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"A cooperation of civilizations" by Hamid Karzai In the House of Commons on September 22, Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivered a speech to a joint session of Parliament, where he thanked Canada profusely for its efforts and sacrifices in his country, in which the former Taliban regime hosted al-Qaeda. He called the UN and NATO missions in his country “a cooperation of civilizations.” Here are excerpts from a remarkable speech. "A call for rebalancing the federation" interview with Preston Manning Former Reform Party leader Preston Manning remains close to the public policy process as president and CEO of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy. In Calgary recently, he sat with Policy Options editor L. Ian MacDonald for a conversation that ranged from his thoughts on rebalancing the federation to his reflections on life after politics. "Le Québec au moment de vérité : pour un nouveau projet de société" "Quebec at a moment of truth: A clarion call to action" by Lucien Bouchard On October 19, McGill University organized a symposium on the first anniversary of the publication of the manifesto, “Pour un Québec lucide”, which essentially called for the dismantling of the Quebec model of statist government, high taxes and crippling debt to finance government services. On the eve of the conference, former Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard stirred another controversy by saying Quebecers didn’t work as hard as Ontarians and Americans. Delivering the closing keynote at the McGill conference, Bouchard said: “No vision of the future is possible if you do not begin by recognizing the reality of today.” He added: “We should beware of all monopolies, above all those on the truth.” "Fun with math - the interprovincial way" by Todd Hirsch [summary not available] "Michael and Bob: the fox and the hedgehog" by Robin V. Sears Close friends since their college days at the University of Toronto, Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae have followed very different life journeys, now converging at the same destination — the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. Contributing writer Robin Sears, who knows them both well, invokes Isaiah Berlin’s metaphor of the fox and the hedgehog to describe Ignatieff and Rae. While Ignatieff shunned politics and followed an academic path as a public intellectual, and lived abroad for most of his adult life, Rae is a lifelong political activist. That he was active for most of his life in another party, the NDP, has been no deterrent to his candidacy for the Liberal leadership in 2006. Here is a revealing personal portrait of the two front-runners. "Canada in the balance" by Bob Rae In this exclusive to Policy Options, former Ontario premier Bob Rae, a leading candidate for the Liberal leadership, sets forth his sense of the country and his priorities for governing it. “First,” he writes, “the purpose of what we do is a better life for all Canadians, making sure that there are real opportunities for all our people and that Canadians are doing what they can to make the world a safer, better place.” From his own experience as chair of an Ontario task force on higher education, he argues for a renewed federal-provincial commitment to postsecondary education, as well as skills training, as key to Canada’s competitiveness in the global economy. “It’s a tough, competitive world out there,” he writes. “Preparing Canadians for the challenge ahead is at the top of my list...But as important as prosperity is, it is not enough. It must be matched with purpose.” "Reconstituting the 'nation': what Ignatieff really needs to recognize about Quebec" by Donald G. Lenihan If Michael Ignatieff wants to recognize Quebec’s distinctiveness in the Constitution, he needs new and imaginative language to do it. Calling Quebec a nation isn’t helpful. It obscures the difference between two competing visions of this distinctiveness. One is Quebecers’ belief that they are a nation in the “sociological sense.” This refers to their unique historical identity. The other is rooted in the new “civic nationalism,” which is forging a very different kind of identity, one that is inclusive of all Quebecers. Quebec nationalists have made real progress on this front and it deserves to be celebrated. Canada and the world could learn from the experience. Perhaps it should even be recognized in the Constitution; but if so, Ignatieff should propose language that makes clear to everyone what it is about Quebec’s distinctiveness he wants us to recognize. The word “nation” is misleading here. It is too freighted with the old ethnic nationalism of the past, and suggests that what is at issue is the “sociological” identity. This is precisely what the new civic identity is supposed to overcome. As such, talk of “nation” is a step backward, not forward. "How to make a new Liberal beginning" by Tom Kent The main business of the Liberals at their Montreal convention isn’t the election of a new leader, but the renewal of the party as an agent of progressive change, argues Tom Kent. Nearly half a century ago, in the convention that elected Lester Pearson as leader over the first Paul Martin, Kent edited the party’s platform, which later served as the policy framework for the Liberal government of 1963-68. The party’s progressive bent in those days, he writes, stunted the growth of the NDP on the left. Though the party had previously been in office for 22 years, its reform wing held the upper hand over the establishment. That has not recently been the case, writes our Founding Editor, who suggests that a party that has been transformed into a campaign machine needs to “restore itself to a democratic association in pursuit of the public good.” "Le long déclin des libéraux fédéraux au Québec" by Michel C. Auger The federal Liberals have been in a long decline in Quebec since the Constitution was re-patriated without the consent of the National Assembly in 1982. In the 2006 election, they won only 13 of Quebec’s 75 seats, all but one in the Montreal area, their worst score since Confederation. Michel C. Auger, political columnist of Le Soleil, writes that the federal Liberals have used the Quebec Liberal Party for recruiting candidates such as Pierre Pettigrew and Liza Frulla, and as a campaign machine in elections, but has paid little attention to the QLP when it comes to a vision of federalism. Until those competing visions of Canada are reconciled, he suggests the Liberals will be relegated to their current status as the second federal party from Quebec, behind the Conservatives. "Climate change - the great national governance issue of the 21st century" by John Duffy In spite of the Liberal government’s dismal record on achieving the Kyoto targets it signed on to, veteran Liberal strategist John Duffy suggests the Grits are the party to address the “global climate crisis,” precisely because it is “a national governing issue,” the kind Liberals have responded well to in the past. “A national governing issue,” he writes, “is distinct from a relatively ephemeral election issue, such as a scandal, a cyclical issue such as the state of the economy, or an issue of governing style.” He adds: “The hallmark of an era of single-party dominance is the successful management of a national governing issue within Canada’s region-dominated political framework.” Canada’s eras of one-party dominance, Duffy writes, have usually been marked by big issues. In one century, it was the building of the railway under the Conservatives; in another it was the building of the social welfare state under the Liberals. In the new century, he suggests, climate change represents a dominant policy frame and opportunity for a return to Liberal dominance of Canadian politics. "The Martin legacy - from a virtuous cycle to a messy minority" by Tim Murphy Paul Martin’s legacy as finance minister and prime minister is something to be considered as the Liberals gather in Montreal this month to choose his successor. The virtuous cycle of his years at Finance — eliminating decades of deficits and creating the fiscal dividend — was the achievement of another century by the time he finally became prime minister in December 2003. His former chief of staff argues that Martin had an agenda for Canada as prime minister, but that “it was overshadowed by the disgrace of the sponsorship scandal, by the tactics of an opposition who opposed his vision of Canada and weren’t prepared to let him try to get it done and finally by a media that had a different story to tell.” Then the Conservatives successfully reunited before the 2004 election, called in the shadow of the sponsorship scandal. “The real question,” Tim Murphy writes, “is whether a minority win was Martin’s fault or did holding on represent a victory against a compelling tide?” "Risky business" by Patrick Gossage [summary not available] "A wake-up call on science literacy: Canada's future depends on it" by Kenneth Knox and Bonnie Schmidt Canada’s future prosperity and quality of life are directly related to our ability to thrive and compete in a knowledge-based, global economy in which science and technology play a pivotal role. Other countries are racing us to the top in terms of developing science-literate societies that embrace, and will thrive in, such an economy. Canada is falling short of ensuring that our citizens, including our youth, are prepared with the science skills and knowledge that are needed to meet emerging and predicted demands. Kenneth Knox and Bonnie Schmidt see an opportunity now for the federal government to take a leadership role and set a bold course that will ensure Canada’s success in the 21st century. "Connecting the dots on lifelong learning: Canada's new Composite Learning Index" by Paul Cappon Released in May 2006 by the Canadian Council on Learning, the Composite Learning Index became the world’s first measurement tool for lifelong learning. Meaningful and significant improvement in Canada’s culture of learning is a longterm project involving many players, and the index provides a coherent and common point of departure for this complex policy intersection. “Lifelong learning is crucial to Canada’s continued competitiveness and prosperity, particularly in light of our aging population and growing skills shortage,” writes the president and CEO of the Canadian Council on Learning. “It is clear from our findings that Canadians do relatively well as learners throughout the formal education system. But after graduation we collectively fall short. To be competitive, we need to do better.” Book Excerpt: Right Side Up: The Fall of Paul Martin and the Rise of Stephen Harper's New Conservatism by Paul Wells In this excerpt from his new book, Right Side Up: The Fall of Paul Martin and the Rise of Stephen Harper’s New Conservatism, Paul Wells describes the new partnership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Clerk of the Privy Council Kevin Lynch as commanding figures in the new Conservative government. Harper’s checklist of five priorities was well on its way to implementation by the end of his first 100 days in office. But the transformation of government, with Harper as chief executive officer and Lynch as chief operating officer, went much deeper. Wells drills down into the story. Book Review: Graham Fox reviews Right Side Up: The Fall of Paul Martin and the Rise of Stephen Harper's New Conservatism by Paul Wells [summary not available] Book Review: F. Leslie Seidle reviews A Global Dialogue on Federalism [summary not available] "La commission Tremblay" by Alain Noël [summary not available] |
