Reforming Canada’s Political Institutions for the Twenty-First Century

Journal of Canadian Studies • Revue d'etudes canadiennes Reforming Canada's Political Institutions for the Twenty-First Century Therese Arseneau, Robert M. Campbell and A. Brian Tanguay I n the autumn of 1998, the Journal ofCanadian Studies determined to celebrate the advent ofthe twenty-first century by launching a millennium project. This is the fourth and concluding issue of a special millennium volume that has evaluated the accomplishments of the Canadian Studies enterprise and considered its future possibilities and practices (Campbell, "Canadian"). This collection of essays confronts the question of whether Canada's political institutions have the capacity to deal effectively"and authoritati~ely with the challenges facing Canada in the new millennium. The essays assembled here address many ofthe issues that were raised in the first issue of the series, 11 Canadian Studies at the Millennium: The Journey Continues" (35.1, Spring 2000). In his introductory essay, Robert M. Campbell identified a number of critical themes that were raised by the articles in that collection. Two issues are particularly germane as we reflect on the messages delivered by the contributors to this volume; Campbell identified the widely held view that Canadian Studies had to confront, assess, challenge and possibly jettison received wisdom and traditional approaches if the Canadian Studies project were to survive. And, he noted the contributors ' insistence that Canadian Studies had to return to its activist roots. The essays here are presented in the spirit of these insights. The Journal ofCanadfan Studies was launched in May 1966. In retrospect, it is noteworthy the extent to which the political agenda and politics generated the momentum for its founding. Indeed, the style and approach of the JCS was highly political and provocative, progressive and passionate. In the lead article in the first issue; the founding editor, Denis Smith, apologized for the passionate (non-academic ) tone of his message, a tone that was shaped by the political circumstances of the time. "We wish that the moment of the Journal's birth were more auspicious for the country's future than it actually seemed to be; but the moment is clearly not auspicious" (1-2). The mid-1960s were "a time of considerable political turbulence , the Canadian experience degraded by the petty but destructive party politics of the Pearson-Diefenbaker era and unsettled by the social revolution building momentum in Quebec" (Campbell, "Canadian" 5). Canada's political experience over the last 35 years has been a mixed one at best and our collective political Volume 35 • No. 4 • (Hi"'.er 2000 • 2001 Winter) 5 6 Introduction malaise has not been remedied to any great extent, so that the present moment is hardly less inauspicious than when Smith wrote. Indeed, as we write this introductory note, Canadians have been witnessing the ongoing trivialization ofthe political realm, in the form ofthe perpetual outsiders - the dying Conservatives and the inept Alliance - beating up on the perpetual insiders or government party - the Liberals over the so-called "Shawinigate" affair. The structure, narrative and content of this event - and related criticisms of cabinet ministers from Hedy Fry to Sheila Copps are spookily reminiscent of John Diefenbaker's scurrilous but crowd-pleasing ad hominem attacks on Prime Minister Lester Pearson and the Liberals in the 1960s. Nothing seems to have changed. Politics in the year 2001 remains very much a spectator sport, with parliamentarygovernment reduced to the kind ofcynical politics and manipulation associated with an episode of Survivor. The global, socio-economic circumstances in which early twenty-first-century politics is playing out, however, are tremendouslydifferent from - and potentiallymore consequential than - those.in the 1960s. To what extent have Canada's political institutions been part of the ongoing political malaise? Canada enters the new millennium intact and, in the eyes of some, in remarkably good health. For seven years in a row the United Nations has ranked Canada as the country with "the best quality of life," an accomplishment trumpeted constantly by Prime Minister Jean Chretien (Office of the Prime Minister). Moreover, the intense loathing that many citizens developed for government and traditional institutions of representative democracy during the late Mulroney years has dissipated somewhat.' Canadian citizens may not trust their politicians or have a great deal...