The word is “brash.” Ahead of the 1963 federal election, Jim Coutts, then a twenty-four-year-old Liberal campaign chairman in Alberta, was trying to recruit Harry Hays, Calgary’s former mayor, as a candidate. But Coutts had a poll showing that more than 50 percent disapproved of Hays, then a Conservative. When Hays asked about his chances, Coutts replied, “It looks good, Harry.” Fed by false hope, Hays plunged into the race and went on to serve in Lester Pearson’s government as agriculture minister. Fast-forward a decade and Coutts had become Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s most senior political aide. He had a poll showing a drop in Trudeau’s ratings. Not wishing to unsettle the prime minister on the eve of a major speech, he withheld the numbers until afterwards.
This fall, Coutts is back, in a manner of speaking. He comes to us from the grave, in the style of Mackenzie King, in the form of an exhaustive, at times exhausting, often illuminating diary of his years as...
Robert Lewis spent eight years as a Time correspondent and twenty-five years at Maclean’s, the last seven as editor-in-chief. He is the author of Power, Prime Ministers and the Press: The Battle for Truth on Parliament Hill.
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