Manitoba History: Review: Evelyn Eager, Saskatchewan Government: Politics and Pragmatism

by Murray Donnelly
University of Manitoba

Manitoba History, Number 4, 1982

This article was published originally in Manitoba History by the Manitoba Historical Society on the above date. We make this online version available as a free, public service. As an historical document, the article may contain language and views that are no longer in common use and may be culturally sensitive in nature. Please direct all inquiries to webmaster@mhs.mb.ca. Help us keep history alive!

Evelyn Eager’s book on Saskatchewan Government is carefully researched and well written and justifies the authors claim that it will be of interest both to the general reader and the academic. The sad fact is the book could have been so much better. The organization of the book is indeed puzzling. The first chapter is called “Political Roots” and while it contains interesting and perceptive observations and generalizations they are rarely used in the balance of the book, and seem to stand by themselves. The chapter dealing with the creation of the province in 1905 is a good illustration of organizational folly. It is called ‘Our Constitutional Base,’ presumably to emphasize the fact that the book is for the general reader, and provides a good account of the decisions involved in creating the new province. In Appendix A there is a supplement on the Separate Schools Controversy of 1905 which must be intended for the academic reader but the basis for the separation of the two accounts is by no means clear The same procedure is followed in an otherwise good account of the office of Lieutenant Governor compromised by a dangling appendix.

The organizational difficulties appear to go deeper than the rather artificial split between the general and the academic reader. For example chapter 4 is called “The Political Scene” and it is followed by one on “Party Organization.” They might well have been unified. And then one comes to “Voters and Elections” which begins with a reference to procedures followed by the “provincial electoral office to register the vote without influencing it.” But immediately after this intriguing thought one is back in 1905 and in the first Legislative Assembly. Perhaps this would be acceptable except for the fact that the following chapter is called “The Legislative Assembly.”

Earlier in the book the author notes: “Despite enormous changes, basic realities of the Saskatchewan scene remain constant” (p. 1). Of course wheat is still king but perhaps the author gives undue weight to the constant and not enough to the innovative. Accounts of the pioneering activities of the C.C.F. in delivery of health care seem inadequate. In the chapter on The Public Service the author does not capture the innovative spirit of many of its members—the book would be more appealing both to the general reader and the academic had she done so.

Page revised: 1 January 2011