The Constant Liberal

Challenging interpretations of Pierre Elliott Trudeau as either the founder of a progressive Canada or an unavowed and destructive socialist, this book argues that he was in fact a staunch defender of capitalist values who helped make the country more conservative.

Christo Aivalis is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council postdoctoral fellow in the Department of History at the University of Toronto. His work has appeared in the Canadian Historical Review, Labour/Le Travail, Our Times, Canadian Dimension, and Active History. He is currently working on a biography of Canadian labour leader A.R. Mosher.

This new book by Christo Aivalis…focuses on Trudeau’s political philosophy and how he expressed it in legislation. From that perspective he seems much less a philosopher-king and far more an astute politician who was further to the right than he seemed. Moreover, Aivalis shows how Trudeau paved the way for modern neoliberalism — which he did not much like at all.

Vanessa LeBlanc:

"…Aivalis offers a welcome critical look at Trudeau’s policies that cuts through the myth surrounding the man."

Thristan Falconer:

Historians interested in understanding Trudeau or Canada since 1945 will find considerable material to reflect on the major challenges affecting the country during this period.

Larry Savage, Labour Studies, Brock University:
The author’s highly readable narrative – spanning five decades – focuses on a series of key policy areas and ultimately delivers a thought-provoking social democratic analysis of the politics of Pierre Trudeau. In fact, the book reveals as much about the ideology and politics of the social democratic left as it does about Trudeau.

John English:
Well-written, intelligently argued, and admirably researched, The Constant Liberal is an important contribution to the international debate about the fate of Western social democracy, the end of the Keynesian consensus, and the meaning of liberalism today.

Andrew Jackson, Institute of Political Economy, Carleton University:

[Aivalis’s] careful re-telling of the historical record provides a useful and interesting narrative which will be of interest to many readers today, and provides considerable fodder for thought as we engage in current political debates.

James McHugh, University of Akron:

This book is an excellent contribution to the scholarly literature of Canadian political biography, partly because it invites readers to think seriously about its conclusions, regardless of whether or not they agree with them.

Luke Savage:
The Constant Liberal is a worthy and useful contribution to the considerable body of literature surrounding the life and career of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. It offers a partial corrective to popular perceptions of Trudeau, illustrating the more conservative aspects of his beliefs and thinking in the process. Above all, in drawing from an often neglected body of source material, The Constant Liberal serves as an exposition of a once powerful and influential current of Canadian political thought, now largely tamed or dormant.

Reg Whitaker, coauthor of Secret Service: Political Policing in Canada from the Fenians to Fortress America:
Pierre Trudeau served as the prime minister of Canada for more than fifteen years, yet there remains considerable ambiguity about where he personally situated himself on the political spectrum. Was he an ardent liberal or a social democrat? The Constant Liberal persuasively answers this question and offers keen insights into how the ideological boundary between liberalism and socialism has shaped recent Canadian political history.

Paul Litt, author of Trudeaumania:
Those who regard Pierre Trudeau as a wild-eyed socialist will be surprised that in the eyes of the left he was an orthodox liberal with conservative instincts. His mod style suggested progressive change, but this study chronicles how Trudeau the Elder repeatedly refused to challenge the status quo to deliver social justice for ordinary Canadians. Was the “Just Society” just for show? Read this book if you want to know.