Bill Blaikie, The
Blaikie Report: An Insider’s Look at Faith
and Politics (The United Church of
Canada, 2011).                                    

We in what is
called the “mainstream” media tend to be secularists who either consider
religion to be a private matter or have no religious faith at all. We tend
therefore to minimize or miss the importance of religion in politics.

Jeffrey Simpson
(Globe and Mail: October 10 2012)

The ongoing
dialogue about faith and politics is often a contentious one, but not to ponder
the significance of the conversation is to capitulate to the prejudices of
secularism. The publications of The
Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada (Marci
McDonald: 2010) and Pulpit and Politics:
Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life (Dennis Gruending:
2011) have made it abundantly clear that many who take their faith journey
seriously become political.

The publication
of The Blaikie Report should be
welcomed with much eager interest—the book is, as the subtitle states, ‘An
Insider’s Look at Faith and Politics’. The
Blaikie Report is part political autobiography and part political
memoir—all of the tough issues are faced with integrity and a searching mind.
There can be no doubt where Blaikie draws his political vision from: ‘The
Social Gospel’ (2) and ‘The Prophetic Tradition’ (5) have done much to shape
and define how and why Blaikie has turned to the NDP for many a decade to live
forth the faith-politics tension.       

There has been
a tendency, regrettably so, for the political right to claim to be the
authentic voice of faith in Canada, and the political centre and left are, by
default, often seen as the bearers of secularism. Needless to say, such a way
of interpreting the faith-politics dilemma seriously distorts the reality of
Canadian politic life. ‘The God Squad’ (1) and many other compact chapters in The Blaikie Report clearly illustrate
that there are many on the political left that are deeply motivated by faith,
and, equally so, substantive ethical, economic, cultural and social positions—see
‘Culture Wars’ (3).  It is simply false,
dishonest and silly to assume the political left is secularist and a plaything
of fashionable liberalism, whereas the political right is religious and upholds
traditional Christian values. The underlying thesis of The Blaikie Report, from a time tried political insider’s
perspective, poignantly and consistently, seeks to  dissolve dysfunctional caricatures and
restore political discourse and activism to a more meaningful level—such a
clarion call is desperately needed in our ethos of entrenched religious and political
tribalism.

There can be no
doubt The Blaikie Report is a much
needed antidote to the toxins in the body politic of our troubled times. This
is a book of much wisdom and insight by a politician who has lived the talk.
There is  a minor criticism I have of
this otherwise gem and must read of a book. I was somewhat disappointed that
the historic Red Tory Tradition of Stephen Leacock, Judith Robinson, George
Grant and many other distinguished Canadians (who stand within such a heritage)
were omitted.  I should mention, though,
that it was Bill Blaikie in the autumn of 1988, when George Grant had recently
died, that mentioned Grant’s death in the House of Commons (most in the
Progressive Conservative Party at the time would not have known Grant in any
depth)—this speaks much about Blaikie’s understanding of the obvious
affinities between the historic Social Gospel tradition and Red Toryism.  We have a form of historic Toryism in Canada
that stands, almost, at the opposite end of the political spectrum than the ideological
conservatism (much closer to American republicanism) in Canada today. My recent
book, Keepers of the Flame: Canadian Red
Toryism (2012), deals with such a problem. In short, a chapter ‘Red
Toryism’ in The Blaikie Report would
have made this book of fine gold pure gold.

Ron Dart

Department of
Political Studies/Philosophy/Religious Studies

University of
the Fraser Valley

Abbotsford
BC