On The Take: Crime, Corruption And Greed In The Mulroney Years

by Stevie Cameron

When On the Take came out in 1994, it made author Stevie Cameron a household name in Canada. Her book's revelations about the rampant corruption and petty greed of Brian Mulroney's decade in the prime minister's office reverberated for many years in the Canadian political landscape and helped destroy his Progressive Conservative Party. (The party, one of Canada's most venerable, never recovered from Mulroney's stewardship and eventually merged with the Canadian Alliance Party.) Cameron, one of the country's leading investigative reporters, was one of the few reporters to consistently question and probe the corruption of the Mulroney years. She has a wonderful ear for storytelling, which helps make On the Take a page-turner. Cameron seems to rejoice in recounting the numerous unseemly episodes of the Mulroney administration and depicting all its seedy characters and hangers-on. Mulroney comes across as having been most comfortable in a powerbroker's backrooms, surrounding himself with dodgy bagmen and devious lobbyists. Cameron suggests that the country was "open for business," with a "for sale" sign on the front lawn. She writes that even in their final official act, as the Mulroneys departed from office in disgrace amid record-low popularity ratings, they tried to stiff taxpayers into buying their used furniture. If On the Take can be faulted, it's because it feels a tad partisan. The implication seems to be that Mulroney was somehow much worse than other Canadian leaders--when, in fact, the subsequent regime of Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was also marred by many corruption scandals. Cameron does a fine job of exposing Mulroney, but she seems to blame corruption too much on personality rather than any deeper, systemic causes. That said, On the Take is still a classic of Canadian nonfiction and a masterful depiction of how power is wielded in Ottawa. --Alex Roslin --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Genres: Canada, History, Politics, Nonfiction, Political Science, Biography

576 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Stephanie Graham "Stevie" Cameron was a Canadian investigative journalist and author. She worked for various newspapers such as the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. She hosted a newsmagazine television show The Fifth Estate on CBC-TV in the 1990s. She was also an author of non-fiction books, including one from 1994 about former prime minister Brian Mulroney called On the Take. In 2013, she was honoured with membership into the Order of Canada. She died in Toronto on August 31, 2024.

Reviews

[The Devine Ms Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not about policy, it is about corruption. Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative government spent 9 years in office during which time flagrant kick-back schemes, bid-rigging on government contracts, misappropriation of parliamentary budgets and patronage appointments were the norm. This regime caused the Canadian people to loose faith in their government and to then crush a once proud political party. Mila's shopping sprees sounds like a clone of Imelda Marcos. You have to wonder how some people can sleep at night. The galling part is that so many of them feel they are entitled to squander the taxpayer's money or the Party's money (which are donated funds and therefore still taxpayer's money) for personal gain. The names and events that are articulated are mind-boggling. So many people 'On the Take' you have to wonder if there are any honest people out there.
A very well written and researched book.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this book almost two years ago and finished on Thursday night, after a lengthy pause. The problem wasn't boredom; the problem was the small font, since it was published in 1995.

For anyone interested in recent Canadian political history I highly recommend this book. The book details just how rapacious was the corruption during the Mulroney era. Apparently a large majority in Parliament creates a sense of impunity. The government controls all of the levers of power, with frighteningly few checks. People try to get in the way of obvious wrong at their peril.

As we saw more recently with the "Sponsorship" scandal that became publicly known in 2003 from the Auditor General's report, the Tories did not have a monopoly on gross corruption. I have the book four stars because despite a few references to Chretien and Trudeau era corruption it seemed solidly aimed at one party.

Notwithstanding the content was gripping and at time gruesome. There were deaths under mysterious circumstances. Helpless widows reduced to poverty. Fraudulent bankruptcies. It has all the thrill of a true crime novel, but it's non-fiction.

[Brent L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Canadian Prime Minister wasn't nicknamed Lyin' Brian for nothing.

[Greg Bolton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mulroney is a jerk.

[YYCanuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author was never sued by a man who accepted brown paper bags...

[Ed A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched piece of investigative journalism. A cautionary tale (or, perhaps a playbook for those so willing) to anyone wishing to run for elected office. Out of the dozens of stories in here related to contract bid-rigging, brown paper bags, Mila's extensive shoe collection, a suspicious murder in a seedy motel, and other taxpayer-funded diarrhea, there's one which is a cut above the rest:

Donald Mazankowski - a car dealer from Viking, Alberta - was nominated as Brian Mulroney's deputy Prime Minister only two years after the 1984 election. Apparently, Don (or "Maz" as he was referred to by Mulroney's inner circle) was a bit insecure about his relative lack of advanced education - a case of "imposter syndrome" when surrounded by lawyers and other rich yuppie-folk that the well-heeled Mulroney clan frequently associated with. Unlike Brian, Don was not a lawyer, and did not have a degree of any kind.

So, Brian came up with a solution. He called up Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and paid the school a tidy sum to grant Don an honorary law degree. It's not that I have a problem with honorary degrees, or that Don was "only" a car salesman in a former life, it's that Brian Mulroney wielded his influence in unbelievably inappropriate ways for the most inconsequential things.

As George Carlin would have said: "It's a big club, and you ain't in it!"

[Mark Hlady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contrary to his austerity and small government for Canadians, Brian Mulroney was Canada's self indulgent Teflon Don. Mila Mulroney's voracious appetite for material possessions seems boundless and 24 Sussex, her warehouse of all things public and private. As to national Canadian treasures and expenditures, who knows?
"And don't come back!" summed up his time in office. The opulence within the Conservative party remains within their own books.
The lavish expensive entertaining, manipulating and wooing of influence, real estate, money and power involved anything within Mulroney's grasp. All influence, profit and patronage was of course left stacked in the Conservative's favour.
RCMP response was curious in some cases, as seems to be the case depending on political sympathies within hierarchies at times. Dead men tell no tales.
The Reagan era appears to be the end of Conservative parties concern for the maintenance and needs of the people, if that was ever their intent. Without change, there is no improvement.

[Lawrie Maris · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book had some interesting information, it was very confusing to read. It constantly jumped back and forth through the years without notification. With the number of players involved in the game, it made the already rather dry reading even more difficult to follow. There was also a lot of repetition within the multitude of needless pages. The potential for a great read was there, but did not succeed in this issue.

[Juergen Abildt]

The title is self-explanatory, but it also applies to any government of any stripe!

[T.E. Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an impressive piece of investigative journalism. The stories from the Mulroney era make Canada look like a banana republic. The volume of evidence is mind-numbing. This isn't only illegal corruption (kick-backs, bid-rigging, etc.), but also all the legal means by which Mulroney rewarded his friends. The use of patronage to find sinecures for party bagmen (even secretaries and girlfriends of political operatives) is sickening. Mulroney and his wife Mila comes across as shallow, opportunistic, and cheap, though not without some basic humanity. Mulroney himself appears to value loyalty above all else, which may explain how he lasted so long. In the end, he annihilated the Progressive Conservative party. The one weakness in this book, and it is significant, is that Cameron - perhaps aware of her role as a journalist - refrains from offering any sort of thesis. So, we are left with an epic ledger of bad behavior, but little in the way of explanation, context, or possible solutions. Cameron seems to be saying: 'This is just eh way it was.' And that is quite unsatisfying.

[Amie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great reminder how politicians never do what they say they are going to do and how they only really look out for themeselves and their friends.

It gets a bit bogged down in some spots, but it is a good read, with a federal election coming up next year......

[Janelle V. Dvorak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was four stars until I read more about Stevie Cameron's research tactics.

[Dave Shifflett · Rating 2 out of 5]

gossip...though carefully substantiated as being factual. Not for everyone : - )