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"The legal origins of our linguistic duality" by Brian Mulroney Receiving the medal of the Quebec Bar Association, former prime minister Brian Mulroney pointed out that Canada’s constitutional traditions began not with the Charter of Rights in 1982, but with the Constitution Act in 1867. To an audience of jurists, he spoke at length of the rule of law and an independent judiciary as cornerstones of our democracy. "Covering up Karzai & Co." by Arthur Kent The Taliban are “suffering an acute operational crisis brought about, to no small degree, by the great skill and determination shown by the Canadian Forces,” writes Arthur Kent, who has covered Afghanistan as a television correspondent going back to 1980. Perhaps the most experienced Canadian journalist in the region, Kent has also found a disturbing and distressing level of corruption and cronyism in the Karzai regime in Kabul, which undermines the efforts of Canadian and NATO forces to win the hearts and minds of Afghan civilians in the mission to provide a security perimeter around the larger effort to build a democracy out of the ruins of a failed state. "In the shadow of Ariel Sharon: the missing peace in the Middle East" by Roxanna Benoit and Geoff Norquay In this letter from Israel, two Ottawa policy consultants take close-up view of the intractable nature of the issues dividing Israelis and Palestinians — beginning, literally, with Ariel Sharon's security fence. While it is universally detested on the Palestinian side, the fence has also resulted in a dramatic reduction in suicide bombings. “Those Canadians who believe Sections 91 and 92 of our Constitution are complex,” write Roxanna Benoit and Geoff Norquay, “might want to contemplate the governance of the Middle East.” For the Palestinians, it comes down to land, and to the Israelis it is about security, in a region where both are in short supply. "Bridging the political productivity gap" by Robin V. Sears While Canada’s GDP per capita is among the highest in the world, our productivity growth lags those of most industrialized economies. Though the productivity challenge ought to be a top priority for Canada, governments find it difficult to explain, and even more difficult to sell, to voters. But Robin Sears suggests the Harper government could have the productvity field to itself, since the Liberals and the NDP have “ceded this important challenge entirely, just as most of them did in the deficit debate” of the 1980s. He proposes productivity as part of a “Great Canada Agenda.” "An economic check-up: a timely caution against complacency" by Derek H. Burney There is good news and bad news on the health of the Canadian economy, writes Derek Burney, Canada’s former ambassador to the United States. The good news is that most of the leading economic indicators — from inflation, to employment, to corporate profits and the trade surplus — are at or near record levels. The worrisome trends include slow productivity growth, an anemic trade policy, and concerns about the “hollowing out” of corporate Canada. Yet in the last decade, “Canada has been a net exporter of foreign investment as Canadians are searching out and finding profitable opportunities in the global economy.” In fact, a “recent KPMG study showed that Canadian firms are purchasing foreign assets at a faster clip than foreigners are buying Canadian companies.” "La performance économique du Québec : constats et défis" by Marcel Boyer Québec’s problems in areas like heath care, education, research and development, support for its cultural industry, and sustainable development are all interrelated, says Marcel Boyer, holder of the Bell Canada Chair in Industrial Economy. They all stem in good measure from the province’s relative underachievement in population growth, economic development and job creation. This situation has persisted for 25 years, and “it’s time to put an end to it,” he says. To do so, he proposes a new “competitive social democracy” based on major changes in the role of the public and private sectors, taxation, the use of market mechanisms, individual responsibility, and the evaluation of public programs and policies. "Hollowing out: protectionism is part of the problem, not the solution" by Stanley H. Hartt The pace at which major Canadian companies are being sold to foreign acquirers is quickening, but more and renewed protectionism is not the answer. Sheltering businesses from market forces does not induce them to be more entrepreneurial. Canada needs to focus on policies and practices that will make our industries more competitive. We cannot cut ourselves off from the global phenomenon of consolidation, but we have not been responding in kind. There was a time when our national champions bought industry leaders elsewhere. Aggregate statistics mask the fact that our acquisitions abroad are not replacing the quality head offices lost. "Foreign investment limits: déjà vu all over again" by Stephen Azzi “We have been here before,” writes Stephen Azzi about recent concerns over foreign investment in Canada. Nationalist efforts to limit foreign capital in the 1960s and 1970s were, however, largely unsuccessful. Though many members of the middle-class in Ontario were troubled about threats to the Canadian economy and to the country’s sovereignty, the foreign investment issue did not have the same impact on other regions of the country or among members of the working class. Moreover, anti-Americanism, which provided sustenance for nationalism, declined after the United States withdrew from Vietnam. The circumstances today are similar enough to those of the 1970s, suggesting that this generation’s nationalists will likely have no more success than did those of the earlier period. "Even Canadian subsidiaries can be world champions" by Karl Moore Much is made of the “hollowing out” of corporate Canada by foreign acquisitions of Canadian firms. But the McGill Faculty of Management’s Karl Moore argues that many Canadian subsidiaries of global corporations are playing leading roles in executing global mandates for their companies. He cites IBM Canada and Pratt & Whitney as prominent examples. “Lead subsidiaries are increasingly taking on global and/or regional roles,” he writes. “This makes good sense when you realize that one of the greatest advantages if not the greatest advantage of being a global firm is the opportunity to learn and source innovations from multiple places around the world.” "Making Canada world-competitive: the forestry industry as a case study" by Avrim Lazar On May 8, the Forest Products Association of Canada released Industry at a Crossroads: Choosing the Path to Renewal, the report of the Forest Products Industry Competitiveness Task Force. The task force was formed in response to widely held and growing concerns about the Canadian industry’s current situation and future prospects. Its mandate was to assess the hosting conditions faced by Canada’s forest products industry, with particular emphasis on identifying options for the sector to accelerate the rate of capital investment and pace of innovation in the Canadian forest products industry. "Surviving and thriving in the great M&A game" by Daniel Gagnier Recently the target of a US$28-billion hostile takeover bid by Alcoa, Canadian aluminum giant Alcan is no stranger to the global game of mergers and acquisitions. Since 1999, Alcan has itself acquired the Swiss firm Algroup and the French aluminum giant Pechiney. Both moves demonstrated that a Canadian firm can play in the big leagues of M&A, as the hunter rather than the hunted. Dan Gagnier, who was at the Alcan senior management table throughout this turbulent period, shares this personal account of surviving and thriving during a global trend of consolidation. "Canada as a 'state of mind' in the knowledge era" by Thomas J. Courchene In the Information Age, writes Tom Courchene, “the knowledge revolution is privileging human capital in much the same way as the Industrial Revolution privileged physical capital.” If he were to propose a mission statement for Canada in the Information Age, he would design “a sustainable, socially inclusive and internationally competitive infrastructure that ensures equal opportunity for all Canadians” to develop those skills and assets in human capital. We will succeed in the Information Age, he concludes, “only to the extent that we succeed in creating a world-class made-in-Canada social infrastructure.” "L'avenir, c'est maintenant !" by L. Jacques Ménard Is it pie in the sky to imagine that by 2025 Quebec can be a highly educated society where the health service is efficient and the productivity rate is such that two workers can easily support one retiree? The president of the BMO financial group in Quebec, L. Jacques Ménard, prefers to talk about an achievable dream, “if we want it badly enough and set tough, but realistic goals.” Getting there, he says, will come down to four big challenges: the debt and the tax burden, demography, productivity and education, and will require that the upcoming generation is involved. Based on his recent survey of Quebec youth aged 18 to 34, he says “their profile, expectations and attitudes are perfectly in line with these goals.” "Upgrading Canada's national innovation system: more than money required" by Guy Stanley Despite a generation of programs designed to free up factor mobility and improve pricing efficiencies in the economy, Canada’s output mix is not evolving as fast as those of our trading partners’. As a result our prosperity growth is faltering. Canada has the elements required to be successful, but the elements are working at cross purposes. Canada needs to (1) regroup science and technology funding at the federal level to promote innovation more systematically, and (2) create a federal innovation organization to improve accountability and coherence, patterned on Tekes, the Finnish agency that oversees Finland’s national innovation capacity. "Léviathan ou bon géant ? L'État-providence en question" by Paul May Between the “solidaires” and the “lucides” in Quebec, the welfare state has been the subject of considerable debate over the past few months.Unfortunately, says Paul May, these exchanges are often just formulaic and are restricted by ideological lines drawn in the sand. The former consider it to be “an end in itself and measure the degree of equity of a society by the increase in social expenditure,” while the latter “dogmatically” pit economic performance against social services. But, says May, the welfare state is not necessarily synonymous with welfare, nor is it incompatible with competitiveness. To show this, he compares different welfare systems to reveal the impact of public policies on the extent of social inequality and on economic performance. He concludes that “the Scandinavian model has several advantages despite its imperfections and the problems of adaptability that could be involved in transposing it onto other countries.” "From the productivity gap to a shortage of skilled labour" by Sean Finn Canada suffers from a well-known productivity gap with its major partners and competitors. And despite balanced budgets, reduced debt and healthy surpluses, Canadians, as individuals and businesses, are still paying “too much tax,” to quote Finance Minister Flaherty from his 2007 budget speech. But then, notes the Chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, “he proceeded to do very little about it,” in a budget that saw program spending rise by three times the rate of inflation. But perhaps Canada’s most pressing economic challenge, writes Sean Finn, is a “looming skills shortage” in the labour market. He offers some thoughts on addressing it. "Smoke screen or silver screen? Coming to terms with cigarette placements in Hollywood films" by Shannon Jette, Robert Sparks and Sonya Dal Cin Despite legislation to restrict tobacco advertising directed at youth in Canada, a major loophole still remains: highly visible depictions of smoking in Hollywood films. Shannon Jette and Robert Sparks of the University of British Columbia, and Sonya Dal Cin of Dartmouth Medical School, write that “a growing body of research supports the conclusion that exposure to tobacco use in movies encourages youth to smoke.” Here, they discuss research recently conducted in Canada, offer insight into how youth make sense of smoking in movies and suggest some policy options for overcoming these effects. "Canadian TV news on Bush and Iraq: no more hostile than top US network" by Stephen J. Farnsworth, Stuart Soroka and Lori Young Content analysis of Canadian and US television news during 2004, 2005 and 2006 found that CBC’s The National and the CTV News treated the US, President George W. Bush and the occupation of Iraq either similarly, or even less negatively, than did NBC’s Nightly News, the top-ranked US broadcast news program. The 16,220-item crossborder news analysis, which covers the most violent periods of the Iraqi occupation and the contentious US elections in 2004 and 2006, refutes claims that Canadian television news projects an anti-US bias. "De la dualité et de la bonne entente : autour d'un 'passé utilisable'" by Graham Fraser Canada’s newly appointed Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser delivered the J.R. Mallory Annual Lecture in Canadian Studies on March 14. Noting that political and historical accounts too often describe the relationship between the French and the English in Canada by focusing on what divides them, he proposes that we “approach our history from a positive angle, based on inclusiveness and respect.” With this in mind, he reviews some of the major events that have marked Canadian history, from the Conquest to the adoption of the Official Languages Act. "A better plan: how Canada can help Africa" by Pierre De Bané and Sharon Carstairs Anecdotal experience of aid and development in Africa suggests that “individuals, not governments, create progress,” write two Liberal senators. “Even worse,” they add, “in many cases governments actually stand in the way of economic and political development.” A recent Senate report on Africa, they maintain, “lacked focus and conveyed no sense of urgency or priority.” From CIDA to the World Bank, international financial institutions have failed to come to terms with one big problem: “the continent has lost half its share of world markets since independence in the 1960s. The annual income Africa has given up is three times the foreign aid the continent receives.” "Deux lectures opposées de la Charte canadienne" by André Burelle Former adviser to Prime Ministers Trudeau and Mulroney André Burelle says there are two interpretations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. One, which holds sway in the legal community and is generally well received in Quebec, corresponds in large part with a personalistic, communitarian vision of human rights. The other, which is shared by the vast majority of Canadians outside Quebec, “represents the republican, individualistic, anticommunitarian vision of Canada” that Trudeau defended in his fight against the Meech Lake Accord. These interpretations are based on quite different visions of the country, and, he says,“closing one's eyes to this undeniable fact is to be blind to the depth of the Canadian problem, or worse, to resign oneself to the inevitable erosion of the country's collective will to survive.” Book Excerpt: The Invincible Quest: The Life of Richard Milhous Nixon by Conrad Black In this excerpt from The Invincible Quest: The Life of Richard Milhous Nixon, Conrad Black weaves a narrative of the Kennedy-Nixon debates, the seminal event of the 1960 presidential campaign, which vaulted modern politics into the television age. Who won? Kennedy on appearance on television, Nixon on substance on radio. Though Nixon lost, barely, he would be back eight years later and finally won the White House. Book Review: Hugh Segal reviews The Invincible Quest: The Life of Richard Milhous Nixon by Conrad Black [summary not available] "Mais qui donc veut des baisses d'impôt ?" by Alain Noël [summary not available] |
