[1]: 10  Manning claims that the vilification of Aberhart is no different from that of other Western Canadians such as famous Manitoban Métis leader Louis Riel or Frederick W. A. G. Haultain, both of whom were initially vilified but eventually "rehabilitated... about seventy-five years after their death" by historians.

[1]: 10  Manning notes the words of Albertan Métis leader Adrien Hope of Kirkino Colony who commended Riel as "the first western Reformer" for having led a grassroots uprising against the federal government to demand the creation of the province of Manitoba in 1870.

[1]: 21 Manning claims that the social democratic Cooperative Commonwealth Federation as led by Tommy Douglas in the province of Saskatchewan is an example of prairie populism.

"Manning claims that as a consultant he occasionally encountered "zealous ideologues of both the right and the left" to whom he advised that they temper their political passions.

[1]: 24 On the issue of episodes of racism and extremism within the Reform Party, Manning spoke of the serious need to repel the party from absorbing such racism and extremism, saying that,[1]: 24 "If a revival of grassroots democratic populism is to be characteristic of the revitalization of Canadian federal politics of the 1990s, especially in Quebec and the West, it is of primary importance that its leaders be well versed in ways and means of preventing populism from developing racist or other extremist overtones.

)"Manning describes the reasons for why the Reform Party opposed the Meech Lake Accord that involved granting distinct society status to Quebec.

The postindustrial New Canada that Manning called for "would involve a shift away from doctors and health-care systems to healthy lives, from schools and educational systems to societal learning, from human rights to responsible relations, from daycare and homemakers to community creators, from bilingualism and multiculturalism to a living Canadian culture, and from inputs measures to desired outcomes.

In The New Canada, Manning repeatedly referred to his 20 years of work experience as a consultant specializing in "systems analysis techniques" where his focus was not on products but on "marketing ideas and concepts."

Manning called for Parliament's use of these technocratic "marketplace mechanisms" for "allocating scarce resources", "fiscal responsibility, international competitiveness, and national recognition.