The Poet Politician

On November 16, 1976, I had a rendezvous with Gérald Godin, who, to general astonishment, had just defeated the Liberal premier Robert Bourassa in his own riding, helping to sweep the Parti Québécois to power. We had never met, but I had known about Godin for several years. Malcolm Reid had written about him in his 1972 book, The Shouting Signpainters, and we had several mutual acquaintances, as he had friends in English Canada’s progressive circles.

It had snowed overnight, and as I trudged along toward the restaurant in his east-end Montreal constituency, I was convinced he would not show up. The celebrations the night before had gone on for hours, and I was sure that keeping an appointment for a coffee with an Anglo journalist would not be a priority. But he was there. At one point during our conversation, I confessed that, as an English Canadian, I was nervous about the election of the PQ. He reached across the table, touched my hand, and said, “Don’t...