Trudeau appeared to enjoy the encounter. He stood his ground while escaping projectiles, including a tomato…
In this insightful and lively history, Liberal insider Darryl Raymaker recalls the attempt to broker “a marriage from hell” between the federal Liberal Party and Alberta’s Social Credit government in the late 1960s. Raymaker uses his deep connections and backroom knowledge to trace the tangled political relationships that developed when charismatic statesman Pierre Trudeau confronted the forces of oil and agriculture in Canada’s west. Part memoir, part chronicle, Trudeau’s Tango provides a window into Canadian history, politics, economics, and the zeitgeist of the late 1960s. Foreword by Lloyd Axworthy.
I Here Comes Mr. Trudeau
1 The Great Race Begins
december 1967–march 1968
2 The Coming of the Just Society
march–april 1968
3 Trudeaumania Goes West
april–june 1968
4 The Battle for Edmonton Centre
april–june 1968
5 The Battle for Alberta
may–june 1968
6 Breakthrough
june 1968
7 The Honeymoon
june–december 1968
II Oil and Other Minefields
8 In Alberta, It’s About Oil, Stupid!
january–april 1969
9 Mr. Trudeau Lays an Egg
march–may 1969
10 Oil, Economic Nationalism, and Mean Joe Greene
april 1969–october 1970
11 Hustle Grain!
december 1968–october 1970
12 The Infernal White Paper
january 1969–october 1970
13 Fighting Inflation and the Cunning Posties
april 1969–september 1970
III The Arranged Marriage
14 The Evolution of the Mighty Social Credit
september 1968– september 1969
15 A Troublesome Relationship
january 1969–february 1970
16 The Making of a Senator
february–october 1970
IV Crisis
17 Western Alienation and the Rabble-rousers
december 1968–october 1970
18 The October Crisis
august–december 1970
V The Second Coming
19 The Splendours of OPEC and the Saga of Home Oil
october 1970–march 1971
20 The Rough Sport of Politics
july 1970–march 1971
21 Blissful Times and the Beginning of the End of Tax Reform
november 1970–july 1971
22 As Good as It Gets
july 1971
VI The Dawning of the Lougheed Era
23 Lougheed Comes to Power
february–september 1971
24 Tax Reform at Last
july–december 1971
25 Peter Lougheed Shows His Stuff
july 1971–march 1972
VII Stumbling toward the Brink
26 The Grits Falter
september 1971–may 1972
27 Chickens, Eggs, and Wheat Deals
january 1971–june 1972
28 Peter Lougheed Becomes a Star
december 1971–july 1972
29 The Eve of the Federal Election
april–august 1972
30 “The Land is Strong?”
september–october 1972
31 The Party’s Over
october–november 1972
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index