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"Regard sur la Francophonie et le monde" by Ségolène Royal Former French presidential candidate and president of the Poitou-Charentes region Ségolène Royal took advantage of her Quebec visit in September to look at the future of la Francophonie and Europe-North America relations. “The 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec along with the Francophone Summit in October will be an opportunity to inject la Francophonie with a breath of fresh air, given the political challenges of this century.” Here are some exerpts of her speech. "Cashing in on Karzai & co." by Arthur Kent A web of political influence in Kabul determines not only policy outcomes in Afghanistan, but the recipients of building contracts and other infrastructure projects financed by donor countries, including Canada. The largest donor by far is the United States, and money talks, as Arthur Kent writes in the latest instalment of our Mission Afghanistan series. From bungling in Washington to cronyism in Kabul, the Karzai regime has been hobbled by corruption that has undermined its standing in the provinces. Nor have Kabul or Washington been able to deal with the question of the Taliban hideouts in the wilds of western Pakistan. He writes that the Harper government is “absent without leave” in “pressuring the Taliban leadership in their safe havens in Pakistan and rehabilitating the Karzai regime in Kabul.” "How Ontario got a one-issue campaign" by Robin V. Sears Contributing Writer Robin Sears looks back on the Ontario election and wonders how, with all the challenges the province faces, it was transformed into a one-issue campaign on the public funding of private faith-based schools. And in a province where confessional schools have historically been a tinder-box issue, how and why did Conservative leader John Tory allow himself to be trapped on this question, making the campaign about one of his promises rather than his opponent's record? Dalton McGuinty's Liberals successfully “conjured up the prospect of immigrants with strange religions and foreign tongues...” writes Sears, while the Conservatives were never warned by their own research “how damaging a promise this could become,” derailing their entire campaign. "Faithful and fruitless in Ontario: status quo in education policy" by Michael Van Pelt, Ray Pennings, and Deani Van Pelt The public funding of private religious schools was the flash point, and for John Tory the tipping point, of the Ontario election. But none of the three leading parties evidently thought to ask the faith-based education movement whether they were inclined to accept funding. According to the authors, about half these private schools weren’t. In effect, much ado about nothing, at least as to how the debate was framed. "First past the post wins again" by Hugh Segal In the October 10 Ontario election, the Liberals won nearly 70 percent of the seats with only 42.2 percent of the vote, while the Conservatives won less than 25 percent of the seats with 31.6 percent of the vote. The New Democrats, meanwhile, won less than 10 percent of the seats with nearly 17 percent of the vote, while the Greens had no seats to show for their 8 percent share of the popular vote. The voters could have done something about distributions in future elections, but chose by a decisive 63 percent margin to retain the first-past-the-post system rather than adopting a mixedmember- proportional system offered in a same-day referendum. The people have spoken, or at least the 53 percent who bothered to vote. Hugh Segal, who has long laboured in the vineyard of democratic reform, reflects on the outcome. "Electoral reform for constructive competition" by Tom Kent In a second ballot in the Ontario election, 63 percent of voters voted to retain the first-past-the-post system, while only 37 percent voted for a mixed-memberproportional voting system. So much for that attempt at electoral reform. Nevertheless, our Founding Editor returns to the charge, pointing out that turnout was low, at 53 percent, and that barely one Ontarian in five voted for the new majority Liberal government. The people have spoken, but only some of them. "The Williams effect: election 2007 in Newfoundland and Labrador" by Christopher Dunn The October 9 election in Newfoundland and Labrador resulted in an historic sweep for Premier Danny Williams, who won 70 percent of the popular vote — the largest since Confederation in 1949 — and all but four seats in the provincial House of Assembly. Williams successfully positioned himself as the champion of his province’s interests against Ottawa and Big Oil. From St. John’s, Christopher Dunn of Memorial University writes of a new political model he calls the “Williams effect.” "Mind the access gap: breaking down barriers to post-secondary education" by Joseph Berger and Anne Motte While many of Canada’s youth are participating in higher education, there remain significant enrolment gaps based on socio-economic status. The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation’s Joseph Berger and Anne Motte examine recent research results on barriers to post-secondary participation and observe that, in addition to financial issues, factors like academic ability, parental influence and poor information play a role in shaping the educational pathways that young adults follow. They argue that there is no silver bullet to improve equitable access to post-secondary education, and that non-participation in post-secondary education is explained by interacting obstacles. To be successful, educational access policies ought to be integrated into a life-course perspective. "The Canadian student financial aid system: the case for modernization" by Noel Baldwin and Andrew Parkin Over the past few years, say Noel Baldwin and Andrew Parkin from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, Canadian governments have moved away from the era of the health care review into the era of post-secondary education review, with a newly found appetite for proposals on how to enhance access to and improve the quality of higher education. The authors analyze the reasons behind this wave of interest among policy-makers and outline what a sound approach to modernization might be. They argue that it should be guided by four principles: it should reach out to students before they have decided to enrol in post-secondary education; provide them the right mix of loans, bursaries and tax credits when they get there; address the full range of obstacles that students face; and be delivered by flexible and accountable mechanisms. "The Advanced Wireless Services auction: let the market decide the players" by Frank Mathewson and Andrew Tepperman This year, the number of wireless phone subscribers will exceed the number of traditional telephone lines. Wireless e-mail and text messaging, and the alwaysreachable- anywhere nature of mobile voice, have made smartphones and PDAs necessities in the business world, and must-haves in our personal lives. Wireless has become the primary mode of communication in Canada and the rest of the world. Industry Canada is currently determining the rules that will be used in auctioning spectrum for Advanced Wireless Services (known as AWS) — an auction that will provide the building blocks for the next generation of wireless service. Despite three strong national competitors in Canada, there have been complaints about the state of competition in the industry. Frank Mathewson and Andrew Tepperman provide two economists’ perspective on the debate. "Adjusting to freer trade: two policy failures" by Judith Maxwell and Ron Saunders One of the core objectives of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement was to get Canadian industry to modernize and look outward — to climb the value-added chain. But the Mulroney government did not buttress the trade agreement with the adjustment policies required to help workers adapt to new skill requirements. And the monetary policy of the Bank of Canada impeded firms’ investment in new technology and production processes. High interest rates, by dampening investment in capital equipment, also slowed growth in labour productivity in Canada throughout the 1990s and contributed to a widening of the Canada-US productivity gap — the opposite of what had been expected when the FTA was signed. Meanwhile, the three strategies of social policy in the Mulroney years — dissuasion, program restriction, and expenditure freezes — closed the door to serious investments in skill development. Facing large deficits, the Chrétien government also failed to increase investment in active labour market measures. Canada’s investment in policies and programs designed to improve skills and/or help unemployed people find jobs has been declining since 1985. By 2006 it was only half the OECD average. This leaves Canada poorly prepared for the coming era of slowing labour force growth. "Canada's national interest: alliance with the United States" by Douglas L. Bland Douglas Bland of Queen’s University examines five long-standing ideas that have served as the foundation for Canada’s national security, defence and foreign policies since the end of the Second World War, all designed to sustain Canada’s cardinal national interest: the continuance of Canada as a unified, liberal-democratic state. Can these ideas and the alliances and international commitments that flow from them serve us well in the future? Can Canada trust for much longer NATO and the UN to protect our national interest? Or should we acknowledge finally that the United States is the sure, true guardian of Canada’s vital national interest and reorient our security, foreign and defence policies in that direction? Perhaps Canadians are no longer members of the “North Atlantic community” and should begin to think of themselves as members of a community of like-minded, westernhemispheric nations. "From professor to justice minister: Charter rights and anti-terrorism" by Irwin Cotler In our continuing series The Charter @ 25, Irwin Cotler examines the delicate balance betweem human rights and human security from his unique perspective as a noted civil libertarian and law professor, later an MP who debated the Anti- Terrorism Act, and finally as a former justice minister who administered it under the Martin government. In the 1990s, he felt that “a distinguishable genre of law was necessary for a specific category of crime, namely terrorist criminality.” Yet he also writes that anti-terrorism legislation “must always adhere to the Charter and the rule of law.” Thus, the basic tension between two tenets of democracy, assuring the rights of individuals while providing for the security of citizens. "Nicolas Sarkozy : 100 jours plus tard..." by Martial Foucault Elected on May 6, Nicolas Sarkozy quickly settled into a fast and furious work pace, so much so that observers dubbed him the “hyper-president” or the “omni-president.” While these superlatives are indications of his commitment and a certain level of workaholism, they do little to mask his desire to always be on the front lines and to personify the power of his mandate. This attitude by a president of the French Republic is unheard of. And neither the prime minister, François Fillon, nor his ministers seem to have any leeway in implementing the promised reforms. Is this a carefully planned strategy or the emergence of a new style? Just back from a trip to his native country, Martial Foucault looks at the first few months of the new president’s term, and analyzes four projects that are deemed symbolic of his vision: the fight against repeat offenders, essential services in public transportation, autonomy in universities and tax reform. "Time for a new, networked public service" by Patrice Dutil and Tim Reid As Canada’s federal public service gets ready to retire more than a third of its essential knowledge workers, it will simultaneously engage in a heated competition to attract creative talent. This transformation presents a window of opportunity to change rules and conventions, to find new ways of involving talent from outside, and to help those younger people already in the public sector who have patiently waited to see major changes. To enable this process, government must throw open the doors. It needs to recognize and encourage those public servants who champion a government that will work actively with other governments, communities, associations, and NGOs to protect and promote the public good. "The stampede to Saskatchewan" by Todd Hirsch [summary not available] Book Review: Anthony Wilson-Smith reviews My Years as Prime Minister by Jean Chrétien [summary not available] Book Review: Bob Plamondon reviews Harper's Team by Tom Flanagan [summary not available] Book Review: Adam Daifallah reviews Transforming the Nation: Canada and Brian Mulroney, edited by Raymond B. Blake [summary not available] "La fin de la Belgique ?" by Alain Noël [summary not available] |
