THE COUTTS DIARIES IS THE MOST REVEALING BOOK EVER WRITTEN ABOUT CANADIAN POLITICS

This is a previously unseen view of Pierre Trudeau – one that is sure to alter your opinions of him.

David Herle

The Coutts Diaries – Power, Politics and Pierre Trudeau is the most revealing book ever written about Canadian politics and one of the most important. This is a previously unseen view of Pierre Trudeau – one that is sure to alter your opinions of him. It is an unvarnished look inside the government that brought you wage and price controls, the Charter of Rights, and the National Energy Program. And it is a darkly moving account of the life of a senior political staffer.

Coutts gave the best years of his life to Pierre Trudeau and at the end concludes that their relationship had never graduated to friend.

The events described in this book took place fifty years ago and the subject of this book is no longer a household name. So trust me when I tell you that no staff person in modern Canadian history has wielded more power than Jim Coutts did under Pierre Trudeau. By the time he joined Trudeau’s PMO in 1975 the Liberals were already a ten-year-old government. Some of its best people, most notably John Turner, had left. Others, like Allan MacEachen, were past their political best before date. A weak ministry combined with a Prime Minister who was interested only in a few discrete aspects of his job created a void of policy and authority that was filled by Jim Coutts, working hand in glove with Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Pitfield. Universally considered to be both brilliant and ruthless, Coutts’ dominance of both the government and the party make him the most important Liberal, other than Pierre, of the 70’s.

And he kept a diary. Almost daily. Unfiltered and raw. Names and all.

For those with an interest in this era of politics, the revelations come fast and furious. Some of the entries are delicious gossip, others detail nation changing decisions. Pierre Trudeau comes off as prone to long stretches of ordinariness when he’s not fundamentally changing the country. Famous names are revealed to have feet of clay. The book Grits should have to be rewritten. Here’s a sampling:

Friday October 23, 1978 (more than four years into the mandate)

“PM went on Friday night to the National Executive meeting. I had briefed him on the meeting and said all that is needed is for you to say we have tough work ahead, we’re all Liberals, I need your help etc. The PM was in a bad mood, didn’t want to go to the meeting, did, but performed very badly. He was to respond to questions. The first was, ‘what do we say as Liberals when we knock on doors in Vancouver?’ The PM said ‘if you don’t know that why are you on the executive?’. The meeting went downhill from there, with the PM showing up the contradictions in what they said and generally making them feel quite unwanted and unloved. He finally got up and left without saying goodbye.”

Thursday, June 26, 1980 (4 months after securing a majority government)

“Was up this morning at 6:00 to celebrate the beginning of the sixth day without cigarettes. This is the fifth or sixth time I’ve quit smoking. Spent about an hour before coming to the office at the apartment thinking about where we stood on a number of fronts. I have had the uncomfortable feeling for several weeks that the government and the party are quickly losing the punch that is needed by a new government and the direction and drive that is needed by a party to keep things progressing in a positive way. It seems to me that on the major economic issues we have no real plan or goals to achieve. I would be much happier if there was any kind of a plan that we were pursuing but I do not see that and my experiences convince me that it will not come from officials and probably not from cabinet.”

Thursday October 2, 1980 (the day before Trudeau launched his bid to patriate the constitution)

“When the PM hung up, he said Davis (Ontario Premier) told him a number of things. First, he would phone Buchanan but he didn’t want to phone Hatfield. Second, he had a long chat with Clark and he had warned Clark, who wanted Davis to be critical of the whole process, that he was not going to be and he suggested to Clark that if he ever wanted to win seats in Ontario he should not oppose this whole matter. He suggested that Blakeney was probably not trustworthy on the whole process.”

If that doesn’t make you want to read more, I can’t help you.

Fifty years later, what’s the relevance? For one thing, a lot of the issues are the same. The separatist/nationalist drive in Quebec and the accompanying constitutional issues, the energy wars with Alberta and the seeds of Alberta separatism, the decline of manufacturing and the reluctance of Canadian business to invest – all start here. Secondly, this is a very compelling portrait of a full life in politics. The electoral highs and lows, the policy wins and losses, feeling like you are on top of the world, feeling completely lost, being certain of your cause at times and full of doubt at others, the weird impacts on your personal life. And it ends in defeat, rejection and bitterness. Jim Coutts is a hell of a story.

We know of it primarily because of two people. Ron Graham artfully and thoughtfully edited the diaries into something digestible. Ron is as authoritative an expert on that period in Canadian politics as exists, having written a number of books and biographies on the principals of that era. It’s one thing to write a book in Canada these days, another to get it published. If it is published, its likely because of Sutherland House. Ken Whyte’s publishing company is doing its best to keep Canadian non fiction alive and saw these diaries as the matter of public interest that they are.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Herle - David Herle is a long time Liberal campaigner, current host of The Herle Burly and Curse of Politics podcasts and is a partner in Rubicon Strategy. This was originally published on December 8, 2025 in The Hill Times.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Air Quotes Media. Read more opinion contributions via QUOTES from Air Quotes Media.