Raymond Blake's Canada's Prime Ministers and the Shaping of a National Identity is the latest in his catalogue on Canadian nationalism. Where Blake's past works focused on collective identity formation, this book puts our post-war prime ministers—from King to Harper—in focus. To the extent there is an argument, it is that prime ministers have consciously crafted and narrated the Canadian story. This post-Second World War, rights-based narrative is incrementally and discursively constructed in rhetoric and policy over time.

For the most part, Blake succeeds in demonstrating prime ministers as strategic contributors to Canada's nascent civic nationalism. He provides extensive detail on each first minister's social and foreign policy agenda, management of cleavages and favoured political imaginaries. In fact, the most impressive part of Blake's contribution is the research. While there is no explicit methodology to the book, Blake's incorporation of archival records and command over extant secondary accounts fuel a rich narrative. His extensive bibliography will be a great resource for students of Canadian nationalism. Blake synthesizes this information while resisting excessive editorialization. Blake only minimally interprets this history. The reader has autonomy to decide how each prime minister's narrative squares with the rest. In large, this is a strength of the text.

This is not to say the book is without fault. The book advances some curious claims. Mulroney is credited with weaving “fiscal prudence into the national narrative” without any record of fiscal prudence (205). It is unclear what even constitutes a fiscally prudent national narrative. The book contends each prime minister “attempted to create shared narratives,” but later suggests Chrétien “did not add much that was new to the story of Canada” (3; 232). Blake claims Harper raised defence spending as part of his “activist” narrative (266). But this is only true nominally: under Harper, Canadian defence spending as a proportion of GDP dropped to its lowest point since at least 1950 (SIPRI, 2024). The same chapter frames Harper as a misunderstood contributor seeking to add “responsibility” to Canadian identity. Yet, this may downplay how disruptive Harper's project was—something Blake only partially acknowledges.

Truthfully, these are minor gripes. Macro narratives like Blake's inherently omit details. There are, however, a few larger concerns. First, while Blake is convincing that prime ministers are narrating Canada, surely not all rhetoric and policy qualifies as nation building. The book does not clearly conceptualize conscious nation building for the reader. At times, Blake stretches fiscal, foreign and social policy as intentional narration of the Canadian story. Can we really say Harper's trade agenda tells us much about his national imaginary? Likewise, is Chrétien's “greatest contribution” to the Canadian story really the Clarity Act (259)? Even if we agree these are contributions to Canadian nationalism, the bar for intentionality seems beyond reach.

Second, the book demonstrates Canada's march toward liberalism but resists articulating it as such. Again, ever the historian, Blake does not overly impose his views on the reader. The book would be advantaged by engaging with extant historiographic Canadian scholarship on Canada's liberal roots (for instance, see McKay, Reference McKay2000; Ajzenstat, Reference Ajzenstat2007). In particular, McKay's (Reference McKay2000) “liberal order framework” seems like a natural complement to this account.

Third and last, while it is certainly true prime ministers have disproportionate influence, it is worth agitating the assumption they are exercising this influence independently. Prime ministers work with large teams (or courts to some), cabinets, fellow first ministers and caucus to realize—if not partially—a vision. As students of Canadian politics, we have a tendency to mythologize prime ministers and erase others’ contributions. This may be a book on prime ministers, but that should not diminish their support structure. Put differently, Blake's work may credit prime ministers more than they are due.

These critiques notwithstanding, Blake's latest monograph is a worthwhile read. While Canadian identity formation is a well-trodden area of research, Blake persuasively highlights post-war prime ministers’ strategic contributions with depth few others have. The book is written to be accessible for wider audiences while being rich in detail for researchers. It is particularly compelling when it comes to the Trudeau and Mulroney chapters. Here, Blake is deft in synthesizing materials to document each man's ambition for Canada. Should he author a follow-up for the current prime minister, it is sure to be insightful.