Tom Kent – författare

From 1951 to 1971, Tom Kent was successively Assistant Editor of The Economist; Editor of the Winnipeg Free Press, confidant, adviser, and speechwriter to Opposition Leader Lester B. Pearson; leading light at the Kingston conference of 1960; policy consultant to the Liberal Party of Canada; candidate for Parliament against Tommy Douglas; "Co-ordinator of Progamming" (i.e., right-hand-man) in Pearson''s PMO; Deputy Minister under Jean Marchand at Employment and Immigration; and first Deputy Minister, also under Marchand, at the new Department of Regional Economic Expansion. A Public Purpose is an account of Kent''s experience as a central figure in the life of one of the most important governments of the last half century, and an agenda for unfinished business, suggesting policies for the present. His views on the events in which he was involved are strong and often unorthodox, but always consistent in their theme that politics should be conducted neither technocratically nor according to imperatives imposed by interest groups and the pork barrel. Instead, he argues, political parties should tell the people what they intend to do when they get into office and, once elected, should do it.

Using former cabinet minister and senator Allan J. MacEachen''s career in public service as the organizing focus of the collection, contributors contrast the current retreat of government with the activist approach advocated by Allan MacEachen and his generation. They examine whether the public good will be enhanced by continuing retreat or whether that trend is the consequence of policy mistakes that can and should be corrected. In Pursuit of the Public Good addresses a wide range of fields, including politics, economics, social welfare, and public administration, in an engaging and straightforward style. Scholars and general readers alike will find this collection accessible and stimulating.