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Tllf HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday September Page IS Book review The House is not a Home is Erik Nielsens confession By J I The compulsion lo confess is a very human one as everyone who reads thrillers knows But it is criminals who want tell all even tight lipped ones apparently find il hard lo keep silent forever The proof of this ax 10m is Erik Nielsen s memoir The House is Not a Home An Autobiography pages 95 Nielsen a former Conservative deputy prime minister tells us something of Ins early life in a household dominated by his father Then it was the Seeond World War and distinguished vice with the RCAF overseas followed by the establishment of a legal practiee in the north Elected to Parliament from Yukon a ij7 byeleetion Nielsen first came to prominence during the Sessions nearly deslroyid Lester Pearson ral govern in the mid 1960s Using in formation that he had largely up himself Nielsen day day rose in Hie House Quebec ministers for their sins Some were real enough and involved other seemed almost But rs There was nothing wrong then or now with exposing corrupt inn But Nielsen targets invariably on Ijucbecois and the victousmss of his atlatks alwajs delivered from behind his stone hard aee created the indelible im thai Nielsen was Certainly the Liberal counterattacks did nothing to dispel assessment Nielsen IT maintains that his interest was solely devoted to tin public good and he puts the ex posurc of wrongdoing and an abhorrence of patronage at the lop of his list of personal attributes along wilh his loall lo I Ik party s Perception iwevei is in the eye of the beholder and this book ultimate docs t reputation Tin patronage aspect is si li ar Ik t lu Ken devoutly priclaimniL Ins preference for based on alone we know tint Nit Ken helped create t In Mulronej patromgc machine thai still doles out to the laitliful And who was ever faithful than Nielsen Mi went his will paid sinecun is line if the Tunsportaii n 1987 Nielsen s to his leaders is also clear He foil John with great and although he now admits thai the Chief had faults he those who In Iped drive him out of power was that Ihem all Ik But once was gone Nielsen Ins then Clark And r Brian had loppled lark the Irom received all of Ken sdc Tin of that Nielsen a wholK favor iblc one We here W and nidi prune minister who is weld Ins axe friends who slip grace Thus Ihi defence in slipped Irom his in Till of a slia porno I ai in was all w linger loo long in had push him fir so we old And the tlnnj happened when Sinclair Slovens fell into a conflict of inltiesl and again when slipped on rotten tuna prime who can t prune his cabinet is bound to into difficulty and Nielsen who prints a memorandum he wrote for Mulroney before the seemed to know exactl which prospective ministers were Bui revelations amount to loyaltj Why did Nielsen unburden himself now Nielsen lias refused to give interviews in connection with his hook in unheard of position for an author si all we can do is speculate he rcallv is as he sug disturbed the nuance of patronage And perhaps started to More like Nielsen hoped to reman a close adviser to Mulroney after he left politics in and was disap pointed that the telephone failed to ring often enough Close relation ships in politics are not long lasting but grievances can live on even in yesterdays men This book is obviously the product of burning resentment and as such it negates Nielsen s greatest virtue his loyal to his leader Prof J I who teaches Canadian history at York in Toronto is one of Canada s most prolific historical writers He has written or co- written mure than books in eluding books on the Conservative and I iheral parties Run Jog Ride Wheel mi Mv lTTT 1 Pi i LVl JL Fnr further information- Sunday Sept 17th 18003871200 A Directory of Services Offered in Our Community