COLUMN: Think Again – Diary provides a window into an important political era

Dozens of books have been written about former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s time in office. These range from lengthy tomes by professional academics to the memoirs of Trudeau himself.

Whether one likes Trudeau or not (and I am certainly not a fan), no one can deny that he had a huge impact on our country. Official bilingualism, the patriation of the Constitution, and Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms were just a few of Trudeau’s most significant achievements. As the third longest serving prime minister in Canadian history, Trudeau led our country through a tumultuous era.

Serving alongside Trudeau throughout most of that time was Jim Coutts, his principal secretary. Coutts regularly met with Trudeau, interacted with cabinet ministers, helped negotiate key agreements, and provided plenty of political advice. And now we have access to some of his innermost thoughts.

Considering that Coutts died in 2013, this might seem like an odd statement. After all, he didn’t write an official memoir, nor did anyone recently write a biography about him. We have something better—Coutts’s personal diary from that era.

It turns out that Coutts kept a diary throughout the time he worked for Trudeau. This diary contained his thoughts about politics, his feelings about the people he worked with, and even the personal challenges he went through in life. For example, Coutts, a lifelong bachelor, wrote multiple times about his interest in marrying a particular woman. Sadly for him, she married someone else, something Coutts long regretted.

We also learned that Coutts really enjoyed playing poker. In fact, there are dozens of times in his diary where he talks about playing all night, sometimes right before an important meeting the following day. It doesn’t look like Coutts was particularly good at poker, since he reported losing tens of thousands of dollars during his late-night games.

Coutts reveals many interesting political tidbits throughout his diary. For example, Coutts claimed that future governor general David Johnston was poised to be a candidate for the Trudeau Liberals in the 1974 general election. However, Johnston ended up not running at the last minute. Coutts blamed fellow Liberal organizer Dorothy Petrie for botching this recruitment attempt.

Incidentally, Petrie was having a romantic affair with Liberal campaign manager Keith Davey at the time, something that bothered Coutts greatly.

It turns out that Coutts was close friends with Paul Martin Jr. and Martin expressed significant interest in running for the Liberals, but only if he would be on the fast track for leadership. Apparently, Martin’s brazen interest in the top job started quite early in life. It’s fascinating to read the number of times that Coutts had to temper Martin’s aspirations and remind him that he needed to put in the political work first before trying to win the Liberal leadership.

As for Coutts’s interactions with Trudeau himself, Coutts makes it clear that while he was loyal to Trudeau as leader, the two were not personal friends. In many ways, their relationship was more transactional than anything else. This comes through clearly when Coutts writes about his interest in running for office himself and becoming a cabinet minister. While Trudeau was willing to support Coutts’s political bid, he doesn’t seem to go out of his way to help him.

When a safe Liberal seat opened up in 1981, Coutts ran for the Liberals. To everyone’s surprise, he was defeated by the NDP candidate. That marked the end of Coutts’s political career, and of his diary.

The Coutts Diaries is a fascinating book that will be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about Canadian history. It’s well worth reading.

Michael Zwaagstra is a teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.