| Introducing Inroads | |
Introducing Inroads #8 | ||
|
LAURENT DOBUZINSKIS writes in this issue about policy institutes and how they try to explain globalization. Their rise to prominence is an interesting feature of public life in all western democracies. They are filling a void. Driven by deadlines, journalists treat policy too superficially; academics treat policy problems with jargon-filled analysis that rarely deviates from the deeply carved ruts of their respective disciplines; politicians and interest group leaders, even the most thoughtful, are tied to the leash of the “party line”; and government research agencies often suffer constipation, combining academic formalism with political constraints. Which brings us to Inroads. This issue, we have invited academics to write beyond the constraints of their respective disciplines, journalists to write without a daily deadline, and a broad range of policy analysts to make their case. WE START WITH HARVEY SCHACHTER'S selection from the Inroads listserv, a selection in which readers exchanged perceptions of Quebec politics in the run-up to the recent provincial election and indulged in some Proustian recollections of their youthful political attitudes in the 1960s and 1970s. As a reader, you are invited to join the Inroads discussion group. Send an e-mail note to listserv@post.queensu.ca with your name, as in the following — subscribe inroads-l TommyDouglas and by all means, join the discussion. A MAJOR POLITICAL EVENT since Inroads last appeared is the signing of a social union agreement between Ottawa and the provinces. Claude Ryan's article is, to our knowledge, the most thorough analysis of it yet written. This issue's editorial analyses the ideological conflicts in the back rooms of the negotiation process. WE RETURN ONCE AGAIN to the controversial but crucial matter of language policy and the place of francophones in Canada. Charles Castonguay takes on Statistics CanadaÕs unwarranted optimism over the fate of francophones outside Quebec and draws the conclusion that greater respect for the “territorial principle” is crucial if francophones are to survive intergenerationally as a significant, culturally viable community. Linda Cardinal analyses how Ottawa's version of official bilingualism has pitted francophones inside and outside Quebec against one another. Ray Conlogue asks why francophones are absent from most English-language artistic production in Canada. One Inroads editor, John Richards, writes a eulogy for Camille Laurin, suggesting that Bill 101 has not only been good for Quebec francophones but should be welcomed by all Canadians as part of the country's constitutional foundation. THE THIRD INROADS EDITOR, Henry Milner, was out of the country during much of the past year, which prompted him to solicit articles on contemporary Europe. His personal contribution is to have become a journalist, spending time on the campaign trail in Germany and Sweden during their respective general elections late last year. Axel van den Berg reports on some interesting research with which he has been involved, comparing attitudes among workers and union leaders in Sweden and Canada. Eric Shaw explains why he prefers his Labour Party to be “old” rather than “new”. WE HAVE TRIED NOT TO BE bogged down in central Canadian concerns. The Inroads roundtable is a regular feature, and this time Inroads editor Arthur Milner travelled to Calgary, assembled a wide range of articulate Albertans and allowed them to dissect the contemporary state of their province. Gordon Gibson tackles the Nisga'a Treaty and helps those east of the Rockies to understand why it has become a subject of heated public debate in British Columbia. Phil Resnick analyses three incidents of political correctness on the west coast, one in each of three local universities. IN A CHAPTER FROM his forthcoming book, Larry Pratt explores public attitudes towards mental illness, and the struggle required to sustain public attention for the needs of the mentally ill. BILL SCHABAS HAS WRITTEN before (Inroads 6 in 1997) on the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. He returns to the scene in this issue. Paul Reed and Gary Caldwell explain why people in Saskatchewan are more civic minded than Quebecers. And, finally, Robert Campbell explores why “snail mail” is more sluggish in Canada than in many other countries.
May-99 |
 |
 Return to Contents To see if copies of this issue are available, go to the Back Issue page |
