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"Dissent.com: How NGO's are re-making the WTO" by Sylvia Ostry Those who want to change or even destroy the World Trade Organization are conducting a two-front war, in street demonstrations and in technical/legal initiatives within the system. The street actions are more visible but the inside operations are having a more substantial effect. One difficulty for the WTO in responding to the criticisms being brought to bear on it is that it has no internal forum in which senior trade officials can discuss the issues that dissent.com is raising. Such a forum existed within the GATT. It should be restored. "Virtual political parties and the decline of democracy" by Reg Whitaker Focused on the surface events of politics, many of us have failed to notice the replacement of traditional political parties by “virtual parties” brought together around would-be party leaders. The winning leader’s virtual party then takes over the party “brand.” Like the body-snatchers of the Hollywood horror movie, it appropriates the shell of the old party but fills it with something quite different: a direct, unmediated connection between leader and voters that destroys one of the traditional bulwarks of civil society. We are worse off for it. "Pondering Canadian neo-conservatism" by Neil Seeman Canadian neo-conservatism, whose difficulties were analysed here recently by William Watson and Jim Stanford, is in trouble for three reasons: Its most likely recruits emigrate to the United States; the Canadian media lacks a strong neo-conservative outlet; and the Liberal Party of Canada is a ruthlessly effective electoral machine. If neo-conservatives are to have any chance of gaining influence in Canada, they must boldly speak the truth. "Sans-emploi, sous-emploi, mal-emploi et les enjeux politiques" by Pascale Dufour Despite good economic times recently, Canada’s labour market continues to produce unsatisfactory results. The unemployment rate is too high, many people are working part-time who would prefer to work full-time and even those who do work full-time often do not make more than a poverty-level income. Governments have reacted to these continuing problems in the labour market mainly by ignoring them. If they are to be prodded into action, a political consensus needs to be developed that there is indeed a problem. "Saskatchewan's neo-colonial forestry policy" by John W. Warnock For more than 60 years, Saskatchewan governments of all political stripes have pursued a policy of encouraging the exploitation of the province’s forests by the wood products industry. In effect, citizens have been taxed in order to finance environmental harm and economic dependency. Both trade unions and private corporations have been complicit in this development. What is needed is a policy that requires forest products companies to pay for all the costs imposed by their use of this precious natural resource. "The North American battle for forest certification" by Jean-Pierre Kiekens Several organizations are currently involved in a competition to become the dominant third-party auditor of the sustainable forestry practices of North America’s forest product companies. The Forest Stewardship Council looked like it had stolen a march on its rivals in an agreement with the Ontario government to certify all Ontario’s Crown forest lands. But when criticism caused that agreement to be put on hold, the field opened up again. "Does our government really want to protect endangered species?" by John Cartwright The federal government’s latest attempt to produce legislation that would protect endangered species of wildlife in Canada purports to make itself secure against constitutional challenges by largely limiting its scope to areas and species clearly under federal jurisdiction, and by treating offences as breaches of criminal law. However, the way the government has written this law leaves it vulnerable to constitutional challenges under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Is this a deliberate choice, a blinkered approach or incompetence on the part of its legal advisors? "Run-off elections revisited" by J.A. Lovink In the aftermath of several lopsided electoral results, various reforms to Canada’s electoral system have been proposed. Most suffer the serious disadvantage that voters likely would not understand how their votes had been counted. By contrast, run-off elections are straightforward. Simulations show that they would not alter electoral outcomes dramatically, but they would, at least and at reasonable cost, guarantee that whoever was elected had received more than half the votes cast. "Make the DINKs pay" by James Allan Evans A recent decision of the German Constitutional Court shakes the foundation of many age-related social insurance schemes. The Court ruled that childless taxpayers must pay more into a state-run nursing-insurance scheme than people with children. The father of 10 who brought the suit obviously is happy with the ruling. Would Canadians be if the same principle were adopted here? "'Brand Canada' or branded Canadian?" by Timothy Grayson The federal government is trying to provide Canada with a recognizable international “brand.” Recently the focus has been on our role as high-tech innovators. The dangers in such a narrow focus are that the brand will be of only temporary use and won’t be relevant in all applications. We should aim instead to project brands that derive from our “master brand,” our national character. To discover that character we need to promote the study of Canadian history. "The Marshall decision and governments' duty to regulate" by Thomas Isaac Editor’s note: This article appeared in our April issue but, because of an editorial oversight, without corrections requested by the author. Our apologies to readers and to Mr. Isaac. Canada’s courts have made clear that in respecting Aboriginal peoples’ treaty rights to hunt and fish governments may nevertheless continue to regulate fish and animal stocks and also attend to the interests of non-Aboriginal peoples. The courts have been vague on how this balancing of interests can be achieved—some guidelines may help to move the process along. The current Atlantic Fisheries Policy Review presents an opportunity to the federal government to put into place fisheries regulations that balance the interests of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal fishers. |
