'William Clifford Clark was a creator of modern Canada, but he was remarkably little known-until now. Robert A. Wardhaugh's able biography puts this pre-eminent Ottawa Man into the spotlight at last.' -- J.L. Granatstein, author of The Ottawa Men 'Behind the Scenes reconstructs the public life and ideas of one of Canada's most important civil servants-William Clifford Clark, who exerted a profound influence on the conduct of the whole of the public service. Deserving of a wide readership, this accessible work adds valuable insights and new details to what was a formative chapter in Canadian political and economic history.' -- Matthew Bellamy, Department of History, Carleton University

William Clifford Clark, federal deputy minister of finance from 1932 to 1952, had a profound impact on Canadian history. An important intellectual figure during the first half of the twentieth century, he was leader of 'The Ottawa Men,' a group of federal civil servants who shaped a new liberal vision of the nation. Robert A. Wardhaugh chronicles Clark's contributions to Canada's modern state in Behind the Scenes, which reconstructs the public life and ideas of one of Canada's most important bureaucrats.

The Department of Finance sat at the centre of critical federal decisions and debates. From this axis, Clark's wide-ranging contributions to Canadian policy were nothing short of phenomenal: he was the driving force behind the creation of the Bank of Canada and he spearheaded national housing policy. Clarke also managed the economy during the Great Depression and during the Second World War and he was instrumental in forging Canada's international economic role in the postwar era.