Mr. Rolodex

Few members of Canada’s political, economic, and cultural elite have not crossed paths with Tom d’Aquino over the past four decades. This is a man who simply knows everyone, as his easily readable memoir demonstrates. From the predictable titans of industry and power brokers of Bay Street to the less anticipated — Preston and Ernest Manning, Peter Lougheed, Beverley McLachlin, Peter Herrndorf, Marc Mayer, and Joe Clark, his former roommate — the cast of characters who pepper the pages of Private Power, Public Purpose is truly mind-boggling. International figures appear in an impressive number of cameos, including a French wine tycoon, several British peers, a clutch of Vatican cardinals, and George H. W. Bush: “I’m not in the habit, sir, of being awakened with morning coffee by the commander-in-chief!” Unsurprisingly, then, this book can be seen as further evidence of a thesis first outlined by the Carleton University sociologist John...