The former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty discusses how he views pursuing public life and his new book Be A Good One: Words to Lead By (Dundurn Press, 2025), with Joseph Planta.
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Be A Good One: Words to Lead By by Dalton McGuinty (Dundurn Press, 2025).
Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Be A Good One |
Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:
I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.
It’s easy for a lot of us to be cynical about politics and politicians. The people who run and are elected to office have always left much to be desired. Dalton McGuinty is somebody who has always retained the feeling that there’s something noble about politics, and that public service is a calling that aspires to higher purpose. You get that sense in reading his new book Be A Good One: Words to Lead By. It’s a collection of quotations from all sorts of philosophers, politicians, historical figures, writers, poets, that goes from the present back centuries. There’s a lot of wisdom, and it’s for politicians that this book is commended to, so that they can be good in public life, in the decisions they take for people they govern. As you’ll hear in this conversation, Dalton McGuinty was guided by principles that stayed with him while in office and which remain today, as he talks to those who might think about serving in elected office. They’re not always easy to adhere to, but they’ll serve a politician well, not to mention a reader who might want to vote for better representatives. Dalton McGuinty was Ontario’s premier from 2003 to 2013, and was the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 1996 to 2014. He ran to succeed his father as a Member of the Provincial Parliament in 1990, after his untimely death at just 63 years old. His younger brother is a Member of Parliament, andcurrently sits in the federal cabinet. He is a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance. This new book is published by Dundurn Press. We spoke this past Monday, with Mr. McGuinty joining me from Ottawa. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, the 24th premier of the Province of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty; Mr. McGuinty, good morning.
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