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"Plaidoyer pour les enfants du monde" by Paul Gérin-Lajoie On April 11, Paul Gérin-Lajoie, Quebec’s first minister of education and the president of CIDA from 1970 to 1977, presented a manifesto at a Montreal Council on Foreign Relations luncheon. In it he described the urgent need to act in developing countries, particularly in the field of education. After 30 years at the head of the Fondation Paul Gérin-Lajoie, and 30 years of political service in the fields of education and international cooperation, his evaluation of the fate of children across the world is a harsh one. He proposes five initiatives that he believes “are necessary immediately if Canada wants to act according to the values it purports to hold dear, and if it wants to reclaim the reputation and leadership it once had in the domain of international development.” "Saskatchewan should pick its friends carefully" by Todd Hirsch [summary not available] "The ripple effect from Quebec's realignment election" by Robin V. Sears At both the federal and provincial levels, Quebec voters have long been held captive by the federalist and sovereignist camps. In decades of polarized elections, many Quebecers found themselves without a political home, until Stephen Harper established a Conservative beachhead in the 2006 federal election. Then on March 26 came the Mario Dumont earthquake, whose epicentre in the Quebec City region sent aftershocks through the province. Homeless or unhappy secondchoice voters, long held hostage by the polarization between the Liberals and the PQ provincially and the Liberals and the Bloc federally, now have a place to go. The ripple effect from Quebec’s realignment election will inevitably be felt on the other side of the Ottawa River. "Poll-driven politics - the role of public opinion in Canada" by David Herle “The role public opinion research plays in guiding governmental communications is often dismissed as partisan and not necessarily in the public interest,” writes David Herle, who begs to differ. As the former pollster to the federal finance ministry in the 1990s, Herle’s polls and focus groups shaped support for balancing the budget and creating the fiscal dividend. Other policies, he writes, “can be sacrificed because (Ottawa) couldn’t talk about them to Canadians in a way that made sense to them.” He also identifies five rules of current Canadian public opinion: Canadian social values, transparent governance, activism rather than retrenchment in government, and the enduring regionalism and evolving views of the Canadian federation. "Roy McMurtry - renaissance man" by Hugh Segal With his retirement as Chief Justice of Ontario, another phase of Roy McMurtry’s unique career comes to an end. At every stage — as an Ontario cabinet minister, Canadian high commissioner to London and finally as the top-ranking federal judge in Ontario — McMurtry has championed a diversity of causes, all of which advanced equality rights. In this fond appreciation, Hugh Segal looks back on the remarkable career of one of the most outstanding public figures of our time. "Unfrozen sea: sailing the Northwest Passage" by Michael Byers In late October 2006, Michael Byers travelled through Bellot Strait in the Canadian North, on the the first ship ever to do so in October. “We were 700 kilometres north of the Artic Circle“ he writes, “but there was no ice.” The shrinking sea of Canada’s Arctic region poses challenges both for the ecosystem and for animals such as the polar bear, as well as for Canada’s claims of Arctic sovereignty over disputed waters such as the Northwest Passage. Where explorers once died in search of the “Arctic Grail,” a northern route from Europe to Asia, the Northwest Passage is now open water in the summer. “In March 2006,” writes Byers, “the area covered during the winter by sea-ice was at an all-time low: 300,000 square kilometres less than the previous year. At this rate the Arctic could lose all its sea-ice by 2030.” "La souveraineté canadienne dans le passage du Nord-Ouest" by Frédéric Lasserre Since Stephen Harper was elected, the defence of Canadian sovereignty in the waters of the Arctic Archipelago officially became one of Ottawa’s priorities. Notably, during the election campaign, he announced an ambitious investment program to reinforce Canada’s sovereignty in this region. What has become of these promises? And given the expected growth in maritime traffic on the Northwest Passage, is the response appropriate? Frédéric Lasserre gives the federal government’s policies over the past few years a positive review. But he concludes that even if the summer melt of the sea-ice cover does increase navigation in the Arctic, the import of these changes should not be exaggerated, because there are still significant constraints to navigation in this remote region. "The saga of Bill C-30: from clean air to climate change, or not" by Elizabeth May The environment was nowhere to be seen among the top five priorities of the Harper government when it came into office last year, but public opinion soon forced global warming and climate change onto the agenda. Yet the government’s initial version of its clean air bill was so badly bungled that Prime Minister Harper gratefully accepted NDP leader Jack Layton’s offer to refer it to a special committee of the House. In January, Harper also shuffled the embattled Rona Ambrose off the firing line and brought in the combative John Baird as Environment Minister. “The saga of Bill C-30,” writes Green Party leader Elizabeth May in this update, “is a long way from resolved.” She concludes that “climate is very likely to remain an election issue.” "Climate change mitigation: what's the cost?" by Katherine Cinq-Mars How much will it cost to reduce emissions? Is it worth it? Now that the focus in the debate on climate change is shifting from the science to the economics of climate change, these are the questions that more and more people are asking. Katherine Cinq-Mars explains that the nature of the climate change challenge, “with all its complexities, uncertainties and attached moral and ethical issues,” makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to reach agreement on answers to these questions. Economic analyses, she argues, “cannot be the only source of information for climate change policy.” Instead of asking whether we can afford to reduce emissions or not, we need to ask more constructive questions. “Debating the scientific evidence and the total economic cost of climate change,” she concludes, “has held us back from taking meaningful action for too long.” "Arctic sovereignty: a view from the North" by Michael Mifflin Threats to Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, says Michael Mifflin, are not military threats; they are related to socioeconomic and environmental issues resulting from increasing air and maritime traffic. And while the Canadian Forces play a role in supporting Canada’s claim to sovereignty, Canada’s greatest claim lies with the Aboriginal title asserted by Inuit to the Nunavut Settlement Area. Accordingly, asserting its sovereignty means having the ability not only to control and regulate access to Arctic waters, but also to promote and protect the health, the environment and the development of Canada’s Arctic citizens. Peaceful cooperation with other Arctic countries, Russia in particular, will also strengthen Canada’s claim on the international stage. "Climate science to policy and back to science" by Gordon McBean The earth’s climate is changing and human activities are the principal cause, writes Gordon McBean, one of Canada’s leading climate scientists. Due to the long lead time for climate adjustment, it will continue to change through this century. There is need for an integrated response of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while adapting to the changing climate. Under the Climate Convention, Canada has obligations to do both. Neither Bill C-30 nor the new Turning the Corner approach fully meets these needs, notes McBean. Further research is needed to support this adaptation strategy and to guide longer-term emission reductions. "Washington et Ottawa à l'épreuve des changements climatiques en Arctique" by Joël Plouffe Our dispute with the United States over our sovereignty in the Arctic is hardly new. It has been simmering along the same lines since the American tanker the Manhattan took the Northwest Passage without the Canadian government’s authorization. However, now the situation has changed, writes Joël Plouffe. The melting of the ice raises important questions of national security, particularly for the Americans, and Alaska is now a key part of the US geo-strategy. Ottawa continues to claim complete sovereignty over its waters, but is as vulnerable as the US to the various threats posed by changes in the Arctic climate. This new situation requires close and sustained collaboration between the two countries. “When it comes to North American security, the United States and Canada are inseparable partners,” says Plouffe. "The Charter does not protect privacy" by Jennifer Stoddart While the Charter of Rights does not cover privacy rights, privacy issues have become ever more important in the information age and with the emergence of security issues since the events of September 11, 2001. Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, notes that “nothing should be changing faster than my expectation of privacy,” in a world where computer programs track everything she downloads from the Internet, and where “vast data banks store my phone records obtained by extra-territorial entrepreneurs.” As for security versus privacy, she notes that we live “in a new surveillance society.” She concludes that “the Charter is not the place to look for the kind of privacy protection that most of us need.” "Les finances publiques du Québec après le premier mandat libéral" by Pierre Lefebvre and Philip Merrigan Leading economists Pierre Lefebvre and Philip Merrigan examine Quebec’s public finances to determine whether the Liberal Party had the manoeuvrability, during its first mandate, to deliver the tax cuts promised during the 2003 electoral campaign. All in all, they say, Quebec taxpayers did not come out of it too badly, even if they did not get all the tax cuts they were promised. Nevertheless, the authors are critical of some of the government’s decisions and offer several alternatives “that would help Quebec’s social and economic development over the long term,” notably with respect to daycare fees, the occupation of taxation fields freed up by the federal government, and the desirability of using new money from equalization to lower personal income taxes. Book Excerpt: French Kiss: Stephen Harper's Blind Date with Quebec by Chantal Hébert In this excerpt from French Kiss: Stephen Harper’s Blind Date with Quebec, Chantal Hébert writes about how the Conservatives’ unexpected breakthrough in Quebec prevented their first government of the 21st century from being still-born. Once every generation, she writes, the political forces in Canada align for a Conservative eclipse of the Liberal sun. Such a day was January 23, 2006. Book Review: Graham Fox reviews French Kiss: Stephen Harper's Blind Date with Quebec by Chantal Hébert [summary not available] "Un nouveau mode de scrutin ?" by Alain Noël [summary not available] |
