Reader Reaction to Gardeners vs. Designers

This book is a reflective perspective on the "Foundation Stones" underpinning Canada's "greatness" - a warning that they are under threat - and a prescriptive look into the two competing narratives and pathways forward: The “Designer” model and the “Gardener” model".

This is a timely and important work - a must-read for those concerned about the welfare of the Canadian and human condition.

Former federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler

The Canadian political book of the year! Crowley divides political reformers into ‘gardeners’ who embrace the uncertainties of organic growth against ‘designers’, who impose rigid templates on an organic world nearly always fail. With world politics increasingly divided between designers of left and right this book is a welcome reminder that Canadian history, with all its failures and triumphs, is fertile ground for growing new policy solutions. Building on our traditions is the only way we can succeed; Crowley offers valuable context to our history and some gardening tips for today’s decision-makers. A great read for citizens interested in thinking about how they can make our country stronger.

Dominic Cardy, New Brunswick Minister of Education

A stunning exposition on the benefits of liberal democracy. Gardeners vs. Designers plants the seeds for Canada’s future – a vision that is convincing, powerful and persuasive. Crowley is more of a revolutionary than Mao – he wants thousands of flowers blooming across Canada and believes the country is only truly enriched when everybody enjoys the freedom to contribute in his or her own way. This wonderfully-written book belongs in every classroom in Canada, and I urge every school board to add it to their curriculum as soon as possible. Highly recommended.

Fred Litwin, Author, Conservative Confidential: Inside the Fabulous Blue Tent

Patience, humility, and gratitude: these are the virtues of the successful gardener. These are the qualities Brian Lee Crowley brings to his tender, philosophical defence of free societies against those who would demolish and rebuild them anew.

David Frum, author, Trumpocracy and Trumpocalypse

For all those despairing that choice, liberty, individual responsibility and free trade are in full retreat, in his important new book Brian invites us to think more deeply about how and why we can make better decisions for ourselves, our neighbours and our nation. Three cheers for the gardener’s loving gratitude and respectful humility!

Tom Long, Mike Harris Campaign Chair, 1995 and 1999

Gardeners versus Designers is at once provocative and hopeful. Brian Lee Crowley challenges Canadians to expect more from their politicians and civil servants, to fight hard for a better future, and to rekindle their belief in the great Canadian experiment. This is uncommonly wise counsel. This book shows that effective and sustainable public policy is hard work -- really hard work. But it must begin, as Crowley demonstrates in this important book, with a comprehensive understanding of the global landscape, a deep passion for Canada, and a belief that the people of Canada deserve better than they’re getting from politicians of all stripes and the institutions that have been hijacked by the designers’ agenda.

Ken Coates, Canada Research Chair, University of Saskatchewan

I am an entrepreneur, not a scholar, and I don’t buy big books. But this one is different. Crowley helps me understand how the world works today with wit and example. His use of Gardeners vs Designers makes everything clear. And as for the size of the book, Chapter I alone will do it for you but jumping in anywhere is a useful pleasure. I read it all.

Brendan Calder, Entrepreneur and Professor of Management, Rotman School of Management

Crowley has done it again. He refuses to kneel for nonsense and bullying while working hard to rescue Canadian politics from progressives’ woke revolution. Gardeners Versus Designers revives the Canadian dream for those willing to work for it: innovation, diversity, and prosperity, all within a “protected sphere” of individual freedom. The chapter on Canadian health care alone is worth the price of admission. Do not be tricked: Crowley takes you seriously as a reader; this book is not light but wraps challenging concepts in easy and engaging reading. It’s worth every page.

Shawn Whatley, former President, Ontario Medical Association, author No More Lethal Waits: 10 Steps to Transform Canada's Emergency Departments

Crowley's two previous books, Fearful Symmetry and The Canadian Century were so good I thought he would never be able to top them. Yet this remarkable book, Gardeners versus Designers, not only does so but draws the reader into a wonderfully complex, subtle and fun account of why Canada is "a rare jewel in human experience." It then goes even further and shows how ill-informed politicians, often with the best of intentions, are endangering Canada's continued success. Astute and brilliant in its insights into politics, business and the conditions in which human beings flourish best, this book will restore your faith in this country, its institutions, its history and its future--provided we don't let the politicians mess it up!

Conrad Winn, founder and former CEO, Compas Research

This book provides a powerful, thoughtful, and intelligent discussion of competing political philosophies in Canada today. It holds a mirror that reflects two very different approaches to public policy in this country. It also provides a warning to us that our prosperity, our ability to innovate, and our ability to choose will be restricted by politicians and officials who think they know best. It is a call for citizens to be both active and vigilant. For thoughtful readers, this book advances an unvarnished critique of what is not working in current Canadian public policy and offers an explanation of why that is. I recommend leaders in all fields, as well as students everywhere, consider this mandatory reading.

Doug Black, elected senator from Alberta

Brian Lee Crowley’s “Gardeners Versus Designers” is a refreshingly provocative analysis of the increasingly “Progressive” trend in Canadian politics which he sees as anything but “progressive”.

Crowley juxtaposes the machine-like doctrines of experts (the “Designers”) who see themselves as all-knowing custodians of truth, and are adamant about what is best for society and those (the “Gardeners”) who claim no monopoly on truth but are inspired by the spirit of individual dynamism and a never-ending quest for knowledge.

The book bristles with anecdotes expressed in plain language, a rallying cry “in support of a society that prefers to act by accommodation and negotiation not by authority and command”. Crowley explodes policy distortions prevailing on health care, the environment, mass transit and urban planning and explains convincingly why sensible resource development makes sense both for most indigenous communities and for Canada.

A compelling delightful read that should command the attention of anyone concerned about the quality of our governance.

Derek H. Burney, OC, former Canadian ambassador to Washington

Brian Lee Crowley has written a beautiful book which brilliantly asks us to think of governing as gardening. The gardener has a sense of what he needs to do and what he can’t do, with the goal of growing a pleasing and beautiful garden. What he’s not is a designer who tries to impose an abstract plan that inevitably results in something unpleasant and ugly. So too for public policy.

F.H. Buckley, Foundation Professor, Scalia Law School, author of The Once and Future King

Brian Lee Crowley helps us to think about old ideas and contemporary problems within a new and creative paradigm. Reshaping a conversation and long-held beliefs takes an unconventional thinker and a creative genius. Crowley hits that mark with clarity and accessibility. It is not left versus right or Liberals versus Conservatives but gardeners versus designers. On the surface, both labels have attraction and proponents. But Crowley shows us something new on every page as he majestically weaves together theory, practice, failure, and success. Storytelling is an art and Crowley is a master. But perhaps he is an even better gardener.

Bob Plamondon, author, The Shawinigan Fox: How Jean Chrétien Defied the Elites and Reshaped Canada

Brian Lee Crowley’s metaphor of designers versus gardeners brings alive the wisdom of his intellectual mentors Michael Oakeshott and Friedrich Hayek. They saw that society is, in Hayek’s term, a spontaneous order that emerges from human interaction but cannot be consciously planned without catastrophic loss of information. Government should be the gardener—the custodian—of that order, not the architect. ‘Progressives’ never understand this. They want to forcibly impose their own abstract and limited conceptions of order upon institutions such as social customs and the economic market, which amalgamate the choices of individuals without coercion. This book explains why the good intentions of reformers produce so much havoc. Everyone who cares about the future of Canada needs to read this book.

Tom Flanagan, author, Harper's Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power

Brian Lee Crowley has been a strong defender of the right of Indigenous peoples not to be an afterthought but to be incorporated as true economic, social and political partners in Canada’s development. In this fascinating and important book, he incorporates Indigenous governments, people and issues as central elements in his analysis of the forces shaping Canada. At last, a prominent Canadian thinker who recognizes that Indigenous people are no longer on the periphery but at the centre of Canada’s future.

Stephen Buffalo, President, Indian Resource Council of Canada

Inspired by the deeply grounded wisdom of gardeners, Crowley invites his readers to think again and to recover their ambitions for Canada. He rolls up his sleeves and vividly demonstrates how ill-conceived policies have hindered our prosperity and our access to services that can actually make a difference in making our country a happier place. This book is not for unimaginative public servants or for politicians and their worn-out orthodoxies. It is for Canadians who demand better governance and better decisions. Reach for the policy tools and instruments that free the mind and the energies of this country, and discover a new approach to policy making!

Patrice Dutil, author and Professor of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University

Brian Lee Crowley has written a truly outstanding book, one that should be read by anyone interested in Canada and its future as a democratic country and a healthy and prosperous nation.

Through his analogy of designers (progressives) and gardeners (those who believe that tradition still has a place in Canada and believe in the virtue of the economic system that has created tremendous wealth, prosperity and opportunity for Canadians) Mr. Crowley demonstrates how Canada can find its path to an even better future. More particularly, he shows how that better future lies, not in a system of coercion led by the state through infinite regulations, but in a system which allows each and every one of us to pursue their lives to the outmost of their talent and abilities.

Mr. Crowley explains that one of the key elements of success for Canada is the right of everyone to engage in full debate regarding all the important questions facing our society. He explains that Canada has not achieved its admired world status by chance and that our greatness as a country can be traced to our past, although not perfect, of which all Canadians, present and future, should be proud.

An interesting part of Mr. Crowley’s book are the sections where he applies his ideas to real Canadian issues, namely: healthcare, aboriginal relations and resources development.

While many may not agree with Mr. Crowley’s views, they will nonetheless find those views worthy of serious consideration.

Perhaps his book should be read by all of our young people entering our colleges and universities who are often unaware of Canada’s real and outstanding achievements since 1867.

Hon. Mr. Justice Marc Nadon

“Black Lives Matter”, “Me Too” and all the other “progressive” ideologies of the modern world – do they alone have a roadmap for the future in this time of turmoil?

Brian Lee Crowley says no. To him, “progressives” are “designers” at heart. Under the guise of “experts” and motivated by a belief that they alone possess the moral imperative required to redefine society, they have a design for everything, a plan to mold an infinitely malleable society into a grand vision that only produces benefits and never suffers costs.

A much more realistic approach in his view, is that of the “conservatives”, or to use his term, a “gardener”, who recognizes that change is in no-one’s hands, but instead results from co-operative and incremental efforts based on the accumulated wisdom of previous generations and the institutions and behaviours that have defined us – from rule of law and property rights to civic freedoms and mutual respect.

This is not a defense of the status quo. Far from it. Instead, he goes sector by sector, offering a “gardeners’” solutions to our many problems.

“Gardeners do not think society is perfect,” he writes. Rather, our imperfections signal a permanent need for incremental fixes that promise genuine improvements without endangering the gains of our past.

It is a thoughtful, detailed argument about today’s great political divide between “progressives” and “conservatives.”

After reading it, you may never look at your geraniums or a “progressive’s” grand design quite the same way again.

Hon. Janet Ecker, former Minister of Education and Community and Social Services, Government of Ontario

At a time when North Americans are confused about politics, this book is a must-read for Canadians of all ilks, especially Immigrants for whom the Canadian political system sometimes seems hard to comprehend.

Brian Crowley has gently and kindly explained the differences between the designer (or progressive) and gardener mindsets. The book goes into details about the problems of individualism and collectivism, knowledge and ignorance, social co-operation arising from authority and social co-operation arising from incentives, the limits of designed institutions versus the possibilities of grown social institutions, the key differences between individual and group identity and the nature of justice in a society of free people.

Reading the book certainly gave me clarity.

Raheel Raza, President, Muslims Facing Tomorrow

Brian Lee Crowley has drafted a passionate defense of individualism as a more productive alternative to the imposition of solutions to "fix" society.

The debate is as old as democracy. In the 18th century Scottish economist Adam Smith took issue with the "man of system" who imagines he can arrange different members of society with the ease with which the hand arranges pieces on the chess board. In the great chess board of human society "every single piece has a principle of motion of its own", he argued.

Crowley brings the debate up to date in a Canadian context, using the provocative analogy of "gardeners" and "designers". Canadian society is a garden, he argues, the key characteristic of which is that "no-one is in charge". Rather, it is a co-operative effort.

Designers take a more mechanistic view - that every part of society is infinitely malleable; that every problem can be fixed with the correct application of money and expertise.

In an entertaining sweep of public policy, Crowley demonstrates that, although this view is in the ascendancy, "it is demonstrably false and misleading".

In 2020 many who sympathise with Crowley’s general thesis will be grappling with how to reconcile their “gardening” instincts with the COVID response. He navigates that discussion very adroitly and will help gardeners keep the faith.

Beyond that, the book is very lucid in its structure and the prose flowed beautifully, as always.

John Ivison, National Political Columnist, National Post

An ingenious interpretive key to success and failure in policy-making. Crowley belongs in the pantheon with Thomas Sowell’s A Conflict of Visions. The gardener from experience works within lived reality; the designer believes he can re-engineer creation, banishing the gardener for good measure. I hope many liberal-progressives read it: they need it most.

C.P. Champion, Editor, The Dorchester Review

Brian Crowley is a leading voice on our most important public questions, from trade to health care to foreign relations. This book reads like a magnum opus; if the author could teach us nothing else, it's the error of an engineer's mindset to politics. Society is not a machine and our country does not need to be "fixed." Instead, we should build on our inheritance, identify our faults in good faith, and continue to make Canada more like its best self. As Crowley recognizes throughout, he's not the first to point out the beauty and practicality of evolved institutions. But his approach to cultivating a better country forms a solid and original work. Liberals and Tories alike should read and enjoy it.

Jackson Doughart, Editor-in-Chief, Brunswick News Inc.

Brian Lee Crowley's new book is a lively offering that sets out a useful heuristic for understanding public life, that of gardeners versus designers. This heuristic clarifies why debates over the most critical issues in Canadian political discourse-- particularly environmental policy, the public health care system, and Indigenous relations- so often seem to be futile. Crowley is decidedly open-minded and empathetic to both sides sparring in the culture wars of our day. Nevertheless, he makes the clear case for the gardener paradigm as both faithful to the spirit of Canada's founding, as well as fitting to the current and future reality of Canada as a pluralistic and technologically sophisticated country. This marvellous book is a paean to diversity, epistemic humility, equality, the rule of law, and tolerance-- the quiet greatness of this fine country.

Joanna Baron, Executive Director, Canadian Constitution Foundation

Brian Crowley is a rare public intellectual who doesn’t resort to political schism to explain his philosophy. In ‘Gardeners versus Designers’ he takes a panoramic view of Canada’s glorious achievements and charts a course for a future that will ensure Canada’s continued glory as a free society.

To the surprise of many, Canada is an experiment that succeeded in achieving its ambition of becoming a free society that is rooted in democratic values. In ‘Gardeners versus Designers’ Brian Crowley delves deep into the process of nation-building and offers breathtakingly non-partisan and original solutions to ensure that Canada thrives and Canadians prosper in the 21st century and beyond.

Anil Shah, Chair, Canada-India Foundation

There is a saying that there are two things you don’t want to look at while they are being made: sausages and politics. Both are messy, greasy processes, and more often than not unpleasant affairs. But why are we so afraid? Because many of us have been brought up to believe in the mechanics of politics, as if our societies were machines; clean, functional, deprived of life. They are not. As Dr. Crowley so accurately points out in this book, societies are more like gardens, to be nurtured and cultivated. Gardens can be full of dirt and weed – but they are also full of life in all its splendour and complex majesty. As politicians, we should nurture more than engineer, cultivate more than speculate and not be afraid of that which does not fit into the narrow mould of contemporary times. I highly recommend Dr. Crowley’s very humane book to everyone who wishes to expand their understanding of our societies and what drives them forward.

Sven Otto Littorin, Former Swedish Minister for Employment

Designers vs. Gardeners is required reading for anyone concerned about Canadian society, public policy and politics. At a time of increasing economic and fiscal challenges and growing social unrest, Crowley has provided a timely reminder of the case for classical liberalism. More importantly, he has presented a welcome and insightful new paradigm – the gardener’s philosophy – for how we can approach public policy and politics differently to work for progress on our societal challenges. Like all countries, Canada has its share of problems. But as Crowley reminds us, unlike most other countries, we also have admirable institutions and freedoms which have evolved over hundreds of years to provide us with a free and prosperous society almost without peer and without parallel in history. At a time of temptation for governments to increasingly engage in large scale economic and social intervention, Crowley shows why this can be counterproductive and indeed destructive. He effectively makes the case with practical illustrations that our best path forward starts with acknowledging the power of our institutions, extending them to people who do not yet fully benefit from them, and unleashing the knowledge and power of our people, respecting society as a garden to be nurtured and shaped from the bottom, not as a machine to be directed from the top. Canadian society is a rare jewel – today and throughout history – and we need to heed Crowley’s message that it is one that can’t be lightly tossed aside for theory.

Vaughn MacLellan, Partner, DLA Piper

Are you a Gardener or a Designer? In this terrific new book, Brian Lee Crowley diagnoses the main political divide in Canada today: not between Conservatives and Liberals, but between those who see society as a garden to be tended with a gentle respectful hand, and those who see it as a machine to be directed with a hard fist. Creative, comprehensive, and eminently readable, Gardeners versus Designers profiles the visions battling for the future of our country.

Bruce Pardy, Professor of Law, Queen’s University