A
Prairie boy in Tiananmen
A
Stubble-Jumper in Striped
Pants: Memoirs of a Prairie
Diplomat
by Earl C. Drake
U of Toronto Press, 246
pages
Price: $35.00
Reviewed
by David Kilgour
(A
condensed version of this
book review was published
in the Globe and Mail, December
24, 1999)
In a period when diplomats
are denigrated as much or
more than other occupational
groups, this book by one
of Canada’s prominent
practitioners is timely.
Drake, moreover, makes it
clear from the relative
safety of retirement that
after a life time of sending
balanced dispatches to Ottawa
headquarters he is now writing
as he really feels about
a host of issues and personalities
encountered during a 40-year
career.
The author’s observations
are ones most Canadians
are likely to share; his
absence of professional
orthodoxy is in fact the
book’s real strength.
Beginning in Prairie Canada,
he developed a no-nonsense
approach which served his
career well and allows readers
to empathize with him in
many situations. At his
recruitment interview, for
instance, when examiners
treated him as a country
bumpkin he managed to demonstrate
that he knew more than they
did.
His career began in the
mid-1950s under Lester Pearson,
probably the most golden
period for Canadian diplomacy.
Readers enjoy many of his
early experiences, such
as sharing the same streetcar
and office building with
Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent.
He explains why President
John F. Kennedy’s vigour
and sense of humour impressed
him, and Jacqueline proved
a disappointment. We learn
more about John Diefenbaker’s
speech, which helped force
South Africa out of the
Commonwealth over apartheid.
The first posting was to
Pakistan and he provides
insights on its powerful-army-weak-legislators,
corruption and poverty,
which led to its recent
suspension from the councils
of the Commonwealth. The
next stop was Malaysia,
with side trips to tormented
Burma and Thailand, where
he deepened his credentials
as an Asianist.
Drake later spent six years
in Ottawa and seven at the
World Bank on international
development; the comments
here are especially useful.
For example, he quotes a
1970 paper issued by then
Foreign Minister Mitchell
Sharp: "…a society
concerned about poverty
and development abroad will
be concerned about poverty
and development at home."
He also criticizes some
CIDA practices then and
now sharply.
His views on the World
Bank will surprise some
readers. He thinks it is
the mix of economic clout
and staff excellence that
allowed the bank to become
a "major vehicle for
transferring modern technology
and economic thinking to
Asia, Africa and Latin America."
Today, the bank has more
than US$300billion loaned
to more than 600 projects
in 140 countries. His positive
assessment of the controversial
Robert McNamara as president
of the bank is absorbing;
he also indicates a number
of issues on which the two
differed.
The highlight of Drake’s
was clearly the period from
1987 to 1989 when he was
Canada’s ambassador
to China. His frankness
about the Middle Kingdom
is quite different from
the rose-coloured view Canadians
encountered in our media
for the most part during
the 1980s. For example,
he details a visit to Tibet
with real candour, including
a visit to Dalai Lama’s
former residence where the
supposed monk greeting him
turns out to be a member
of the Chinese security
police.
Drake’s assessment
of the June 1989 Tiananmen
crisis, is the best part
of the book. He judges that
the American electronic
media over-simplified the
situation so greatly that
they encouraged students
to be more defiant than
they otherwise would have
been. Good material is provided
about what happened to the
approximately 500 Canadians
living across China when
tragedy struck. The normal
maple leaf advantage began
to disappear when Drake
and twenty other Canadians
remained behind in the embassy
while two army factions
were expected to begin fighting
in Beijing streets. He captures
the essence of Premier Li Peng, Deng
Xiaoping, Zhao
Ziyang and other personalities
well.
Mostly because of the iconoclasm
of the author, this book
will probably appeal to
non-diplomats more than
to practitioners. It deserves
a wide audience in both
communities.
David Kilgour is MP
for Edmonton Southeast and
Secretary of State for Latin
America and Africa.
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