Review: Canada: In Retreat
| Published date | 01 December 1979 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207903400419 |
| Date | 01 December 1979 |
| Author | M.V. Charrier |
| Subject Matter | Review |
REVIEWS
735
As
it
stands,
the
treatment
of
Pearkes
is
far
too
sympathetic
-
in fact
the
combination
of model
soldier
and
ideal
politician
is
rare.
Yet
the
reader
is
offered
no
satisfactory
explanation
why
one
of
Canada's
more
quali-
fied
professional
soldiers
in
the
second
war
was
hived
off
in British
Columbia for
most
of
the
conflict.
Nor
is
Pearkes'
resignation
from
the
Diefenbaker
cabinet
discussed
in
any
great
detail.
Both
decisions
amounted
to significant
turning
points in
the
career
of
George
Pearkes.
It
could
be
that
the biographer
found
himself
somewhat
too
close
to
his
subject,
but
this
in
itself
is
a
good
lesson
for
students
of history.
R.B.
Byers/York
University
IN
RETREAT
The
Canadian
Forces
in
the
Trudeau
Years
Gerald
Porter
Ottawa:
Deneau
&
Greenberg,
1978,
x,
232pp,
$12.95
During
an
era
of
environmental
concern
Porter's
objective
of
informing
Canadians
that
'their
once
proud
armed
forces
...
are
rapidly
becoming
an endangered
species'
is
not
only
apt
but
also
an
honourable
undertak-
ing.
Undeniably,
the
Canadian
Forces
have
declined
in
both
quality
and
quantity
over
the
years;
however the
thrust
of
the
author's
attack
is
channelled
against
Prime
Minister
Trudeau
and
a
unique
opportunity
to
focus
the
Canadian public's
attention
on
their
steadily
deteriorating
armed
forces
is
wasted.
In
Retreat's
impassioned
tirade
on
Trudeau's
domestic
and
foreign
policies
and
how
they
affected
the
military
is
the
product
of
considerable
research,
as
the
twenty-four
pages
of
footnotes attest;
however
the
work
is
based
principally
on
journalistic
articles
and
interviews.
The
anti-
Trudeau
thread
used
to
string
the
multitude
of
more
or
less
related
statements
together
may
be
good
reporting,
but
it
does
not
lead
to
con-
vincing
conclusions.
What
the
analysis
lacks
is
a
more
realistic
and
sub-
stantial
framework
which
would
place
in
perspective
the
economic
constraints
and
the
political
realities which
both
Trudeau
and
his
predecessors
faced
when
formulating
their
military
policies.
Canada
was
not
the
only
country
which
was
confronted
with
the
dilemma
of
increasingly
sophisticated
weapon
systems
and
escalating
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