By Stephen Vance, Staff
Nobody knows what to expect when Conrad Black makes an appearance at Meaford Hall to promote his new book Rise to Greatness, The History of Canada From the Vikings to the Present on November 25, not even Conrad Black.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t really know,” said Black in an interview with The Meaford Independent, when asked what those attending his Meaford Hall appearance should expect. “Unless I’m advised to do something otherwise, what I’ll do is say, ‘You may wonder why on earth another history of Canada?’ There have been some.”
Black says that while there have been history books published in the past that tell Canada’s tale, there hasn’t been one published in the last two decades or more, and it was time for an updated history of Canada.
“Things have changed in that time. The separatist threat has vanished, and I think that Canadian self-consciousness opposite the United States has declined, unfortunately because of some of the problems in that country. But also because it (Canadian history) is in fact a more interesting subject than most Canadians, including me, were taught in school to believe it was,” explained Black.
In his new book – a hefty work of some 1,100 pages – Black notes that Canada is one of the few countries in the world never to have been conquered, and there have been no wars on Canadian soil for centuries, but that doesn’t mean that Canada’s history hasn’t been without its challenges – and successes.
“It (Canadian success) isn’t just a sequence of accidents. The principal personalities from Champlain to the present have all had a vision – not necessarily the same vision – but a vision of Canada becoming a very important country. I don’t think that’s widely known. I think it’s thought that the colonists were just colonists or fur traders, and that even the early prime ministers post-Confederation were essentially British Empire people. I think that the principal architects of the country at each stage had a strong notion of the possibility of Canada becoming and the duty to that possibility of becoming one of the world’s most important countries,” Black explained.
Of all Black’s qualities, his skills as a historian are likely his least controversial. When asked about the strong opinions that can be tossed about at the mere mention of his name, Black claims to not understand those views, although he says that his most enthusiastic critics are in his home country of Canada.
“I’m not being coy here, I have never quite understood the public relations saga that I have had. I’m well known in Britain, and in a much less controversial way. I’m well known in some places in the United States, and what you see is what you get. In this country, the variety of views of me is as much a comment on the country that holds the views as it is of myself. My extreme critics are full of animus, and in fact full of hate, and I don’t understand it. I’m used to it, and it doesn’t overly preoccupy me. From time to time when I feel it appropriate, I reply to it, and if I may say so, I always reply to it quite effectively, but when it comes to slinging the vituperation around, believe me, I’m pretty experienced and pretty effective,” offered Black.
Much of the controversy surrounding Black over the years has been due to his business dealings, though not all of it.
Accusations of raiding employee pensions and fraud, among other misdeeds, have dogged Black for decades. And while he continues to assert his innocence, he spent three years in a U.S. prison after an obstruction of justice conviction in 2007 after other charges were ultimately dropped.
In 2001 Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in order to become a member of the British House of Lords – an action that ruffled the feathers of many Canadians. Earlier this year Black’s Order of Canada was taken from him, and he was expelled from the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada.
In spite of all the controversy, and his admittedly ‘strained’ relationship with Canada, Black told The Independent that he considers himself a proud Canadian.
“Yes, yes, I am (a proud Canadian), I’m a proud citizen of the UK too, I’m proud of both,” said Black, a staunch conservative, who when asked what makes him proud of Canada offered up primarily socialist reasons for that pride. “It’s been a very successful country, it welcomes immigration more I think than perhaps any country in the world, it has a minimum of religious and racial prejudice. It is a country that has only engaged in four wars, they were all just wars, and we were on the winning side in all of them, and we have a good background as a responsible country in the world,” offered Black.
Black maintains that Canadian history is much more exciting and interesting than many think, and he hopes that his new book will reflect that. Asked if he has a favourite era in Canadian history, Black pauses before suggesting “the future”, and notes that for him the Mackenzie King era holds the most interest in general, and suggests that Sir John A. MacDonald is Canada’s most interesting personality, “rivalled only by Champlain”.
Tickets for his appearance at Meaford Hall on November 25 include a signed copy of Rise to Greatness. Contact Meaford Hall for ticket information.
