Edward McWhinney, a legal scholar and former professor of political science, sat as the Member of Parliament for Vancouver Quadra through much of the Chrétien period. The title of the book promises an examination of the Chrétien era in terms of its legacy for Canadian federalism and the constitution. Sadly, the book fails to deliver. Although the author is quick to insist that his work is not a “personal biography” (12), but rather an analysis framed through “participant observation,” the examination of the past decade's events is largely a form of political memoir, with little by way of a sustained analysis of Canadian federalism or the constitution.

The book is organized into several thematic sections. The first several chapters provide an overview of the structure of the parliamentary system of government. The first chapter, although titled “Presidential Prime Ministership,” is less about the ascendancy of the Prime Minister into a presidential type figure as it is an introduction to the primary “players” in the parliamentary system: PMO, cabinet, the PM, individual MPs, political parties, and the Senate. Chapters 2 and 3 continue this introductory discussion with an overview of the role of the Speaker, the function of question period, parliamentary committees, party whips, and the Supreme Court of Canada. While the discussion of these various institutions of our parliamentary system provides some interesting information, the lens through which they are viewed is the author's personal experience with them. McWhinney's consideration of party whips, for example, becomes a discussion of McWhinney's dissatisfaction that the Liberal party whip used appointments to the parliamentary committee he chaired as a means of punishing disobedient members. McWhinney then expands at some length on the importance of his committee and the work it did.

This tendency to personalize the information presented continues throughout the rest of the text. Chapters 4 and 5, entitled “Fault-lines” and “Crossroads” respectively, deal with the major policy issues confronting the Chretien government. The discussion, however, is uneven. Fiscal questions, for example, are discussed in only one and half pages and there is no acknowledgement of the significance of the cuts to transfer payments and the termination of the Canada Assistance Program and its replacement with the Canada Health and Social Transfer. Admittedly, McWhinney's primary interest is in constitutional issues, but these policy changes had a very significant effect on the structure of Canadian federalism, undermined the ability to sustain national standards in social programs, and had an adverse effect on federal-provincial relations. Immigration, on the other hand, is given an extensive discussion (8 pages). While important, the reason it should be given such a protracted discussion is less than clear. One explanation is simply that as a Vancouver MP, McWhinney's constituency work dealt with a considerable number of immigration issues, whereas he had relatively few dealing with fiscal matters.

More troubling, in this reviewer's opinion, is McWhinney's discussion of constitutional issues. Given his expertise in constitutional matters, it is surprising that he has little to say about the 1996 Quebec referendum campaign, the Supreme Court reference case on Quebec secession, or the passage of the Clarity Act. McWhinney's primary discussion of this issue tends to focus on his own previously published constitutional opinions of Quebec's right to hold referendums and the failure of successive justice ministers to adequately respond to opposition questions relying on those opinions (119–121). The absence of a sustained discussion of these issues weakens the overall text.

McWhinney does offer some interesting proposals for the reform of our constitutional system. In particular, his idea to adopt a separation of powers in which the executive is removed from parliament is provocative and would amount to a substantial redrawing of our constitutional system. His other suggestions include parliamentary review of Supreme Court appointments, senate and electoral reform and a more formalized constitutional role for political parties. However, these ideas are dropped into the text, often by way of conclusion, and are not fleshed out in any depth.

In conclusion, this book is a highly personal reflection on the author's role as an MP (as reflected in the 16 pages of photographs of the author with various dignitaries and parliamentary colleagues). As such it fails to live up to the promise of its title and does not provide an analysis of the Chrétien legacy for Canadian federalism. The absence of footnotes to the academic literature makes the books of limited utility for students. The only bibliography provided is one of the author's own works. The book might be of interest to those concerned with the inner workings of parliament and of the Liberal party. However, McWhinney was not close enough to the inner circles of the party to provide much new information about the internal party debates that characterized the decade. This is too bad. Clearly the author has a rich knowledge and understanding of the Canadian constitutional order. A more sustained and balanced analysis would have made a valuable contribution to the literature of Canadian politics.