A rchive Date
[ 28-08-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/stanway.html
No goals, no vision: Canada's screwed
By PAUL STANWAY -- Edmonton Sun
August 28, 2002
So we have a prime minister who's announced his retirement but isn't going anywhere, a governing party so caught up in internal squabbles it isn't governing, and two conservative opposition parties who won't co-operate to give us an alternative. I think that about sums it up.
We're screwed.
Many astute observers have in the past suggested that Canada is a country with a surplus of politics and that is difficult to govern. We have major linguistic and regional differences to add to the usual democratic mix of ideological differences. Our Constitution guarantees the provinces almost as much power as the central government. It makes for a lively political culture.
Or it used to.
This is beyond lively. We are now in uncharted territory, even for a country which has always found ways to be disunited. At a perilous time in history we are, essentially, leaderless, out of ideas and devoid of a national consensus.
It's tempting to put all the blame on our political chiefs, but the problem is much bigger than Jean Chretien or Joe Clark or Stephen Harper. They are the symptoms. The disease, I would suggest, is a lack of national purpose, of direction. Without clear national goals or the political will to create them, Canada is drifting.
On the surface, those goals appear rather obvious. Canadians want the economic security which brings prosperity and the ability to pay for things like health care and old-age pensions. They want all governments to waste as little of their money as possible, and to stay out of their lives as much as possible. They want Ottawa to use its influence in the world to promote democracy, peace and international trade. They want Canada to remain independent and able to define and protect its own best interests. Get these things right, and it's likely that issues of unity will take care of themselves.
At no time in recent decades has it been more important for Canada's political leadership to focus on these goals. The future of Canada as a functionally independent nation depends on it. Yet, as political and economic issues reshape our world, we face them disunited, confused and without direction. We appear to be sleepwalking into a role of increasing dependence on our neighbour and ally to the south - a process which many in Europe and elsewhere would suggest is virtually complete.
This is not an expression of hostility towards the United States - far from it. Canada has gained greatly from its close relationship with the most powerful nation on earth, as we used to benefit from our relationship with Imperial Britain. The challenge, as always, is to ensure that the benefits don't translate into a loss of independence.
We've had a lot of practice at this, so how are we doing?
In the first decade of the 20th century, Canada's foreign policy was directed from London, most capital investment in the growing nation came from Britain, the Empire was our largest trading partner and Canadian soldiers served under British generals. In the first decade of the 21st century, the serious foreign policy decisions affecting our country are made in Washington, the United States is by far our largest trading partner and the source of much capital investment, and Canadian soldiers serve under American generals. We even debate the merits of adopting American currency.
This is the end result of political disunity and the lack of national consensus.
So what do we do about it? The answer probably lies in the reaction of many Canadians to the current crop of leaders. After almost a decade of good economic growth coupled with a slumping dollar and muddled, lacklustre government (an odd and frustrating combination), Jean Chretien remains leader by default. Even his own party lusts for something better - as do most Canadians.
Voters are less hung up on political labels than at any time in our history. They are, I believe, ready to vote for any leader and any party that can propose a coherent and realistic national vision, that can encourage us to look outward to discover what binds us, rather than inward to focus on what divides us.
Easy to say and hard to do, but if we can't manage it we risk the continuing decline of our political and economic independence.
Another 18 months of spinning our wheels is not what the doctor ordered.
Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@edm.sunpub.com.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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