Yesterday's post was about American Presidents and their reading habits, so, today, I thought I’d discuss Canadian Prime Ministers and their books.
Our current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has a B.A. in
English Literature, names Stephen King as his favourite author, lists reading
as one of his pastimes, and would welcome a pen pal from abroad by taking
him/her to the library on Parliament Hill (http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/10/09/justin-trudeau-51-questions_n_8260008.html).
He has also written a book, Common Ground, a memoir (without a
co-writer); all proceeds from sales are donated to the domestic programs of the
Canadian Red Cross Society.
Our previous Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, was not known
for reading extensively. Apparently, he
named The Guinness Book of World Records
as his favourite book, though he did write one about the history of hockey: A
Great Game: The Forgotten Leafs & the Rise of Professional Hockey.
Harper did inspire a writer, Yann Martel, best known as the
author of Life of Pi to start what he
called “the loneliest book club in the world.”
From 2007 until 2011, Martel sent
our former prime minister a book every two weeks – a total of more than one
hundred novels, poetry collections, plays, graphic novels and children’s
books. Each gift was accompanied by a
letter discussing the worth of the book and exploring the importance of reading
not only as a pleasure but as an essential way of knowing the world and
understanding life.
Martel began his quest to boost Harper’s love of literature
after Martel and a delegation acknowledging the 50th anniversary of the Canada
Council for the Arts, which fosters the cultural identity of Canadians, were
ignored by the prime minister when they visited the House of Commons in March
2007. Martel gave clear justification
for his one-sided book club: “As long as
someone has no power over me, I don't care what they read, or if they read at
all... But once someone has power over me, then, yes, their reading does matter
to me because in what they choose to read will be found what they think and
what they will do.” Over the duration of
his one-sided book club, Martel received five responses from the Prime Minister’s
Office, but none from Harper himself.
The letters were published in book form in 2012: 101
Letters to a Prime Minister: The
Complete Letters to Stephen Harper. For
a complete list of the books that Martel recommended, go to http://guides.lib.montana.edu/c.php?g=198308&p=1302674.
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