From the Foreword: For the past two decades Canadian politicans of all stripes have told us that it's time to stop "mortgaging our future." They've talked about the unfairness of saddling future generations with a massive public debt, and they've talked about the need to correct the deep flaws inherent in our welfare state entitlements.... While many of Levant's peers have a general sense of the fiscal disaster which they are set to inherit, few have a deep understanding of the fiscal and political causes and consequences of it. "Youthquake" probes those questions with humour and passion, making it a compelling introduction to issues that are too often the preserve of policy specialists. Simply put, those who want to know the bottom line won't have to pour through actuarial tables or academic jargon to learn that a Canadian born in the 1970s will end up paying $200,000 more in taxes than he receives in services, or that the CPP premiums are set to triple over the next 20 years.

One of the most glamorous and successful politicians in Canadian history In this masterful and engaging biography, acclaimed journalist Steve Paikin brings to life John Turner (1929-2020), one of the most glamorous and successful politicians in Canadian history. Born in England, raised in BC, Turner was a champion sprinter and a Rhodes scholar who captured the national imagination as escort for Princess Margaret on her 1959 Canadian tour. Elected to Parliament in 1962, he served in Prime Minister Lester Pearson's cabinet and as Pierre Trudeau's attorney general, minister of justice, and finance minister. In 1984, he won a hotly-contested Liberal leadership contest and served a brief four months as Canada's seventeenth prime minister before falling to Brian Mulroney in a Progressive Conservative landslide. In this surprisingly candid and personal book, Paikin draws on unprecedented access to Turner's personal and public papers to show how he struggled to meet the towering expectations that came with his abundant gifts, and keep his faith in Canadian democracy despite the challenges of his own career.

Walter Gordon was a born member of the Canadian Establishment, a senior partner in one of the country's major accounting firms, successful and powerful in the world of business. After considerable persuasion by his close friend Prime Minister Lester Pearson, Gordon left business for politics and became finance minister in the Liberal government in 1963. But Gordon was different from many of his associates--he had an abiding concern for Canada, and for ensuring the independence of its enconomy. He worked to enshrine this perspective in the Liberal Party, the Pearson government and in Canadian politics generally. Walter Gordon: A Political Memoir tells the story of a politician who put principles above personal ambition, who suffered disappointments and defeats, but who always stood out as a man who remained true to his beliefs.