No Return

A novel of the Canadian election that vanished in Muskoka’s backwoods

Gordon Aiken

ISBN 9781926577043

Blue Butterfly Books, 2010

Paperback, 317 pages, $24.95

The second election after Confederation in 1872 produced elected representatives from every constituency in Canada but one – the District of Muskoka.

Years later Gordon Aiken, who represented the same district in parliament, unearthed the strange tale of Muskoka’s returning officer Richard Bell who refused to declare Liberal candidate A.P. Cockburn elected even though he won most votes. This ground-breaking event led to Bell being ordered to give an accounting of himself before the bar of the House of Commons, the first time a Canadian was so summonsed. It was also the first and only time in Canadian history an MP would be elected to parliament directly by members of the Commons itself. The episode also contributed to reforms of Canadian election law, such as introduction of the secret ballot.

Once he’d fully documented the episode, Aiken wrote a work of historical fiction about it. The political intrigues woven into his rich tale of local and national affairs from 140 years ago will resonate with readers today. No Return seems familiar in its essential dramas and human ambitions – mismatched lovers, a local judge fighting a newspaper editor, lumber barons playing both sides to keep their timber licences, and contractors changing political sides to win government business.

Not only do such prominent Muskokans as Cockburn – the steamboat pioneer and father of Muskoka tourism – feature in this tale, but so do national leaders like prime minister John A. Macdonald and stellar opposition leaders like Oliver Mowat and Edward Blake. Aiken wrote with deep understanding about Muskoka and its people, and from acute knowledge of parliamentary practices. Originally published in 1982 as Returning Officer, this new 2010 edition from Blue Butterfly Books is updated in many ways besides its new title, with period photographs, new cover, and background about Gordon Aiken and his writing career.

No Return is an important part of Muskoka’s heritage, but it also is a timeless Canadian story of one man’s struggle to support his chosen party, maintain his independence, confound his enemies, and hold his family together under duress.