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"Federalism in a new century: the willingness to dare" by Jean Charest Quebec premier Jean Charest was the keynote speaker at the IRPP’s 25th anniversary dinner for Policy Options in Toronto on April 4. In a major address, Charest said, “I remain convinced federalism is a modern way of governing. Why? Because it combines unity, diversity and decentralization.” He proposes a vision for “revitalizing Canadian federalism.” "Lessons from the British election: less is not more; big ideas needed" by Robin V. Sears From last month’s British election, here’s a cautionary tale for Stephen Harper. An unpopular government, divided by leadership quarrels and burdened by scandal, seeks and wins another term in office, largely because the opposition Conservatives are too far right and the voters have no comfort level with their leader. The result: Tony Blair won an unprecedented third consectuive term for Labour. Something to think about for Stephen Harper as he thinks about trying to bring down the Martin government again. The Liberals are tired, torn and plagued by scandal, but that alone isn’t enough to elect Harper. Canadians know what he’s against, but he has yet to tell them what he’s for. While Harper narrowly missed bringing down the government by a 153-152 vote on May 19, he may well use the summer to consider the lessons of recent weeks. Looking at the British election, Robin Sears suggests Canada could use some big ideas. "Reflecting on Gomery: political scandals and the Canadian memory" by Desmond Morton Is the sponsorship scandal the worst in Canadian history, as the opposition howls, or is there a lack of memory of our own history? In any spoils system, as renowned historian Desmond Morton points out, what goes around comes around. Who gets the spoils usually depends on who’s in power. And from the dawn of Confederation, the spoils have started at the front door of Public Works and Government Services, the historic home of pork and patronage in Canada. “Most of our ancestors took political corruption for granted,” Morton writes, adding that “one continuing political reality of Canada is how tolerant of scandal most of us have really been.” From the Pacific Scandal of one century, to the furniture scandals of the next, a short but informative history of scandal in Canada. "Showing the flag - the origins and consequences of the sponsorship scandal" by Antonia Maioni The origins of the sponsorship scandal can be traced to the days following the 1995 Quebec referendum, when the federal Liberals were determined to show the flag in Quebec. This crude brand management “used the flag and the Canada logo as wallpaper to cover over the important and complex issues that bedeviled, then as now, Quebec’s relationship with the rest of Canada,” writes Antonia Maioni, the director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. Everything in politics has a price, she reflects, and the political cost of the sponsorship scandal is staggering. “It cost the Liberal Party over a dozen seats in Quebec and its majority status in the 2004 election. It is costing Paul Martin what had been projected to be a brilliant political future and casting the darkest of shadows on Jean Chrétien’s political past.” "What we know now that we wouldn't know without Gomery" by L. Ian MacDonald As explosive as the auditor general’s report on the sponsorship scandal was, it did not, and could not, follow those funds, as Sheila Fraser said, “once they left the government.” It was left to Justice John Gomery to follow the money, not so much through a bureaucratic maze as down a political trail that led to the advertising agencies in Montreal and back to the Liberal Party of Canada (Quebec). In 128 days of public hearings, Gomery took some 25,000 pages of testimony, some of it stories of cash payments in envelopes right out the movies. Gomery’s findings will be out in November and his recommendations in December. Has the cost been worth it? The only benchmark is what we know now that we didn't know before Gomery. The answer is plenty. "Integrity has no price: the essential independence of Crown corporations" by François Beaudoin How can we assure the independence of Crown corporations, agencies and boards from the very government that appoints their managers and directors? Blatant political interference with Crown corporations, notably VIA Rail, Canada Post and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), has emerged as one of the issues at the Gomery Commission. Independent Crowns could have resisted pressure to become involved with the sponsorship program and with advertising agencies handpicked for their political connections. Integrity is the essential ingredient, writes the former president and CEO of the BDC, who in 2004 won a landmark case in which the judge pointedly accused the bank and the Chrétien government of waging a vendetta against him. “Leaving aside the issue of competence and merits in such appointments, there is the basic issue of independence,” writes François Beaudoin. “Being appointed by the minister or the prime minister is not a guarantee of independence. Quite the contrary, as my own experience demonstrates.” From his own cautionary experience, he offers some pointed recommendations on improving the governance of Crown corporations. "Shining a harsh light on political financing" by Heather MacIvor The Gomery Commission has thrown a harsh light on the campaign financing practices of the governing Liberal Party of Canada in Quebec. Since Confederation, reforms have usually followed scandals, thus the Pacific Scandal of 1873 resulted in the Dominion Elections Act of 1874. The latest reform, Bill C-24 (2003), followed the initial revelations around the sponsorship program in 2002. “Bill C-24 is the most farreaching reform to the political finance regime since 1973,” writes Heather MacIvor, who believes it is generally working well. Gomery-watchers, she notes, should “be careful to distinguish between alleged acts which were illegal at the time they were said to have occurred and those which would be illegal if committed today.” Noting the sponsorship scandal’s corrosive effect on confidence in government, she concludes that “The rule of law principle aspires to government, not by fallible and self-interested human beings, but by rationally and impartially applied laws. No one is above the law, not even the men and women who make it.” "The sponsorship scandal: Chrétien's mess, Martin's inheritance" by Nik Nanos While the sponsorship scandal occurred entirely on Jean Chrétien’s watch as prime minister, nearly twice as many Canadians (29 percent vs. 16 percent) hold Paul Martin responsible for it, according to a survey of Canadians’ attitudes on the sponsorship scandal and the Gomery Commission conducted for Policy Options and the IRPP by SES Research. This is the first in an occasional series of polls tied to the magazine’s monthly thematic. "Kyrgyzstan - failed state or democratic revolution?" by Charles J. McMillan The fall of President Askar Akayev in Kyrgyzstan’s “tulip revolution” in March is a reminder of the geopolitical importance of the “stans,” the former Soviet republics in central Asia, as neighbours to Russia, China and India. Russia and its former satellite states are not only Canada’s northern neighbours, writes Charles McMillan, they are our potential competitors in extractive industries such as mining and petroleum. As rich in resources as they are poor in the infrastructure of democracy, the importance of the former central Asian Soviet republics, Kyrgyzstan in particular, is significant for the entire region, where the West also has strategic interests, including the prosecution of the war on terror in Afghanistan. A former economic adviser to the Kyrgyz government, McMilllan examines the prospects for democracy in the region and urges the West, including Canada, not to abandon the “stans” to dictatorships. "Sorting our priorities: the funding gap between health care and higher education" by Jeffrey Simpson The health care choices of the provinces have been driven largely by public opinion. “But so remorseless has been the growth of spending on health care that it has squeezed not just post-secondary education but many other worthy matters as well,” writes Jeffrey Simpson. In some provinces, new investments in health care outpace new spending on higher education by as much as 10 times. Health care is about yesterday, he writes, while education is about tomorrow. "The Rae Report: improving financial aid and broadening access to universities" by Sean Junor and Andrew Parkin Former Ontario premier Bob Rae’s report on financing post-secondary education should be required reading not just in that province, but across the country. Canadians, suggest Sean Junor and Andrew Parkin, should look closely at Rae’s recommendations on “the need to improve financial assistance and the importance of reaching out at an early age to students from less privileged backgrounds.” The Ontario government is already acting on Rae’s recommendations. Other provinces would do well to have a serious look at them. Book Excerpt: John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics by Richard Parker From his early life in a small farm in southwestern Ontario, John Kenneth Galbraith grew to become a towering figure in more ways than one. While still in his twenties, he taught economics at Harvard. In his thirties he worked as a price czar in Franklin Roosevelt’s wartime Washington. In his fifties, he was a campaign adviser to John F. Kennedy and later ambassador to India. Throughout his life, he has been the prolific author of four dozen books, including bestsellers such as The New Industrial State. Now in his nineties, Galbraith remains the world’s most famous living economist. In this excerpt from his important new biography, Harvard University’s Richard Parker retraces Galbraith’s steps to his birth and youth in rural Ontario. Book Review: Michael Hart reviews John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics by Richard Parker [summary not available] "Le docteur Sachs" by Alain Noël [summary not available] |
