Rating: 5 out of 5
There is a reasonable question which should encircle the topics we emerge ourselves in — and the boundary should not be too close to the topic itself. Nevertheless, when I picked this book up, I was wondering what benefits could an exposure into Newfoundland and Labrador’s politics of the mid-2000’s give me. During the course of reading this, I managed to answer these doubts quite well.
To begin with, Mr Rowe does not write just about politics. There is plenty of general morality and ethics here, and espeically with the modern perception of acceptable changing so quickly, it is very interesting to see what a respectable journalist and writer could have taken a very strong stand on. With some columns (Afghanistan), it is possible to see Mr Rowe’s position change in the years he was writing; others are of a more permanent kind — whether that be drugs or appropriate uses of public finances.
The other part is that this book is absolutely thrilling. The former experience of having been Leader of the Opposition gives Mr Rowe an unique insight into most questions. He is also, at the same time, the most ardent patriot of Newfoundland that anyone could expect to see, and especially with some of the deals that the province struck in its early days there are plenty of injustices to complain about. These raise not just questions about the morality of Canada’s asymmetrical federalism but also of its viability.
Even though this isn’t my favourite book of the year, I think I would recommend it to most people — this book gives a very unique opportunity to look into one of the richest countries through the eyes of their poorest citizens. It is an injustice that is easy to forget when the same also do not get a loud say and are therefore dependent on their leader-of-the-day, Danny Williams in this case. Lastly, the same is happening everywhere to someone…
