are saying. After all, you could be right. But a metaphorical dismissive gesture and a scoff aren’t the stuff of intellectual revolution.
The first example is his apologist statements for Sir John MacDonald in his role with Indigenous People in Canada. Black laments MacDonald’s demotion in the Nation’s currency and insists he was actually far more of a friend to the Indigenous people than anything. Considering MacDonald once noted with approval a strategy of starvation of such people to reduce expenses, the reader should at least raise an eyebrow. The issues around MacDonald in this regard require independent study, but there is great reason to support those that find him more of a foe than friend to First Nations people in history.
Black then states the only “sizable” occurrence of slavery in Canada’s history was perpetrated by Indigenous people. While this somewhat justifies his larger point, based in relativism, it ignores the slavery in Canadian history by European settlers. In a vacuum, this is perhaps a needling point, but there is a larger theme such statements contribute to here.
The pile of troubling nonsense mounts when Black makes the wild statement that Indigenous People really didn’t live ever live in Canada (he uses the phase “occupied” to make a possibly technically accurate point), but were just sort of passing through. Oh, and it was a land desperately in need of more population anyways (really?).
The entire Canadian energy program needs to be dismantled due in part because it is based on suppositions about climate change that are “unproven.” While 97% of the climate change scientific community disagrees and has provided many articles and studies for proof, Black provides zero (in this book) and takes it as a given that these folks are wrong based on nothing more than “because I said so.” For a book that labels itself a Manifesto, he may have wanted to provide a bit more than nothing for his plan to dismantle an entire energy program.
He then paints a picture of the education system in Canada and most Western Nations as an utter disaster that only barfs out a steady influx of morons. While there are certainly problems with education in Canada and elsewhere, such a histrionic depiction of things doesn’t add up against these Nations being among the most successful in the world for decades and even centuries.
Black is worse when it comes to his assessment of US issues. Like many talking heads in the US, he can’t get out of his own way. He starts to make good points about the very real US immigration problem, but then adds things like illegals are “all welcome to vote.” Such patently absurd and false declarations I’d imagine make many stop listening.
Black deftly dances a line on many issues in being called “racist” and I’m sure many would dub him that. I am not going to go there, but there is enough here to give pause. His plans for Canadian immigration include seeking out the most assimilable immigrants which he tells us come from...you guessed it...Europe. True? Generally, perhaps, but in this global world I’d be reluctant to conclude an English-speaking person from Japan would be any less assimilable than one from Germany.
His thoughts on the justice system were perhaps the hardest to digest. He would pen a brilliant and eloquent paragraph at one point and then follow it up with some statement that was beyond stupid. For example, his assertion that public defenders in the US (all of them I guess!) are a mockery is just plain wrong (most are quite the opposite). He even gives a bizarre reason in that they have no authority to enforce plea bargains with prosecutors. First off, if even true, how is that the fault of individual public defenders? Blaming a system issue on individuals is lazy. Second, once a plea is entered, it rarely falls apart. When it does, there is usually a reason and on occasions where it’s due solely to prosecutor vindictiveness, defenders are not without options.
He even fails to mention The Tragically Hip when rattling of some of Canada’s great cultural icons!
He also contends multiple times that, essentially, Canada was brilliantly governed for over a hundred years until Justin Trudeau showed up and began planting the seeds to run it into the ground. Trump is cited many times as some sort of savior who has the US economy and Nation rocking and rolling for the first time since Reagan. While I'm not a fan of the Clintons, it'd be historical malfeasance not to understand the Bill Clinton years were not exactly the Great Depression.
I gave this an extra star because it’s well-written (even if he’s making points that are lacking in many ways) and there are some solid suggestions here for Canada’s future. I do have Canadian blood running through my veins, so I had high hopes for this book. Like many of the Canadians Mr. Black describes at the outset though, I was left disappointed.
If this is the first book you've read on Canadian history, make sure it's not your last.
What unfolds after this is a brief history of Canada’s glories, some of which I found pretty interesting. But it’s hard to keep consistent a statement that Canada’s history is under-appreciated and substantive with proof provided with such statements as boasting that throughout history “...the world’s great Statesmen had at least been aware of Canada.” General awareness of the existence of a Nation by leaders of great Nations seems an abysmally low standard for significance. Wouldn’t a truly great Statesmen be aware of just about every Nation?
Despite all this, Mr. Black does make excellent points that all Canadians should be proud of. He notes that Canada has only fought in just wars and always on the winning side, which I think is hard to argue and a great sign of a brilliant nation.
The author makes far too many sweeping generalizations in dismissing points that the great majority of people concede. While it’s fine to be on an island of sorts in any argument, if you are, please come prepared with something to back up what you are saying. After all, you could be right. But a metaphorical dismissive gesture and a scoff aren’t the stuff of intellectual revolution.
The first example is his apologist statements for Sir John MacDonald in his role with Indigenous People in Canada. Black laments MacDonald’s demotion in the Nation’s currency and insists he was actually far more of a friend to the Indigenous people than anything. Considering MacDonald once noted with approval a strategy of starvation of such people to reduce expenses, the reader should at least raise an eyebrow. The issues around MacDonald in this regard require independent study, but there is great reason to support those that find him more of a foe than friend to First Nations people in history.
Black then states the only “sizable” occurrence of slavery in Canada’s history was perpetrated by Indigenous people. While this somewhat justifies his larger point, based in relativism, it ignores the slavery in Canadian history by European settlers. In a vacuum, this is perhaps a needling point, but there is a larger theme such statements contribute to here.
The pile of troubling nonsense mounts when Black makes the wild statement that Indigenous People really didn’t live ever live in Canada (he uses the phase “occupied” to make a possibly technically accurate point), but were just sort of passing through. Oh, and it was a land desperately in need of more population anyways (really?).
The entire Canadian energy program needs to be dismantled due in part because it is based on suppositions about climate change that are “unproven.” While 97% of the climate change scientific community disagrees and has provided many articles and studies for proof, Black provides zero (in this book) and takes it as a given that these folks are wrong based on nothing more than “because I said so.” For a book that labels itself a Manifesto, he may have wanted to provide a bit more than nothing for his plan to dismantle an entire energy program.
He then paints a picture of the education system in Canada and most Western Nations as an utter disaster that only barfs out a steady influx of morons. While there are certainly problems with education in Canada and elsewhere, such a histrionic depiction of things doesn’t add up against these Nations being among the most successful in the world for decades and even centuries.
Black is worse when it comes to his assessment of US issues. Like many talking heads in the US, he can’t get out of his own way. He starts to make good points about the very real US immigration problem, but then adds things like illegals are “all welcome to vote.” Such patently absurd and false declarations I’d imagine make many stop listening.
Black deftly dances a line on many issues in being called “racist” and I’m sure many would dub him that. I am not going to go there, but there is enough here to give pause. His plans for Canadian immigration include seeking out the most assimilable immigrants which he tells us come from...you guessed it...Europe. True? Generally, perhaps, but in this global world I’d be reluctant to conclude an English-speaking person from Japan would be any less assimilable than one from Germany.
His thoughts on the justice system were perhaps the hardest to digest. He would pen a brilliant and eloquent paragraph at one point and then follow it up with some statement that was beyond stupid. For example, his assertion that public defenders in the US (all of them I guess!) are a mockery is just plain wrong (most are quite the opposite). He even gives a bizarre reason in that they have no authority to enforce plea bargains with prosecutors. First off, if even true, how is that the fault of individual public defenders? Blaming a system issue on individuals is lazy. Second, once a plea is entered, it rarely falls apart. When it does, there is usually a reason and on occasions where it’s due solely to prosecutor vindictiveness, defenders are not without options.
He even fails to mention The Tragically Hip when rattling of some of Canada’s great cultural icons!
He also contends multiple times that, essentially, Canada was brilliantly governed for over a hundred years until Justin Trudeau showed up and began planting the seeds to run it into the ground. Trump is cited many times as some sort of savior who has the US economy and Nation rocking and rolling for the first time since Reagan. While I'm not a fan of the Clintons, it'd be historical malfeasance not to understand the Bill Clinton years were not exactly the Great Depression.
I gave this an extra star because it’s well-written (even if he’s making points that are lacking in many ways) and there are some solid suggestions here for Canada’s future. I do have Canadian blood running through my veins, so I had high hopes for this book. Like many of the Canadians Mr. Black describes at the outset though, I was left disappointed.
If this is the first book you've read on Canadian history, make sure it's not your last.
March 24, 2020
Conrad Black believes that Canada hasn't turned its unique stability into an asset. What's the unique ability? Stability - or as the constitution puts it, Peace, Order and Good Government. Instead of how most Canadians treat this characteristic, by jeering at how they constantly say sorry, Conrad Black holds up this trait as a treasure.
'Ultimately, Canada's battle is not for the hearts and minds of the British or the Americans or anyone - except themselves, and this is where the problem lies.'
The first half of the book takes a fantastic romp through Canadian history, putting his thesis in context. The second half is him theorizing ways Canada would need to change to showcase its stability at home and in the world - done in the spirit of Plato's Republic. I definitely don't agree with the jaggedy edges of his opinions, but I don't have to agree with a guy to like his writing. Speaking of that, be ready for heavy vocabulary and superlatives, like in this sentence: "Canada is a unique country, as the only transcontinental, bicultural parliamentary federation in the history of the world."
I really fear that two things will keep people away from this book: their disdain of a rich, white man who got British peerage. The other reason is the haughty title. But I urge people to get past those and listen to someone who's well-read and who's rubbed shoulders with many of the world leaders named in the book. Above all, I hope that anyone who cares about Canada will hear Conrad Black's passion and have their own passion stoked (either with affinity or animosity) in the country I call home.
'Ultimately, Canada's battle is not for the hearts and minds of the British or the Americans or anyone - except themselves, and this is where the problem lies.'
The first half of the book takes a fantastic romp through Canadian history, putting his thesis in context. The second half is him theorizing ways Canada would need to change to showcase its stability at home and in the world - done in the spirit of Plato's Republic. I definitely don't agree with the jaggedy edges of his opinions, but I don't have to agree with a guy to like his writing. Speaking of that, be ready for heavy vocabulary and superlatives, like in this sentence: "Canada is a unique country, as the only transcontinental, bicultural parliamentary federation in the history of the world."
I really fear that two things will keep people away from this book: their disdain of a rich, white man who got British peerage. The other reason is the haughty title. But I urge people to get past those and listen to someone who's well-read and who's rubbed shoulders with many of the world leaders named in the book. Above all, I hope that anyone who cares about Canada will hear Conrad Black's passion and have their own passion stoked (either with affinity or animosity) in the country I call home.
November 11, 2019
The federal government, led by the Prime Minister, has only three roles:
1) To maintain and improve the country’s infrastructure and security,
2) To protect and grow the economy, and
3) To plan and implement an effective and positive foreign policy.
Everything else it does is just an expensive and embarrassing distraction.
Conrad Black explains in this long op-ed article (which is after all what a manifesto is) exactly how Canada’s successive governments have approached the above three jobs, how well or poorly they did at each one, and what opportunities we have for our future.
In a parallel and perfect universe, Conrad Black would be the Prime Minister of Canada.
1) To maintain and improve the country’s infrastructure and security,
2) To protect and grow the economy, and
3) To plan and implement an effective and positive foreign policy.
Everything else it does is just an expensive and embarrassing distraction.
Conrad Black explains in this long op-ed article (which is after all what a manifesto is) exactly how Canada’s successive governments have approached the above three jobs, how well or poorly they did at each one, and what opportunities we have for our future.
In a parallel and perfect universe, Conrad Black would be the Prime Minister of Canada.
July 10, 2019
This is unique and valuable homage to Canada. Conrad provides a retrospective of Canadian history from the beginning with the colonies to the modern days. The author makes emphasis is the global impact of Canada around the world and the opportunities to lead on major Global challenge such as global warming, multiculturalism and more. Excellent book!
#TheCanadianManifesto #NetGalley
#TheCanadianManifesto #NetGalley
October 22, 2019
This book is written for boomer conservatives. I am not part of that demographic and so the author did not address my concerns. If you’re a policy nerd, read this book, but if you’re concerned about the direction of this country (culturally, demographically, etc), look elsewhere.
This book bored me to tears. Thankfully, it was only about 100 pages.
This book bored me to tears. Thankfully, it was only about 100 pages.
March 1, 2024
I actually talked very shortly with the author while reading this book, and he made the self-deprecating remark that as an American I might find this book incomprehensible, lacking, as I do, a Canadian perspective. In fact, the opposite was true: I found it enlightening and for that very reason. I grew up in Michigan, and even there, despite literally using Canadian coinage and United States coinage interchangeably (I only realized how weird this was the first time I tried to do it in San Diego) the vast country to our north remained mostly a benign mystery.
The first half of this book is a foundation for the second half. It’s a history of Canada from the perspective of how unlikely Canada is. Had England not decided to let French-speaking Canada remain French-speaking, Canada might well have been part of the United States from the start. Other coincidences meant that Canada is one transcontinental nation instead of multiple smaller states speaking at least two languages, all of which would be even more overshadowed by the United States than Canada is (perceived to be) today.
I find it hard to imagine what kind of a country the United States would be if it stretched throughout the entirety of North America—or what effect that would have had on the entire world. That hypothetical is not what the book is about, however. Conrad Black is very Canadian, and sees a very special position for Canada in world politics that stems from that foundation, of a country that was not formed by war, a country that even now remains multilingual and multicultural without the internal strife that seems to result in everywhere else in the world.
The first step is for Canadians themselves to recognize their country’s unique history and resultant unique position in the world.
Black comes across as what in America we would call an old-school Democrat. He loves his country, and wants it to provide directly for the less well off. In general his ideas are about reducing the viciousness of the administrative state while maintaining its scope, if, possibly, reducing its depth.
There’s little in here that a Clinton or a Kennedy would disagree with. In the United States, making suggestions like these would be a form of tilting at windmills: they’re far too conservative for the left, and far to socialist for the right. Whether they could catch the imagination of Canadians, and whether the Canadian administrative state would be willing to listen to Canadians to implement such measures, is not something I have any sense of. But this is a fascinating book from the very different national perspective of “our neighbors to the north”.
While there are ideas that I agree with, and ideas I disagree with, there’s only one section that I thought really missed the point of his own summation of the problem. Canada has horrible wait times for health care and health care once you make it to the front of the queue tends to be rushed and impersonal.
His solution is to encourage more people to become doctors, not a bad idea in itself but the way he goes about deciding that “more doctors” is the solution to those problems is a bit weird. He compares the doctor-population ratio across several countries; some high high ratios and some low; and it appears obvious on the face of it that a high ratio is worth focusing on.
But good health care isn’t measured by number of doctors, it’s measured by the health of the country. The only country whose health outcome he mentions is Japan, and that in a parenthetical, to discount that fact that Japan has a low ratio but greater health. His aside is that the Japanese eat more healthily, as if this means their data should be discounted, when it seems to me to suggest that perhaps metrics other than the doctor-population ratio should become the focus on ensuring better health.
That said, his idea of incentivizing doctors to remain in Canada instead of going to more doctor-friendly nations like the one next door, is a valid one. It’s just that having that aside in a book like this and ignoring its implications was a bit jarring.
The first half of this book is a foundation for the second half. It’s a history of Canada from the perspective of how unlikely Canada is. Had England not decided to let French-speaking Canada remain French-speaking, Canada might well have been part of the United States from the start. Other coincidences meant that Canada is one transcontinental nation instead of multiple smaller states speaking at least two languages, all of which would be even more overshadowed by the United States than Canada is (perceived to be) today.
I find it hard to imagine what kind of a country the United States would be if it stretched throughout the entirety of North America—or what effect that would have had on the entire world. That hypothetical is not what the book is about, however. Conrad Black is very Canadian, and sees a very special position for Canada in world politics that stems from that foundation, of a country that was not formed by war, a country that even now remains multilingual and multicultural without the internal strife that seems to result in everywhere else in the world.
The first step is for Canadians themselves to recognize their country’s unique history and resultant unique position in the world.
We can scarcely expect the world to find us interesting if we are not really interested in our own history, development, and unique national achievements.
Black comes across as what in America we would call an old-school Democrat. He loves his country, and wants it to provide directly for the less well off. In general his ideas are about reducing the viciousness of the administrative state while maintaining its scope, if, possibly, reducing its depth.
There’s little in here that a Clinton or a Kennedy would disagree with. In the United States, making suggestions like these would be a form of tilting at windmills: they’re far too conservative for the left, and far to socialist for the right. Whether they could catch the imagination of Canadians, and whether the Canadian administrative state would be willing to listen to Canadians to implement such measures, is not something I have any sense of. But this is a fascinating book from the very different national perspective of “our neighbors to the north”.
While there are ideas that I agree with, and ideas I disagree with, there’s only one section that I thought really missed the point of his own summation of the problem. Canada has horrible wait times for health care and health care once you make it to the front of the queue tends to be rushed and impersonal.
His solution is to encourage more people to become doctors, not a bad idea in itself but the way he goes about deciding that “more doctors” is the solution to those problems is a bit weird. He compares the doctor-population ratio across several countries; some high high ratios and some low; and it appears obvious on the face of it that a high ratio is worth focusing on.
But good health care isn’t measured by number of doctors, it’s measured by the health of the country. The only country whose health outcome he mentions is Japan, and that in a parenthetical, to discount that fact that Japan has a low ratio but greater health. His aside is that the Japanese eat more healthily, as if this means their data should be discounted, when it seems to me to suggest that perhaps metrics other than the doctor-population ratio should become the focus on ensuring better health.
That said, his idea of incentivizing doctors to remain in Canada instead of going to more doctor-friendly nations like the one next door, is a valid one. It’s just that having that aside in a book like this and ignoring its implications was a bit jarring.
We must keep growing in pride, but not in ego.
November 24, 2021
“These are the ideal circumstances for Canada to transform itself into a controlled and sensible public policy laboratory and to help lead the advanced world to the next stage of tis development, beyond what has become in the West a sterile left-right tug-of-war in a fetid echo chamber resonating with shibboleths and platitudes. Canadians are even less aware that their hour has struck than they are of the prodigies of perseverance and ingenuity that brought them to this portentous opportunity. The bell of that opportunity tolls for us now, and the world, for once, will listen. It is our turn.” Pg. 70
June 21, 2019
Entertaining book with many imaginative suggestions as to how Canada can, and should become a bigger player on the world stage.
As ever, Black has wilful blinders on with respect to American buffoon Trump and a misdirected respect for the thoroughly debunked theory of trickle down economics but otherwise puts forward some very interesting and cogent concepts for Canadian ascendancy worldwise.
As ever, Black has wilful blinders on with respect to American buffoon Trump and a misdirected respect for the thoroughly debunked theory of trickle down economics but otherwise puts forward some very interesting and cogent concepts for Canadian ascendancy worldwise.
September 13, 2025
Unlike my dear friend Jim, I found this book to be very good. The historical recap is an echo of speeches that Conrad BLACK gives and it’s a useful summary of the Canadian history and current paradigm. I found his solutions compelling and of course I agree them completely.Thank you for a very short little book on what could be and still might be a great country.
June 25, 2020
An invigorating view of Canadian history that doesn't diminish the global role played by Canada's founders. We have a remarkable story as a nation and it's encouraging to have someone recite it with enthusiasm and accuracy.
January 5, 2025
Intriguing, sobering, insightful, and surprisingly uplifting. Black describes in great detail what Canada was, is, and (hopefully) can be. It leaves the non-Canadian reader to be both informed and vicariously rooting for a nation with vast and apparent potential. A Canadian must-read.
October 11, 2019
A concise book providing a short history of Canadian politics and then several ideas of where to take the country from here. Well thought out, do-able suggestions. A useful book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews