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"A conversation with the leader of the opposition" interview with Stéphane Dion In the afternoon of May 16, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion sat in the Opposition Leader’s Centre Block office for an interview with Policy Options editor L. Ian MacDonald. The half-hour conversation, in French and English, ranged from his sense of federal-provincial relations and the leadership turmoil in the sovereignty movement, to Canada-US relations and the mission in Afghanistan. "Relever le défi d'un Parlement minoritaire" by Jean Charest On May 9, Premier Jean Charest delivered the inaugural address at the opening of Quebec’s first minority legislature since 1878. Extracts from the Premier’s speech on that historic occasion. "What's in a GDP? It depends" by Todd Hirsch [summary not available] "Canadians: Afghan mission difficult but enhances Canada's standing in the world" by Nik Nanos Canadians believe the mission in Afghanistan enhances our reputation in the world, but also believe it is a difficult and complex mission and are highly skeptical of the chances of success. These are the principal findings of a national poll conducted for Policy Options by SES Research. Its president and CEO, Nik Nanos, takes us through the numbers. “Canadians understand the daunting nature of these challenges,” he concludes. “But they they wonder whether we can succeed, whether we've devoted enough resources to success, and how long it's going to take.” "Afghanistan: to win or lose?" by Desmond Morton “As usual in Afghan history, conquest seems easy,” writes Desmond Morton of the rout of the Taliban in 2001-02. Then came the hard part: keeping the peace, building civil society and putting down the roots of democracy in a country ravaged for decades and, indeed, centuries by tribal rivalries, abject poverty and successive dictatorships. Now comes the really hard part: defeating or at least containing the resurgent Taliban, especially in their southern home province of Kandahar, where Canadian troops have taken the lead on an extremely complex and dangerous mission complicated by a porous border with Pakistan. The eminent Canadian historian Desmond Morton considers the challenges facing the Canadian mission. "Parties of principle or the principles of power?" by Robin V. Sears The Parti Québécois was founded on two basic principles — sovereignty and social democracy. Both founding tenets of the PQ are somewhat out of step with the times. In three elections going back to 1998, the PQ’s vote share has declined from 43 to 28 percent, and the party has tumbled from first to third place in both popular vote and standing in the National Assembly. Re-engineering the PQ, while paying lip service to its origins, will be a fundamental challenge for Pauline Marois as she takes control of the party over the summer and into the fall. She has already laid down two conditions — no referendum, and no more go-go gauche. Contributing Writer Robin Sears examines the leadership challenge for a party of principle to re-discover the principles of power. "Pauline Marois et le PQ nouveau ?" by Jean-Herman Guay Between André Boisclair’s resignation, Gilles Duceppe stepping forward as a candidate, his subsequent withdrawal, Pauline Marois presenting herself for the leadership and her probable coronation, barely a week elapsed. But it has shaken up the entire political culture of the Parti Québécois, says Jean-Herman Guay. The great merit of Marois’ candidacy was that she was able to accurately “put a name to and embody the change in direction.” This redefinition concerns three pillars of the party: social democracy, the referendum agenda and party activism. “Traditionally associated with the left wing of the party, and directly responsible for the public daycare program, Pauline Marois has a credibility that neither Lucien Bouchard nor André Boislair had on social questions. Of all the PQ’s big names, she is probably the best placed to move the party toward the centre of the political stage,” explains Guay. But the changing of the guard on the sovereignty front will be considerably more difficult to achieve. "La disparition du PQ, ou comment prendre ses rêves pour la réalité" by François Rocher Do the results of the Quebec election foreshadow a reconfiguration of political parties similar to the one that led to the disappearance of the Union Nationale in the 1970s? According to François Rocher, we should not jump to conclusions. The context of the ADQ’s emergence is entirely different from the circumstances in which the PQ replaced the Union Nationale. He adds that Mario Dumont “has benefited from exceptional conditions that are not likely to recur.” The author discusses the parties’ situations and notes that “the best way for the PQ to force its own demise would be to abandon its raison d’être,” because all the polls show that the sovereignty option is more popular than the party itself. As a result, “in a political environment that continues to be polarized between the Canadian and Québec options, it is the ADQ that should be concerned about ‘Union-Nationalization.’” "L'Élection de Nicolas Sarkozy... tout devient possible" by Marie Bernard-Meunier Nicolas Sarkozy’s victory in the presidential elections is a measure of the candidate’s extraordinary determination, and his ability to persuade a majority of the French population that with him, France would prosper once more. Will he be able to implement his ambitious program to transform France? Will he smooth over or bypass all of the obstacles and meet resistance head-on? Will the qualities that made him a great candidate make him a good president? Marie-Bernard Meunier analyzes the reasons for his victory and observes that while anything is possible, including France finally coming out of its slump and starting fresh, the new president’s grand projects are also likely to encounter the “traditional French resistance to change” and “realities over which he has little control.” "Mal à droite: can Sarkozy right what's wrong with France?" by Tasha Kheiriddin In the most significant French presidential election since François Mitterrand and the left took power in 1981, Nicolas Sarkozy and the right triumphed in 2007. The margin was decisive over Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal. And the mandate was clear — put France back to work, or at least change the way it works by ending the culture of labour entitlement and encouraging entrepreneurship and employment. Tasha Kheiriddin, a leading authority on the conservative movement in Canada, was in Paris during the final days of the presidential campaign and shares this assessment of l’effet Sarkozy. "Tony Blair's social legacy: transformational leadership" by Wendy Thomson As Tony Blair leaves office this month after a decade in Downing Street, he leaves a legacy of controversy in foreign policy, but equally leaves Britain a nation transformed in economic and social policy. While the booming economy of Britain has outperformed those of most of its G8 partners, its fiscal framework has remained sound while Blair has pursued reforms of the public service and national programs to improve health services, close income disparities and reduce child poverty. Far from reverting to the “British disease,” Blair’s New Labour leaves a domestic legacy of success. Wendy Thomson, now director of the School of Social Work at McGill University, gives a first-hand account as someone who was there as head of the Office of Public Service Reform in 10 Downing Street. "From devolution to independence? Scots elect their first nationalist government" by Nicola McEwen Last month’s election of the new Scottish Parliament was historic in every sense. It brought the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) to power by a razor-thin margin of one seat over Labour, ending half a century of Labour dominance of Scottish politics. The composition of the House was decidedly a minority one, shaped by the influence of Scotland’s new system of mixed proportional representation, with 73 members elected in ridings by the first-past-the-post system, with another 56 chosen from regional lists. Having elected their first-ever nationalist government, and pledged to hold a referendum on independence within four years, where does Scotland and its new government, headed by Alex Salmond, go from here? From Edinburgh Nicola McEwen sends this assessment with some familiar echoes of the Quebec and Canadian experiences. "The heart and soul of modern Russia: Yeltsin and Rostropovich" by Jeremy Kinsman Two giants of modern Russia, Boris Yeltsin and Mstislav Rostropovich, died within days of days of one another at the end of April. One represented the political heart of post-Communist Russia, and the other personified its musical soul, one that could not be repressed by the Soviet regime. We asked Jeremy Kinsman, Canada’s ambassador to Russia during the early Yeltsin years and a personal acquaintance of the great maestro, to reflect on the meaning of their lives and consider their unique legacies to their country and to the world. "Alberta: the new dominant player in Confederation?" by Thomas J. Courchene Alberta’s economic and fiscal star is in ascendancy and is likely to remain so for some considerable time, given that it is at the centre of one of the world’s premier energy clusters. The intriguing issue is whether the province can parlay this ascendancy into greater political influence in the federation. For this to occur, Alberta will need to frame key aspects of its policies within a context that extends beyond its borders. In selected areas it has done precisely this. Once the bastion of triple-e federalism, or symmetric federalism, Alberta has now embraced asymmetry, thereby helping pave the way for the 2006 federal resolution proclaiming that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada. Challenges remain, however, and probably none is more complex and delicate than the energy-environment nexus. "Terror and the press: same old story" by Edward Greenspon “The relationship between press and government, even in wartime, has always been up and down,” writes the editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail. While the state will compromise civil liberties in the pursuit of national security, the media are challenged to defend fundamental freedoms without compromising national security. “First, it is not within our job description to put the lives of Canadians in jeopardy,” writes Greenspon. “Second, the fundamental freedoms that underlie Canadian society and are set out in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms do not melt away in the face of an external threat. To sacrifice democratic principles in the struggle to spread democratic principles would be absurd.” Periods of uncertainty, such as the post-9/11 world in which we live, “are clearly not the time for the press to suspend its watchdog function.” "Une charte mal née" by Louis Bernard As a member of the Quebec delegation in the 1981-82 constitutional negotiations when he was Secretary General for the Executive Council of the Quebec government, Louis Bernard recalls the circumstances surrounding the birth of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In his opinion, not only did these circumstances tarnish the image of the Charter in Quebec, but they also prevented it from becoming, as its drafters had hoped, the foundation upon which Canadian unity would be built. Book Excerpt: The Unfinished Canadian: The People We Are by Andrew Cohen Le Canada souffre de ce syndrome qui consiste à rabattre tout ce qui s’élève au-dessus du lot. Il y a beaucoup de cruauté dans le sort que nous réservons à nos personnalités, écrit Andrew Cohen, dans cet extrait de son dernier ouvrage intitulé The Unfinished Canadian: The People We Are. Tous nos premiers ministres et grands serviteurs de l’État sont ainsi victimes de cette fixation sur leurs dépenses et leurs frais de voyage, mais personne n’a autant souffert de cette pseudo-responsabilisation que l’ancienne gouverneure générale Adrienne Clarkson. Book Review: Anthony Wilson-Smith reviews The Unfinished Canadian: The People We Are by Andrew Cohen [summary not available] "Tony, Ségolène et Pauline" by Alain Noël [summary not available] |
