First Lady

To borrow from the title of a landmark political history by Dalton Camp, this is a book about gentlemen, players, and politicians. But in this case, the consummate political player happens to be a woman. Flora! A Woman in a Man’s World is a captivating tale of hopes and dreams, schemes and crushing disappointment.

Flora MacDonald was Canada’s first female external affairs minister (under Joe Clark) and the first woman to run for the leadership of a major federal party. She held two additional cabinet posts, as immigration minister (also under Clark) and as communications minister (under Brian Mulroney). She worked on thirty-eight campaigns, ran the national office of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada for nearly a decade, and was later elected national secretary of the party.

A proud Red Tory, Flora would not be at home in the Conservative Party were she alive today. She was a progressive who fought for the abolition of capital...