| Introducing Inroads | |
Introducing Inroads #9 | ||
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The advantage and disadvantage of an annual publication is time. Once you know what you want to publish, you have time to get good work from good people. The problem is identifying what, 10 months hence, will be of major concern. FORTUNATELY, NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS to be planned long in advance. An important event in Quebec this spring was publication of Jean-François Lisée's Sortie de secours. Until he resigned in 1999, Lisée was Lucien Bouchard's senior advisor. He has come to the conclusion that the majority of Quebecers will not vote for independence and calls on sovereigntists to define an acceptable future for themselves within the Canadian federation. Inroads editor Henry Milner places Lisée's proposals in current Quebec context. Three observers from the West Coast respond: Gordon Gibson, Philip Resnick and John Richards. One way Inroads readers participate in ongoing discussions is via the listserv. In recent issues we have reproduced sample discussions. This time, Harvey Schachter chose a lively debate about the CBC. (If you're not yet on the listserv, send an email to: listserv@post.queensu.ca with your name, as in the following: subscribe inroads-l Jean Chrétien). The section includes short contributions by Peg Tittle on academic prerogatives, and by Alexander Craig on recent topical French-language publications. THE THEME WE SELECTED IN SUMMER OF 1999 was the nature of the Chrétien regime: it is time to come to terms with this confounding figure. We were unsure, at the time, if we would be writing about his legacy or his prospects for a third term — a matter apparently settled at the March 2000 Liberal Congress but, following the diplomatic gaffes of his Mideast tour, again unsettled. This section contains contributions from three observers of Canadian public affairs. Donald Savoie traces the accumulation of power in the PM's office. Reg Whitaker de-scribes how, having nearly “lost the country” in the 1995 Quebec referendum, Jean Chrétien shed his grey Mackenzie King suit in favour of Pierre Trudeau's audacious col-ours. Tom Kent deplores Jean Chrétien's failure to safeguard this “best country in the world” and suggests how to make up for it in a third mandate. Inroads editor Henry Milner challenges Canada's status as “best country in the world.” Lasting achievement requires civic literacy, something that underlies the sustainable welfare state in Scandinavia and elsewhere. When it comes to civic literacy, Canada is definitely not number one. Also in this section is Pierre Joncas on Cité libre. He traces the journal's history from its 1950 founding by Pierre Trudeau and Gérard Pelletier, through its death in 1966, resurrection in 1991, and transformation into the voice of virulent opposition to all forms of Quebec nationalism. IN THE PREVIOUS ISSUE WE PUBLISHED Claude Ryan's critique of the Social Union Framework Agreement. To advance the discussion, we have brought together in this issue three people who have been intimately involved at a senior level in Canadian social policy: Claude Ryan, André Burelle and Greg Marchildon.Claude Ryan and André Burelle have agreed to our publishing in translation their exchange of private letters, an exchange inspired by Ryan's article. Here is as lucid a discussion of what is required to “renew the Canadian federation” and manage social policy as is likely to be written. The third contributor is Greg Marchildon, deputy minister to premier Romanow in Saskatchewan. Better, he argues, this imperfect agreement than the previous status quo. TWO ARTICLES EXTEND DISCUSSION from Inroads 8 about politics in Britain and Sweden. Stephen Driver separates rhetoric from reality in New Labour's moves to devolve power from Whitehall. From Sweden, Anders Mellbourn explains his country's ambivalence toward participation in the European Union. We are proud to publish writer Hans Koning's poignant portrait of the contemporary Czech Republic. Koning visited the small town of Melnik, where, despite rapid changes, the residues of Soviet and even of Nazi German occupation remain. A REGULAR FEATURE IS THE INROADS roundtable. This time, Arthur Milner assembled six articulate business people, four from the dot.com world. What emerges is an engaging debate about doing business in Canada. We try to let those outside Quebec in on debates currently animating Quebecers. This issue we have chosen three. An impassioned debate is taking place on the role of religion in schools. In 1999, the Quebec government released the Proulx Report, a controversial set of proposals to deconfessionalize schools. Among its authors is Daniel Weinstock; among its leading critics, Gary Caldwell. Here, they present their conflicting views. Another debate has pitted Gérard Bouchard (brother of Quebec's premier) against John Ralston Saul (husband of the Governor General). Arthur Milner introduces translations of Bouchard's critical review of Saul's Confessions of a Siamese Twin plus the author's response. (Both pieces were originally published in Le Devoir.) Reed Scowen, former corporate executive, former Liberal member of the Quebec National Assembly, former Quebec delegate general in New York and London, and former head of Alliance Quebec, recently published Time to Say Goodbye, a livrechoc in which he argued that Canada outside Quebec should “divest” itself of Quebec. John Richards here reviews the book; Reed Scowen replies. John Richards in Vancouver, Arthur Milner in Ottawa, Henry Milner in Montreal |
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