by Edith Cody-Rice
The late great Canadian journalist, broadcaster, editor and public intellectual Keith Spicer once said when asked about his memoir Life Sentences: Memoirs of an Incorrigible Canadian, “Everyone should write their memoirs to find out what they’ve been up to all their lives.”
Roy MacGregor’s recently published memoir Paper Trails:From the Backwoods to the Front Page,reveals that he has been up to quite a lot and he either has kept a daily journal or he has an incredible memory. An accomplished wordsmith, Mr. MacGregor recalls in exquisite detail the names and experiences of people from his childhood, through his youth and long career as one of Canada’s leading journalists. His book is filled with his love of family, friends, country, nature and sports, especially sports and his slightly self deprecating wit lends a charm to his stories.
Roy MacGregor grew up in Huntsville, on the edge of Algonquin Park. His father spent his career as the employee of a Park logging company and was, by any standards, a character – read his account of his father’s life, A Life in the Bush. I have and it is superb. I may be biased about Mr. MacGregor’s account of his childhood and youth because I grew up in a small town just about the size of Huntsville, but in south-western Ontario and in the same era (the 50’s and 60’s). Each sentence and adventure in his narrative resonates deeply with me. He describes so very well that universally Canadian small town experience: the hockey obsession, the struggles in school, the adventures, the friendships, the teachers. He devotes a whole chapter to Miss Parker, an elementary school teacher who, he says, “may well be the greatest teacher who ever lived”. She would be chuffed, I am sure, to receive such a tribute from a former student.
His book starts out with an hilarious account of a bathroom incident on his first day of kindergarten. I laughed out loud and it set me up for the whole book.
Mr. MacGregor traces his career not chronologically, but in recollected anecdotes. Each chapter is quite short – so, excellent bedtime reading. You can dip into the book anywhere but I suggest reading it from front to back to loosely follow his career through MacLean’s, the Canadian, the Ottawa Citizen, the National Post, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail and freelancing. The book is peppered with anecdotes about people who were icons in my generation: Peter C. Newman, Keith Spicer, Pierre Berton, Jack Andrews. June Callwood, Wayne Gretsky, many gone now.
The incidents are frequently humorous, or at least he ends them on a humorous note but some are deadly serious. The chapter on Elijah Harper and his killing of the Meech Lake Accord is compelling and provides insight into the background of that unforgettable moment in 1990 when, holding an eagle feather, Harper finally answered “no” to the speaker of the Manitoba Assembly, blocking discussion of the accord which could not then be ratified by the Manitoba legislature.
I am an unabashed fan of Roy MacGregor even though I am not a hockey fan, indeed not a sports fan of any description. I have, however, read several of his many books. He writes beautifully with a command of English and a style that animates whatever subject he chooses, makes it sparkle. I completely agree with journalist Jeff Simpson who said of Mr. MacGregor,
Roy MacGregor’s friendly wit, acute observations, sympathy for peope, innate curiosity, delightful modesty and love of country have made him the reader of our national soul and diviner of our foibles, par excellence.
407 pages
Paper Trails in published by Random House Canada and is available from Mill Street Books in Almonte.
Roy MacGregor will appear at the Almonte Public Library
on Wednesday, September 13 at 6:30 pm
