Investing in the Middle East PAGE 3

$6.50 Vol. 24, No. 2 March 2016

Andrew Westoll Dances with Dolphins The weird intersection of dolphin and human culture

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Steve Paikin Dalton the durable

Mark Starowicz Historical auditions

Charlotte Gray Robertson Davies’s diaries

PLUS: non-fiction Michael Booth on the madness of King Ford + Andrew Heintzman on climate optimism + Don LePan on factory farms + Emmett Macfarlane on constitutional cultures + Stephen Reid on a mining town caper fiction Publications Mail Agreement #40032362 Brett Joseph Grubisic on Mona Awad’s 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl + Rashi Khilnani Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to LRC, Circulation Dept. on Farzana Doctor’s All Inclusive PO Box 8, Station K Toronto, ON M4P 2G1 poetry A.J. Stainsby + Richard Greene + E. Alex Pierce + Brian Henderson CIGI PRESS ADVANCING POLICY IDEAS AND DEBATE COMING SPRING 2016

MINDING THE GAP : MINDING THE The Internet ecosystem is held together by a surprisingly THE PREVAILING NARRATIVE ON AFRICA is that it is awash with violent conflict. Indeed, it intangible glue — trust. To meet its full potential, users does suffer from a multitude of conflicts — from border skirmishes to civil wars to terrorist Look Who’s Watching attacks. Conflicts in Africa are diverse and complex, but there have been a number of cases need to trust that the Internet works reliably and efficiently of successful conflict management and resolution. What accounts for the successes and when providing them with the information they are seeking, failures, and what can we learn from Africa’s experience? while also being secure, private and safe. When trust in ’ the Internet wanes, the network’s stock of “digital social Look Whos Minding the Gap: African Conflict Management in a Time of Change takes on these questions, capital” falls, and users begin to alter their online bringing together more than 20 experts to examine the source of conflicts in Africa and behaviour. These often subtle changes in behaviour tend to assess African management capacity in the face of these conflicts. Through this book, they collectively be highly maladaptive, hindering the economic, explore the viability of “African solutions for African problems,” the gaps in resources and AFRICAN CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN A TIME OF CHANGE developmental and innovative potential of the globe-spanning capacity, the role of international players in African-led peacekeeping operations, and the Watching tensions that erupt when there are overlapping mandates among subregional, regional and network of networks. international institutions charged with bringing peace to troubled places. Look Who’s Watching: Why the World Is Losing Faith in the Why The World Is Losing Faith The book focuses on the role of mediation and peacekeeping in managing violence and Internet confirms in vivid detail that the trust placed by _in_the Internet political crises, looking at new ideas and institutions emerging in the African space, as users in the Internet is increasingly misplaced. Edward well as at the structural and institutional obstacles to developing a truly robust conflict Snowden’s revelations that the United States National management capability in Africa. In the end, the stakes are too high in terms of human Security Agency and other government agencies are spying on lives and regional stability to allow these obstacles to paralyze peace processes. This Internet users, the proliferation of cybercrime, the growing team of authors, approaching the issues from a wide range of perspectives, recognizes the enormity of the stakes and offer concrete recommendations on how to end conflict and lay African Conflict Management commodification of user data and regulatory changes — which the groundwork for building peace in Africa. threaten to fragment the system — are all rapidly eroding the in a Time of Change confidence users have in the Internet ecosystem. ABOUT THE EDITORS Based on a combination of illustrative anecdotal evidence and Look Who’s Watching PAMELA AALL is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), analysis of new data, clearly demonstrates in the Global Security & Politics Program, leading the African Regional Conflict Management why trust matters, how it is being eroded and how, with project. She is also a senior adviser for conflict prevention and management at the United care and deliberate policy action, the essential glue of the States Institute of Peace (USIP), where she was founding provost of USIP’s Academy for Internet can be restored. International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. She is on the advisory council of the European Institute of Peace, and serves on the boards of Women In International Security and FEN OSLER HAMPSON is a distinguished fellow and the director the International Peace and Security Institute. of the Global Security & Politics Program at CIGI. He is also Jardine // Hampson CHESTER A. CROCKER is a distinguished fellow at CIGI. He is the James R. Schlesinger co-director of the Global Commission on Internet Governance, a Professor of Strategic Studies at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign joint project with CIGI and Chatham House. He is chancellor’s Service, and serves on the board of its Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. A former assistant professor at Carleton University and a former Jennings secretary of state for African affairs (1981–1989), he served as chairman of the board of the Randolph Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. USIP (1992–2004) and is a founding member of the Global Leadership Foundation. With Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall, he has edited and authored a number of books on conflict ERIC JARDINE joined CIGI as a research fellow in May 2014 in management and mediation. the Global Security & Politics Program. He contributes to Published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation. CIGI’s work on Internet governance, including the CIGI–Chatham House-sponsored Global Commission on Internet Governance. His current research focuses on cyber security, cyber Aall terrorism, cybercrime and cyber protest. He holds a Ph.D. in international relations from the Norman Paterson School of | Crocker International Affairs at Carleton University.

Published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

ISBN 978-1-928096-15-3 ISBN 978-1-928096-21-4 Pamela Aall and Chester A. Crocker, Editors www.cigionline.org 9 781928 096214 Foreword by the Right Honourable Joe Clark www.cigionline.org REPLACE9781928096153 Fen Osler Hampson_and_Eric Jardine

Minding the Gap Global Financial Governance Confronts Look Who’s Watching Edited by Pamela Aall and the Rising Powers Fen Osler Hampson and Eric Jardine Chester A. Crocker Edited by C. Randall Henning and To meet its full potential, users need to trust Minding the Gap: African Conflict Management Andrew Walter that the Internet works reliably and efficiently in a Time of Change focuses on the role of Global Financial Governance Confronts the Rising when providing them with the information they mediation and peacekeeping in managing Powers addresses the challenge that the rising are seeking, while also being secure, private violence and political crises, looking at new ideas powers pose for global governance, substantively and safe. Edward Snowden’s revelations that and institutions emerging in the African space, as and institutionally, in the domain of financial the United States National Security Agency and well as at the structural and institutional obstacles and macroeconomic cooperation. It examines other government agencies are spying on Internet to developing a truly robust conflict management the issues before the G20 that are of particular users, the proliferation of cybercrime, the growing capability in Africa. In the end, the stakes are concern to these newly influential countries commodification of user data and regulatory too high in terms of human lives and regional and how international financial institutions and changes — which threaten to fragment the system stability to allow these obstacles to paralyze financial standard-setting bodies have responded. — are all rapidly eroding the confidence users have peace processes. These authors recognize the This book presents rising power perspectives on in the Internet ecosystem. Look Who’s Watching: enormity of the stakes and offers concrete financial policies and governance that should be of Why the World Is Losing Faith in the Internet recommendations on how to end conflict and lay keen interest to advanced countries, established confirms in vivid detail that the trust placed by the groundwork for building peace in Africa. and evolving institutions, and the G20. users in the Internet is increasingly misplaced.

AVAILABLE NOW

Enter the Dragon Elusive Pursuits Mutual Security in the Asia-Pacific Edited by Domenico Lombardi and Edited by Fen Osler Hampson and Edited by Kang Choi, James Manicom Hongying Wang Stephen M. Saideman and Simon Palamar Enter the Dragon: China in the International Financial System Elusive Pursuits: Lessons from Canada’s Interventions Myriad challenges to regional stability and security brings together experts from both inside and outside of Abroad is the 29th volume of the influential Canada threaten East Asia’s burgeoning growth and prosperity. China to explore issues regarding the internationalization Among Nations series. This book examines Canada’s role Mutual Security in the Asia-Pacific: Roles for Australia, of the renminbi (RMB). This volume tackles questions in foreign military and security missions, and its tendency Canada and South Korea addresses the economic and surrounding the process being used to attempt to achieve to intervene under the auspices of international security challenges that loom in the region and the role internationalization of the RMB, the broader issues related institutions. Canada is not just among nations in these that these three countries can play to ensure a stable, to the country’s financial integration with the rest of the efforts, but in nations on a regular basis. predictable political environment. world, and issues concerning China’s role in global financial governance.

Centre for International Governance Innovation Single copy orders: cigionline.org/bookstore Bulk orders: renoufbooks.com Most books available in paperback and e-book form Literary Review of Canada 170 Bloor Street West, Suite 706 Toronto ON M5S 1T9 email: [email protected] reviewcanada.ca T: 416-531-1483 • F: 416-944-8915 Charitable number: 848431490RR0001 To donate, visit reviewcanada.ca/support Vol. 24, No. 2 • March 2016 INTERIM EDITOR Mark Lovewell [email protected] 3 Generation A 17 False Essay MANAGING EDITOR Michael Stevens A review of Arab Dawn: Arab Youth and the A poem Demographic Dividend They Will Bring, by Brian Henderson CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Mohamed Huque, Molly Peacock, Robin Bessma Momani 18 Hungry and Angry Roger, Anthony Westell Rouba Al-Fattal A review of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, ASSOCIATE EDITORS 4 Delicate Places by Mona Awad Beth Haddon, Judy Stoffman An essay Brett Josef Grubisic POETRY EDITOR Elissa Golberg Moira MacDougall 19 Sex, Death and Tourism COPY EDITOR 6 A Strangely Obtuse Country A review of All Inclusive, by Farzana Doctor Madeline Koch A review of A Celtic Temperament: Robertson Rashi Khilnani ONLINE EDITORS Davies as Diarist, edited by Jennifer Surridge 20 Cruelty at Mealtime Diana Kuprel, Jack Mitchell, and Ramsay Derry Donald Rickerd, C.M. A review of Project Animal Farm: An Accidental Charlotte Gray PROOFREADER Journey into the Secret World of Farming and Robert Simone 10 Green Enigma the Truth about Our Food, by Sonia Faruqi RESEARCH A review of Cleaner, Greener, Healthier: Don LePan Rob Tilley A Prescription for Stronger Canadian 21 Beneath the Surface DESIGN Environmental Laws and Policies, by David James Harbeck A review of Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into R. Boyd, Green-Lite: Complexity in Fifty the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins, by ADVERTISING/SALES Years of Canadian Environmental Policy, Michael Wile Susan Casey Governance and Democracy, by G. Bruce Doern, [email protected] Andrew Westoll Graeme Auld and Christopher Stoney, and DIRECTOR, SPECIAL PROJECTS The Optimistic Environmentalist: Progressing 23 Dramatis Personae Michael Booth Towards a Greener Future, by David R. Boyd A review of History’s People: Personalities and PRODUCERS Andrew Heintzman the Past, by Margaret MacMillan Jasleen Singh, Miranda Newman Mark Starowicz MARKETING COORDINATOR 13 Cracked Samantha Dewaele A review of Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable 24 Due South DEVELOPMENT OFFICER — How I Tried to Help the World’s Most A review of Red, White and Kind of Blue? Erica May Notorious Mayor, by Mark Towhey and The Conservatives and the Americanization ADMINISTRATOR Johanna Schneller, and The Only Average Guy: of Canadian Constitutional Culture, by David Tavia Fedoruk Inside the Uncommon World of Rob Ford, by Schneiderman PUBLISHER John Filion Emmett Macfarlane Helen Walsh Michael Booth [email protected] 26 Queen’s Park Dad BOARD OF DIRECTORS 16 Huntingtin A review of Dalton McGuinty: Making a Tom Kierans, O.C., Don McCutchan, A poem Difference, by Dalton McGuinty Jack Mintz, C.M., Trina McQueen, O.C. A.J. Stainsby Steve Paikin ADVISORY COUNCIL Michael Adams, Ronald G. Atkey, P.C., 17 Hurricane Season 29 Unfinished Business Q.C., Alan Broadbent, C.M., Chris Ellis, A poem A review of A Rock Fell on the Moon: Dad and Carol Hansell, Donald Macdonald, P.C., Richard Greene the Great Yukon Silver Ore Heist, by Alicia Priest C.C., Grant Reuber, O.C., Don Rickerd, Stephen Reid C.M., Rana Sarkar, Mark Sarner, Bernard 17 The fetch of the wind Schiff, Reed Scowen A poem 30 Letters and Responses POETRY SUBMISSIONS E. Alex Pierce Brian Gorman, Marc Edge, Paul Knox, For poetry submission guidelines, please see reviewcanada.ca. Heather Whiteside, Robert Matas, Valerie LRC design concept by Jackie Young/INK Knowles, Michael Decter Founded in 1991 by P.A. Dutil The LRC is published 10 times a year by the Literary Review of Canada Charitable Organization. Cover art and pictures throughout the issue by Karen Hibbard. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Karen Hibbard is a freelance illustrator with experience in print, multimedia, film and animation. She draws on a Individuals in Canada $56/year plus GST/HST. (Libraries and institutions in Canada $68/year plus 25-year career as a visual artist and an MFA from Concordia University. She teaches at the University of Victoria. GST/HST.) Outside Canada, please pay $86/year for individuals, or $98 for libraries and institutions.

From time to time, the LRC may allow carefully selected organizations to send mail to subscribers, offering products or services that may be of interest. SUBSCRIPTIONS AND CIRCULATION Literary Review of Canada If you do not wish to receive such correspondence, please contact our Subscriber Service department at [email protected], P.O. Box 8, Station K, Toronto ON M4P 2G1 or call 416-932-5081, or mail P.O. Box 8, Station K, Toronto ON M4P 2G1. [email protected] tel: 416-932-5081 • reviewcanada.ca Funding Acknowledgements We acknowledge the assistance ©2016 The Literary Review of Canada. All rights, We acknowledge the financial of the OMDC Magazine Fund, including translation into other languages, are reserved support of the Government an initiative of Ontario Media by the publisher in Canada, the United States, Great of Canada through the Development Corporation. Britain and all other countries participating in the Canada Periodical Fund of Universal Copyright Convention, the International Copyright Convention and the Pan-American Copyright the Department of Canadian Convention. Nothing in this publication may be repro- Heritage. duced without the written permission of the publisher. ISSN 1188-7494 The Literary Review of Canada is indexed in the Canadian Literary Periodicals Index and the Canadian an Ontario government agency Index and is distributed by Disticor and Magazines un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario Canada.

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 1 “FEARLESS ENGAGING PLAYFUL

PROVOCATIVE”—Robert Heasley, editor of Sexual Lives: A Reader on the Theories and Realities of Human Sexualities

READING FROM BEHIND: A Cultural Analysis of the Anus by Jonathan A. Allan

In a playful, yet scholarly, romp through low and high culture, Reading From Behind asks why—since we all have one and use it every day—do we squirm at the mere mention of the anus?

“An excellent read not just about the ‘behind,’ but about representation and the meaning-making we do about the human body, and more specifically, about masculinity, sexuality, power, and relationships. This book is for anyone coming to grips with the complexity of gender and sexuality.”—Robert Heasley

“Entertaining and informative.” —Merrill Cole, author of The Other Orpheus: A Poetics of Modern Homosexuality

2 LRC mental and reading ffrom behind.indd 2 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review2016-02-10 of Canada 3:15 PM Generation A How disenchanted Arab youth are fuelling a regional transformation. Rouba Al-Fattal

books written from western perspectives, painted I am much more optimistic about the immediate Arab Dawn: Arab Youth and the Demographic with an orientalist brush by scholars who do not future of the youth of the Gulf region, but far less Dividend They Will Bring really know the cultural nuances of the Arab world, optimistic about the “demographic dividend” that Bessma Momani this work does not lack authenticity since it is writ- countries facing civil wars can contribute—which University of Toronto Press ten by a scholar who has deep ties to the region and will need at least two generations to get over the 176 pages, softcover reflects the voices of youth on the ground through destructive effects of war. I agree with Momani that ISBN 9781442628564 interviews conducted in different Arab countries. the evidence indicates the future will be better, but Another celebrated feature of this book is its I think a distinction needs to be made between Gulf focus on the micro level of analysis. Scholars of and non-Gulf youth and also near and far future. ar removed from the bird’s-eye view of Middle East politics often tend to look at Arab pol- Although Arab Dawn was published in 2015, the Arab Middle East as a place of civil war, itics from an international affairs or foreign policy the book was mainly researched before the 2014 Fsectarian violence, religious extremism and perspective (focusing on issues such as terrorism, change in government in Egypt. So it does not touch economic stagnation, Arab Dawn: Arab Youth and war and ethnic conflicts) without really delving upon the failure of Egyptian youth to establish a the Demographic Dividend They Will Bring is a tale deeper into what is happening with the majority of political place for themselves after the uprising. of two stories: challenges and suc- It also does not include statistics cesses. In her latest book, Bessma after 2013 (as presented in the Momani invites her readers to Arab Dawn highlights the underlying appendix). This leaves Momani take a closer look at the socio- room for a new book, or at least a economic changes that are taking causes of Arab youth’s disenchantment revised edition, to address these place in the Arab world, and how within their societies. issues and to follow up with youth these changes are forming a more in places where revolutions took vibrant, educated, vocal, internet- place (Egypt, Libya, Syria and savvy Arab youth (between the ages of 15 and 24) Arabs who are not making the headlines. This fresh Tunisia), in order to examine their sentiments in that is striving for a better future. approach is needed to bridge this important gap in the post–Arab Spring era. Future editions could Structured into four main chapters, the book the academic levels of analysis. also benefit from bolstering the identity chapter starts with an analysis of the economic conditions That said, I am still not as optimistic about the with more structured interviews, mass surveys and in the Arab world and how they affect these young immediate future of the Arab world as Momani statistical analysis. Arabs. It then analyses some prominent social seems to be. One of the statistics that the book Although Momani declares that “this book is not issues such as corruption, democratization, free- highlights, for instance, is that in the United Arab a classic academic study,” I consider Arab Dawn dom and social media and how they are perceived Emirates 77 percent of adult women are univer- a highly welcome addition to a level of analysis by younger generations. The third chapter tackles sity graduates, a number higher even than that of missing in academic books dealing with the the question of Arab identity and religion and how Canada. Although we should applaud this high Arab world. As a professor of Middle East and Arab social justice can be achieved—especially for min- percentage, we should also be concerned by the politics, I will recommend it to my students who orities and women, all from a youthful perspective. number of youth graduating from secondary are interested in the causes of the Arab uprising, The last chapter articulates the theme of “circu- school, as well as by the quality of the educa- Middle Eastern political economy and the perspec- larity,” stating that in a time of globalization and tion they are receiving both at the secondary and tive of Arab youth in general. migration, Arab youth import ideas back home, as post-secondary levels. When so many educated much as they export them, making it impossible to Arab youth are either unemployed or significantly resist cultural changes. underemployed, I believe more in-depth studies Arab Dawn highlights the underlying causes of are needed to examine the quality of their educa- a national festival of politics, art and ideas Arab youth’s disenchantment within their societies, tion. Based on statistics in the book, Arab youth are RADIO which Momani believes were factors that led to the obviously more educated than their predecessors, uprisings in many Arab countries. Indeed, the Arab but how does that translate into social and political Spring constitutes the major axis of the book, as realities? For more, almost all chapters relate to one demand chanted Another issue that makes me less optimistic listen to in Tahrir Square: bread, freedom and social justice. about the (near) future of the Arab Middle East However, unlike other writers on the causes of the is related to the regional and national levels of Currently featuring podcasts from these Spur 2015 Arab Spring, Momani takes her analysis a step fur- analysis, which are the particular areas of my own events: Bessma Momani ther, arguing that Arab youth are full of potential research. Momani clearly acknowledges the secur- The Silent Promise of Arab Youth and will bring about positive change to the region. ity challenges facing a divided region, but she still One of the remarkable features of this book reaches an optimistic view about the future based lies in its ability to challenge the most stubborn on her findings about Arab youth. However, with Recorded at Hart House prejudices against Arab youth with a plethora of the undeniable rise of extremism and unrest in the on statistical evidence. Although the book is brief, it is region, many countries in the Arab world, with December 3, 2015 rich with details, interviews and anecdotes from the the exception of the Gulf region, are facing increas- as part of ground—making it harder to dismiss the author’s ing poverty and illiteracy. Iraq, Syria, Libya and “THE LRC PRESENTS… ” argument as naive or unrealistic. Also, unlike many Lebanon are riddled with civil conflicts, leaving a sixth season huge number of refugees and displaced children Rouba Al-Fattal is a professor of Middle East and illiterate. How do these future youth fit into the soundcloud.com/spur-radio/arab-dawn Arab politics at the University of Ottawa. picture? If this problem can be successfully tackled,

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 3 ESSAY Delicate Places Rewriting development aims to take account of the risks of fragility. Elissa Golberg

n September 2015 world leaders adopted questions regarding their legitimacy, and organ- Some development agencies and institutions the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustain- ized crime or terrorist networks. These fragile have piloted important initiatives in the last dec- Iable Development. The agenda includes a places may also experience recurrent vulnerability ade, including some strong work by Canada. In new set of goals to provide a 15-year pathway to to social, environment and economic shocks or southern Afghanistan, for instance, from 2008 reduce poverty and facilitate sustainable economic natural hazards. to 2011 the Canadian International Develop- and social development globally. These goals are a We will need to bring our most robust thinking, ment Agency adopted a value-chain approach to significant international milestone. As a bookend creativity and persistence to bear if we hope to see economic development in the Arghandab River to the December 2015 climate agreement in Paris, socioeconomic and development opportunities Valley Basin, investing in farmers’ knowledge and they provide both recognition of productive capacities, irrigation, how far we have come in improv- youth education, the develop- ing the quality of life and how far Fragility and violence are not conditions ment of small and medium-sized we still have to go. Globally, one enterprises, road infrastructure, billion people have been lifted out confined to developing countries alone— and sharia-compliant financial of extreme poverty since 1990, but services, all offering alternatives 2.4 billion people still lack access although these countries do face notable to violence and fostering a more to basic sanitation and almost a additional obstacles. comprehensive approach to local billion people are illiterate. prosperity and medium-term sta- Implementing the 2030 Agenda bility. But overall, efforts such as will drive domestic and international investments realized in these contexts. And let’s be clear: our these are limited, and there have been few attempts in development by governments, civil society and failure to do so has important implications—not to draw out comparable lessons learned, bringing the private sector for years to come. It will demand only in terms of lost individual human potential, initiatives to scale or replicating them elsewhere. a major transformation in approaches to official which is significant in and of itself, but also more There are various reasons for this inertia, not aid and private investment, including new part- broadly in terms of the consequences for global least bureaucratic obstacles that can stand in the nerships and a range of new policy, program and prosperity, peace and stability, as daily media way of governments investing simultaneously in legal innovation. The 2030 Agenda reflects a grow- headlines make abundantly clear. For instance, if humanitarian action, stabilization and long-term ing global consensus that traditional approaches, one considers matters through the narrow lens of development activities, or the risk-averse nature of including those that rely predominantly on foreign economics alone, the global costs of collective (e.g., official development aid itself. But the limited abil- aid or state-driven measures, will not be enough if conflict-related) and interpersonal (e.g., homicide) ity (or willingness) to invest creatively in economic we are serious about achieving global prosperity violence were estimated to run between $1.4 and activities and provide meaningful job opportun- and equality. $2 trillion in 2015. The mass movements of people ities in fragile contexts, notably for youth, comes This emerging consensus will be tested when to Europe from the Middle East and Africa, or at a cost. We know from considerable operational considering how best to advance the Sustainable of Central Americans northward in the western experience that more than half the countries that Development Goals in those countries, regions or hemisphere, are also symptoms of our failures to suffer conflict or strife are likely to relapse, and cities that are experiencing or at risk of some kind of respond effectively to fragility in a more compre- that holistic approaches are needed to reinforce fragility, often, but not always, in the form of conflict hensive way. These dilemmas require the attention their likelihood for success, which must include an or violence. And while places such as Afghanistan, of us all. emphasis on spurring economic growth.2 Syria, Haiti or the Central African Republic likely And yet, as someone who has spent a good Until more recently, there have also been few come to mind, it is crucial to note that fragility and portion of her career working in places that have sustained or meaningful conversations directly violence are not conditions confined to developing been vulnerable to chronic violence, social volatil- with the private sector and governments (or civil countries alone—although these countries do face ity or instability, I have often been struck by the society) about the role that responsible private notable additional obstacles. Such conditions can apparent limitations of our toolkit for supporting investment might play in fragile contexts, whether occur irrespective of national income. Indeed, we these fragile places. This is especially true when by large multinationals or local businesses and have witnessed varying levels of fragility in distinct we want to encourage positive approaches beyond their associations. And some interesting examples regions or even cities within middle-income and those related to providing basic services such as have emerged. These include investments made by advanced economies as well—­consider pockets food (which the international community actually Roshan Telecom in Afghanistan through the Aga of fragility in some American cities, in France, tends to do quite well) or to reinforcing the security Khan Fund for Economic Development (or others Ukraine, Colombia or Brazil. The challenges sector and rule-of-law institutions, and also when the Aga Khan Fund has made more recently in encountered are often multidimensional, resulting we focus on how to foster sustainable economic Syria and neighbouring countries), investments by from political tensions or enmity between countries growth and job creation in such contexts. Indeed, Bata in Bangladesh and Royal Philips Electronics or communities, a lack of effective institutions or we struggle in particular with how to foster growth, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For instance, and it is vital—notably for engaging a growing Roshan is now Afghanistan’s leading telecommuni- Elissa Golberg is an assistant deputy minister youth demographic in developing countries with cations provider, with 6.5 million active subscrib- at Global Affairs Canada, responsible for the aspirations for a better future. Many countries ers across the country and a workforce composed Partnerships for Development Innovation that find themselves in these circumstances are predominantly of Afghans, 20 percent of whom are portfolio. In her nearly two-decade career, she has frustrated, and have called for a “New Deal,” one women. It is the largest taxpayer and investor in successfully pioneered complex policy initiatives that would see a different approach with a focus on the extremely fragile country, and has weathered and led multidisciplinary teams working on major supporting strong economic foundations, revenues numerous challenges related to security, integrity international peace and security, human rights, and services, alongside the pursuit of legitimate and infrastructure since it began in 2003—at a time and emergency management issues. politics, security and justice.1 when there were only 100,000 functioning phone

4 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada lines for a population of 23 million. Royal Philips to understand how responsible private invest- confidence that the revenues collected by govern- Electronics’ decision to participate in the Conflict- ment or creative public-private partnerships might ments from private investment or international Free Tin Initiative, led by the Dutch government, make positive contributions. For instance, they institutions are transparently secured, managed provided economic opportunities to 800 unem- might mitigate fragility, generate domestic rev- and disbursed? What role do multilateral financial ployed miners in the Eastern DRC by offering a enue by creating jobs and skills, and potentially institutions and development or investment banks legitimate supply-chain alternative to exploitation lead to changes in economic models and poverty have in mitigating risk to support foreign or domes- by armed groups. And Bata partnered with CARE reduction strategies that improve local conditions tic private investment, especially in states or com- International to establish the Rural Sales Program through technology transfer, infrastructure invest- munities that have faced crisis? What are the roles in Bangladesh so vulnerable women in rural and ment, trade and export development. Such change for donor countries and development cooperation under-served communities could receive skills may especially occur when it is pursued alongside assistance? training to become entrepreneurs, enabling them efforts by public institutions and civil society to If we hope to make even modest progress toward to earn as much as $80 a month. fulfilling the promise of the SDGs While each company has its own in fragile places, then governments, reasons for investing, which need to Until more recently, there have been local and international business, be understood (e.g., market share and civil society leaders will need to and profit in a frontier context, brand few conversations directly with expand the toolkit we currently have reputation, corporate social respon- at our disposal. There will be a need sibility), the decisions to invest in fra- the private sector about the role for more deliberate and sophisticated gile contexts are valuable test cases. that responsible private investment collaboration. And there is already There are, of course, also plenty of a need to generate positive and sus- cautionary tales about private sector might play in fragile contexts. tainable economic opportunities engagement in fragile environments, in fragile environments, alongside including notably from the extractive innovation and resilience, in order sector. And no one should be so naive as to view improve service delivery and build strong institu- to encourage the stability and prosperity of those the private sector’s involvement in such contexts tions that respect the rule of law and foster diversity communities, and to harness the full potential of all as a panacea, especially in those cases where it and trust among citizens. their citizens. fails to adhere to established global standards and We need therefore to examine these instances Editor’s note: The essay has grown out of clos- practices that promote equitable development and more carefully, and to identify others, and, since ing remarks made at the SPUR Ottawa Festival human rights, such as the UN’s Guiding Principles SMEs represent more than two thirds of employ- on “Roshan: Canada’s Legacy in Afghanistan” in on Business and Human Rights or the Organisation ment globally, we need to involve local business November 2015. for Economic Co-operation and Development’s actors. This will help us understand the incentives Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. and disincentives that may be at play and how risk Notes Nevertheless, although we acknowledge that is understood and responsibly addressed. What 1 See, for example, “A New Deal for Engagement in Fragile economic activity alone certainly cannot solve regulatory, institutional or policy frameworks States” issued in 2011 by the G7+, at http://www.g7plus. fragility, and that private investment made in should national governments have in place to org/en/our-work/new-deal-implementation. 2 See the World Bank’s “World Development Report 2011: fragile contexts might become a factor that can enable investment and ensure economic growth Conflict, Security and Development” at http://hdl. amplify that fragility, these examples can help us is inclusive? What systems are required to build handle.net/10986/4389.

Indigenous Studies / Canadian History

“It can start with a knock on the door one morning. It is the local Indian agent, or the parish priest, or, perhaps, a Mounted Police officer... The officials have tRuth and

arrived and the children must go.” So began the school experience of many Reconciliation commission Indigenous children in Canada for more than a hundred years, and so begins of c the history of residential schools prepared by the Truth and Reconciliation anada Commission of Canada (trc). Between 2008 and 2015, the trc provided opportunities for individuals, families, and communities to share their experiences of residential schools and released several reports based on 7,000

Survivor statements and 5 million documents from government, churches, and A schools, as well as a solid grounding in secondary sources.

A Knock on the Door, published in collaboration with the National Centre Kno for Truth and Reconciliation (nctr), gathers material from the to present the essential history and legacy of residential schools and inform A the journey to reconciliation that Canadians are now embarked trcupon. reports An afterword introduces the holdings and opportunities of the nctr, ho

archive of recordings and documents collected by the CK me to the K trc no “the attempt to t . CK R of the su ansfo Rm us failed. Rvivo Rs, then, will be the t

of c the t Rue legacy

anada.” —Phil F R O Ont Aine, ansfo Rmation O n t h e FrOm the F Orew Phil Fontaine Ord

is a Survivor, trc honorary witness, and former National Chief of t the n The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Assembly of First Nations. he Canada Aimée Craft was established in 2008 and led by the is the Director of Research at the Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair (Chair), nctr and an Assistant Professor in the Faculty Dr. Marie Wilson, and Chief Wilson L of Law at the University of Manitoba. She is the author of Breathing Life into the Stone Fort Treaty. ittlechild. door

d the e s s e n t i A l h i s t O

oor Residential r y of from the t r u t h schools and r e c c O m m i s s i O n c i l i A O n of c A t i O n n A d A Edited & Abridged

ISBN 978-0-88755-785-9 unive Rsity of manitoba 9 0 0 0 0 uofmp pR Ress.ca ess foreword by Phil $17.95 CAD / $19.95 USD fontaine 9 7 80887 557859

TRC-COVER-FULL-FIN.indd 1

2015-12-03 12:06 PM

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 5 A Strangely Obtuse Country A diary of a public culture maker. Charlotte Gray

before The Deptford Trilogy, these A Celtic Temperament: diaries reveal their author grappling Robertson Davies as Diarist with an identity crisis for both him- Jennifer Surridge and Ramsay self and his country. In 1959, when Derry, editors this selection begins, Davies was 45. McClelland and Stewart A new, more confident Canadian 382 pages, hardcover nationalism was in its infancy: the ISBN 9780771027642 flag debate had barely begun and Expo 67, Canada’s exuberant cen- tenary celebration, was beyond the ack in 1978, I was living horizon. The country’s mediocre in England and wondering literary culture exasperated Davies Bwhether to detach myself in 1960, when he was a judge for the from London’s literary circles, move Governor General’s Literary Awards. across the Atlantic and join my “I am out of love with Canada Canadian boyfriend. His persuasion these days, a country of stupid, tactics included mailing me novels ill-educated, timid, narrow-gutted intended as proof that this country’s pseudo-Scotchmen.” He questioned vast geography contained more than the honour of being described as trees and snow, and its intellectual “Canada’s leading man of letters.” landscape featured a culture in “Am I so?” he mused. “The distinc- which I might feel at home. tion is roughly that of the best rose- What was in those Jiffy envelopes grower at the North Pole, or the best that regularly arrived in Kentish architect of snow sculpture in Hell.” Town? Books by Margaret Atwood Davies began keeping a diary dur- (scary funny), Margaret Laurence ing his rather miserable childhood: it (angry), Alice Munro (mesmerizing), was a comfort, I suspect, to compose Mordecai Richler (intriguing) … and what he called “a thoroughly select- Robertson Davies. Davies was represented by his I never met Robertson Davies in person, but his ive and dishonest document, a novel in which I am most famous novels: The Deptford Trilogy. For a magnificent white mane, plummy voice and theat- always the hero.” He never felt heroic within his young Englishwoman raised in middle class priv- rical esprit were such CBC staples that I often felt as own close but fraught family. Born in 1913 in the ilege in the unfashionable north of England, the if I had. He was invariably described as “Canada’s small Ontario town of Thamesville, Davies was small-town world of Dunstan Ramsay was strangely foremost man of letters,” “a cultural icon,” “a liter- the third son of a tempestuous Welsh immigrant, familiar. At the same time, Davies’s delight in magic ary titan.” who edited the local paper, and his chilly wife. After and Jungian archetypes suggested a more interest- But gradually my enthusiasm began to flag, spending his early years in the bleak Ottawa Valley ing, complex image of Canadians than the prag- as late 20th-century Canada left Davies behind. town of Renfrew, the young Rob (as he was known) matic do-gooder stereotype common in Britain. His world seemed incurably Anglo-Canadian, attended Upper Canada College. There he shrugged Published between 1970 and 1975, Fifth drenched in colonial nostalgia and patrician off his oppressive family influences and began to Business, The Manticore and World of Wonders are accents. It was rapidly disappearing into the mists cultivate the persona that came to fit him like a serious novels, imbued with the Victorian moral- of time, and I was happy to wave it goodbye. By well-tailored overcoat—that of a gifted and stylish ity I knew well from my A-level course in EngLit. the later novels, such as What’s Bred in the Bone, thespian. After studying at Queen’s University, he The rich, layered trilogy reminded me of works by Davies’s female characters seemed two dimen- achieved the goal of many young men in his gen- some of my favourite British male authors at the sional and the settings had a dusty atmosphere. eration: admission to Oxford University. time, such as John Fowles. This was reassuring to a There were still strange grotesqueries and magnifi- Superficially, Davies became the quintessential wobbly immigrant. I let myself be persuaded. I got cent narrators, but I had moved on to a new genera- Oxford man, with a charming manner, elegant on a plane, flew into Montreal (no direct flights to tion of Canadian novelists. Few of these writers felt dinner jacket (often worn with a monocle), and Ottawa back then) and have been here ever since. a lingering affection for Olde Ontario: they explored a battery of Latin tags and Shakespearian refer- After my arrival, as I morphed into a Canadian, a more complex, diverse and self-assured society. ences. According to his biographer Judith Skelton I read each Davies novel as it appeared. There Their dialogue was now littered with American Grant, he was “a young Celt in imperial Rome … would be five more, along with volumes of essays slang rather than the Anglicisms that characterized determined to demonstrate his independence and criticism, before the author’s death in 1995. Davies’s novels. Davies seemed to have passed his and his worth.” He became a star of the university sell-by date. drama society and a popular member of Balliol Charlotte Gray is an adjunct research professor of After reading A Celtic Temperament, selections College. However, beneath the debonair exterior history at Carleton University. Her tenth non-fiction from his diaries of 1959 to 1963 edited by Jennifer lurked depression and insecurity, exacerbated book, The Promise of Canada, will appear in the Surridge and Ramsay Derry, I have developed a by an unhappy love affair. By the end of his first fall. new respect for Robertson Davies. Written a decade year, Davies was in an emotional tailspin. Only

6 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada professional counselling got him back on track and crumble. Fighting off a sense of humiliation, he unbuilt post-graduate residential college at the enabled him to finish his degree in 1938 and take a retreated into the sanctuary of his family and the University of Toronto to be modelled on Oxford’s job with the Old Vic theatre. walks in the woods that he always found restorative. All Souls College and funded by the Massey family Davies returned to Canada in 1940, newly mar- There were plenty of distractions—the lectures he foundation? ried to Brenda Newbold, an Australian who had also was giving at the University of Toronto, a recently Such a role represented to Davies both academic worked at the Old Vic. They would spend much of published volume of his critical writing and an credibility and an escape from Peterborough. He the next two decades living in Peterborough, where interesting offer of a new role. But he yearned to accepted with alacrity, encouraged by a positive Davies edited the Peterborough Examiner, which fulfil literary ambitions, remaining “obstinately a horoscope (Davies treasured such omens). Such his family owned. At the same time, he wrote plays, writer … The novel 5B [Fifth Business] continues to a college would be uncharacteristic of Canada, essays and newspaper columns, and he and Brenda shape itself in my mind,” he noted in late 1961. Two “but perhaps some changes can be made in some started a family. (Jennifer Surridge, co-editor of years later, he almost despaired: “I feel my writing aspects of Canada, or rather, some aspects of this volume, is the second of three daughters.) trivial and my life a mess,” he wrote after a year Canada revealed of which Canada is not yet con- The Davies marriage was a mutually supportive, of accomplishment in other fields. He continued scious.” Soon the diarist was immersed in every intellectually stimulating and deeply affectionate to jot down ideas for “a Thamesville novel.” But it detail of the college, from its dishes to its rituals. partnership. But by 1959, as Davies recorded in his would be another seven years before Thamesville “Why do I have to discuss the teapots?” he muttered diaries, the charms of Peterborough had worn very had been transformed into Deptford, and Fifth a few months later. thin. “My life is so provincial!” he moaned that year, Business was finally published. It would be a further The Masseys would prove exasperating patrons while worrying that the small Ontario town was two before The Manticore, the second volume of The in this endeavour, alternating between financial stultifying for a woman as talented as his wife. Deptford Trilogy, won a Governor General’s Literary magnanimity and pettiness. Davies also had to Davies was “a neurotic diarist and hoarder of Award, giving Davies the laurels he craved. In the deal with Ron Thom, the brilliant but disorgan- experience,” as he put it: he kept a personal daily years covered here, the façade of macho confidence ized architect of the college. Their negotiations diary, a “big” diary for longer entries, various obscured creative frustration. are described with delicious irony. In March, they travel diaries, and a theatre diary discussed the placement of the in which he recorded his assess- cornerstone. “Thom wanted it ment of the many plays and enter- The Masseys would prove exasperating on the ground: I pointed out the tainments he saw (36 in 1963). impropriety of placing it where This wonderfully edited selection patrons … Davies also had to deal dogs could pee on it.” As the col- of extracts from the diaries, and lege took shape, so did the new from letters written to Brenda with Ron Thom, the brilliant but master’s determination that learn- when they were apart, reveal him disorganized architect of the college. ing and scholarship must be its as an acute observer, a hypochon- foundation. “The Masseys waffle a driac and a constant worrier about little about grand dinners in Hall, his professional life. He noted down his dreams, The second theme in A Celtic Temperament is wine cellars, and kindred Oxonian pomps which his moods, his attempts at self-analysis and the Robertson Davies’s public role, as a champion of are the ornaments and not the necessities of what intimate details of his married life. (Lovemaking the arts in this “strangely obtuse country.” they want.” is recorded as “h.t.d.,” an acronym that is never When he and Brenda arrived in Canada in the The college finally opened on October 4, 1963, deciphered for the reader. My mind was sent racing early years of the Second World War, the cultural with all the theatrical sense of occasion that the to the kind of Latin phrases I suspect Davies would activities on offer were few and bleak. British artis- master always enjoyed. The following morning have relished.) tic influences were waning, and American cultural Robertson Davies “woke with a feeling of peace and Most of all, the diaries’ mix of mundane and domination threatened. Responding to these pres- accomplishment.” For the next 18 years, he oversaw momentous events reveal a self-critical man with a sures, the government established a royal commis- an educational establishment that, while remaining great gift for enjoying life. We learn how frequently sion into the state of the arts in Canada in 1949, close to its Oxford model, evolved into a sturdy self- he dyed his beard (sooty black in these years) and headed by Vincent Massey, the future governor governing Canadian institution with both quirky we see his deep commitment to raising intellectual general. Davies himself submitted a memorandum traditions and high academic standards. standards in this country. We meet an anglophile on the pathetic state of live theatre in Canada. Two A Celtic Temperament is the best kind of pub- who has rejected most of the worst traits of his years later, the Massey Commission reported “good lished diary. It takes readers back into a different British contemporaries, including their sexism and will alone can do little for a starving plant.” Ottawa era, reminding us of forgotten achievements. It tells snobbery. Writing of a British play that is about was dragooned into financial support for the arts. the compelling story of the inner doubts and frus- to transfer to Broadway, he mused: “Wonder how By the end of the 1950s, Canada had the Canada trations of an outwardly self-confident, larger-than- it will go in the U.S., for the most-used joke is the Council for the Arts, a National Library, and a life personality. The vocabulary and the speech English snob one that there is something inescap- newly invigorated National Gallery and National rhythms may be mid-century British, but the wit ably common and funny about being a dentist. Film Board. Thanks to private initiative, it also and good humour are timeless. Americans do not feel this: the dream of every third had the Stratford Festival, with Tyrone Guthrie (he This volume made me want more of the author Jew is to get out of old iron and into old ivory.” of the dirty towels) as its founding artistic director. and diarist. I dusted off those romantic copies of Two themes dominate the five years covered Robertson Davies was immediately appointed The Deptford Trilogy. I speculated how much had by these selections. The first is Davies’s private to the board and regularly attended the quar- been pruned from the diaries in Surridge and determination to produce an important literary terly board meetings. He was an important pro- Derry’s editing process—as a biographer, I know work, even as he flails between genres and takes on moter of the festival, not least in the enthusiastic how much is cut as one “shapes” a story. I look major administrative commitments. The volume reviews of its productions that he wrote for Saturday forward to the digital release of Robertson Davies’s opens with Davies’s attempt to adapt his early novel Night magazine. Thanks to his immersion in the complete diaries, edited by Professor James Leaven of Malice into a play, with the help of the Shakespeare canon while at Oxford and his know- Neufeld, starting in 2017. Until then, A Celtic English theatre giant Tyrone Guthrie. He leaves his ledge of London productions, he communicated a Temperament gives us a fascinating foretaste of the family in Canada in the summer of 1959 to travel well-informed delight in watching the festival suc- pleasures to come. to Northern Ireland, where he spends three weeks cessfully establish itself. The opinions in his diary working on the script with “Tony” in the Guthries’ are harsher. He described the 1962 Macbeth as “a house Annagh-ma-Kerrig. Guthrie is helpful and misconceived production” and actress Kate Reid as the writing goes well, but in letters home Davies “a bad actress; how does she get away with it?” notes his horror at “a discomfort … of a special Throughout these years, Davies was much in quality: the all-embracing damp cold is a big part demand as a public speaker, literary adjudicator of it; so is the oniony, very greasy food; so is the and columnist. The most dramatic change in his dirt—never a clean towel, and my napkin stinks and circumstances came in December 1960, when is grey. Judy [Guthrie] grabs any fat off my plate that he received an offer from Vincent Massey, now I don’t eat and consumes it with relish.” the most distinguished man in English-speaking The play would prove a flop on Broadway, and Canada. Would Robertson Davies consider becom- Davies’s ambitions as a playwright would slowly ing the first master of Massey College—the as-yet

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 7 a national festival of politics, art and ideas

Toronto Winnipeg April 7 to 10 May 12 to 15

2016 theme:

The 21st century has brought unprecedented change when it comes Our New to personal freedoms. What were once distinct, assigned roles Tribalism are inhabited more freely. Many greet this fl uidity — whether it be cultural, sexual or political — with open arms. Others continue to seek fi rm identities, clinging to the tribes they most identify with now more than ever. What does this mean for our communities here in Canada, and for the world?

Visit spurfestival.ca for details on our spring festivals in Winnipeg and Toronto. Fall festivals to come!

Spur Toronto features more than 50 speakers, Irshad Manji Hadani Ditmars Ben Rawlence Ratna Omidvar including

Rachel Giese Kevin O’Keefe Hamultal Dotan Jane Hilderman

Vincent Doyle Margret Kopala Éric Grenier

Tickets and passes on sale now Visit spurfestival.ca/toronto2016

8 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Don’t miss the opportunity Trans-Canada Human Migration for some serious fun at Spur Toronto on April 7–10. Join Saturday, April 9 and the Changing today’s most provocative 2:00 p.m. Demographics of thinkers and scholars, artists Hart House, Debates Room Canada and activists, journalists and 7 Hart House Circle entrepreneurs — from across Saturday, April 9 In what ways can the public become the country and beyond — to 12:00 noon more educated in transgender issues share ideas worth spurring Hart House, Debates Room and how should we respond to those 7 Hart House Circle into action. Here are just who are openly critical of gender a few of the scheduled transitions? How can cisgender As 25,000 refugees make their debates, conversations people begin to understand way to Canada and our population and performances: how transgender individuals growth continues to depend on feel internally? What are our immigration (which will be the expectations of beauty? How do less primary contributor to the country’s fortunate transgender people cope population growth by 2030), how do with having reduced access to the we ensure this country remains the Masculinity most expensive procedures, medical cultural mosaic we claim it is? Saturday, April 9 support and amenities? What can 5:00 p.m. governments do to improve this Canadians pride ourselves on our Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina Ave. process? And how can communities inclusion, yet this past year we’ve lend a helping hand? witnessed attacks on Muslims in The stoic father. The obedient son. Toronto and a federal election The fi nancial provider. The brutish Spur learns from Toronto’s that featured yelling matches over strongman. What does it mean to be transgender community and niqabs. What is the integration masculine in the 21st century and medical professionals about process like for newcomers? What how is that idea changing? the transformative journey that e ect do ethnic enclaves have on transgender individuals embark relationships between those who Has the rise of “Girl Power” on to fi nd their true selves and the come to this country and those who depreciated men? Has the birth of hardships they face along the way. are born in it? How can we improve new technologies le blue collar our immigration system to make a men — who made a living with their Join Pink Triangle Press supervising more accepting Canadian society? hands and strength — redundant? producer Kevin O’Keefe, transgender Who are today’s male role models? woman and physician Carys Join executive director of Global How do we examine masculinity Massarella, and transgender man Diversity Exchange Ratna Omidvar, through an aboriginal lens? and psychotherapist Hershel Russell. former president of the Centre for Immigration Policy Reform Margret Spur explores masculinity — our Kopala, and CBC’s David Common. understanding of gender distinctions and expectations placed on the shoulders of men in Canadian society — with author and journalist Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall, author Michael Reist, Chatelaine editor- at-large Rachel Giese, University of Toronto professor of psychology Jordan Peterson, and speaker and activist Je Perera.

FESTIVAL PARTNER NATIONAL SPONSORS GOVERNMENT FUNDERS

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada

Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

PERFORMANCE SPONSOR PROGRAMMING PARTNERS

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada

Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 9 Green Enigma Trying to make sense of current prospects for the environment. Andrew Heintzman

be tossed back and forth between Cleaner, Greener, Healthier: extreme pessimism and optimism. A Prescription for Stronger Seen from one angle, things have ­Canadian Environmental Laws never been worse: species are going and Policies extinct at an alarming rate, forests are David R. Boyd dwindling globally and greenhouse UBC Press gas emissions are continuing to soar 397 pages, hardcover past levels that we used to think ISBN 9780774830461 spelled likely planetary doom. And yet we have never been better positioned Green-Lite: to remedy these problems than we Complexity in Fifty Years of are today. In particular, the climate Canadian Environmental Policy, challenge—which once seemed to be Governance and Democracy insurmountable—is now looking less G. Bruce Doern, Graeme Auld and daunting as the costs of solar power Christopher Stoney decline precipitously and the dirtiest McGill-Queen’s University Press forms of energy—such as coal and 440 pages, softcover tar sands—are losing market share. ISBN 9780773545823 Could we be somewhere close to a tipping point? The Optimistic Environmentalist: The goings-on in the political Progressing Towards a Greener world only act to exaggerate this Future sense of gyrating from one extreme to David R. Boyd another. In a single year, Canada has ECW Press gone from a country governed by a 240 pages, softcover party that barely recognized climate ISBN 9781770412385 The other David Boyd, the one who wrote change is even a problem to one that has put it on Cleaner, Greener, Healthier: A Prescription for the front burner and made it a priority. And most Stronger Canadian Environmental Laws and Poli- Canadians live in provinces with clear carbon- avid is a very common first name, and cies, is not so upbeat. The first chapter, “A Neglected pricing systems and where governments are com- Boyd is a reasonably common last name, but Vital Issue,” is a litany of terrifying health risks mitted to real action. And then there is Alberta Dbut what is the chance of reviewing two that Canada’s lax environmental laws expose us to … Has there been any political transformation so different books about the environment by two dif- daily. The third sentence of the book kicks off on dramatic in the history of this country? I doubt ferent David R. Boyd’s, both of whom are environ- an appropriately doom-laden tone: “Canadians there has. mental lawyers living on the West Coast? Or at least are exposed to environmental hazards that cause And so in light of the facts, perhaps being that was the conclusion that I inevitably drew when cancer, impair the normal development of children, bipolar on the environmental question is the I read The Optimistic Environmentalist: Progress- interfere with respiratory, cardiovascular, repro- sanest and most logical position for a Canadian ing Towards a Greener Future followed by Cleaner, ductive, endocrine, immune, and nervous systems, environmentalist. At one pole is the alarmist, who Greener, Healthier: A Prescription for Stronger Can- and inflict damage on skin and organs.” And he is understands that things are truly not well and that adian Environmental Laws and Policies. just warming up. The rest of the chapter, and much our current course is not likely to fix it. At the other The first book, as the title suggests, is a paean of the book, continues to list example after example pole is the optimist, who understands that we have to the amazing progress we have made on the of alarming health risks that we are exposed to all the tools that we need and with some reasonable environment globally and the possibility of solv- daily, and the financial costs these impose on our readjustment we could fix it. The two poles play off ing our major environmental problems, even the healthcare system. one another: it is only in the depths of pessimism most difficult ones such as climate change, in our So imagine my surprise to find that this is in fact that one can get truly excited at the prospect that we lifetimes. While The Optimistic Environmentalist’s one and the same David R. Boyd. And while The might just save ourselves. And only one who imagi- David Boyd is quick to recognize that these fixes Optimistic Environmentalist is a book about global nes that it is possible that we could save ourselves are in no way inevitable, he also makes it clear environmental problems and Cleaner, Greener, would deeply despair at our failure to do so. that positive outcomes are tantalizingly within our Healthier is really about Canadian environmental If G. Bruce Doern, Graeme Auld and Christo- grasp. “The extent of the good news that I discov- policy, they do represent the bookends of the pos- pher Stoney, the authors of Green-Lite: Complexity ered while researching this book astonished me.” It sible emotional reactions to our current environ- in Fifty Years of Canadian Environmental Policy, is a message we do not hear much these days when mental situation, which runs from optimism and Governance and Democracy, can be charted on most of the media makes it sound as though doom even elation on one end to outright despair on the this spectrum from optimism to pessimism, they is pretty much inevitable. other. would fall somewhere between the centre and the But in truth, I am sympathetic to this strange pessimistic side of the ledger. The authors are three Andrew Heintzman is the CEO of InvestEco Capital. dialectic. Being an environmentalist today is to well-known academic commentators on environ-

10 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada mental issues. Their aim here is to survey Canadian that Canada’s economy was at risk of cyclonic shifts environmental legislation over the last 35 years that could cause economic pain. These cyclonic through four federal governments (Trudeau, Mul- shifts included things such as trade pressure and roney, Chrétien/Martin, Harper)—two Liberal, two commodity price volatility. This was a lesson we Conservative. They draw a range of conclusions, forget to learn, again and again it seems. And so the principal being that Canada’s record of environ- while the price of oil climbed, the Harper govern- mental progress has been somewhat lukewarm ment went all-in on oil. Innis could have warned throughout. Despite moments of progress—they it of the consequences of that decision, if it had mention in particular the Mulroney government’s wanted to listen. 1990 Green Plan, with Quebec environment min- For me the ultimate reason for optimism—and ister Lucien Bouchard playing an unlikely federal one that could unite these three books—is that hero of the environment—the overall story is one it is in our economic self-interest to solve our of backsliding, missed opportunities and confu- environmental problems. This connection is made sion. None of this is very new; most observers, even repeatedly—and persuasively—in Cleaner, Greener, relatively uninformed ones, would know and agree Healthier, where Boyd cites study after study show- that Canada’s actual progress on most environ- ing that investments in environmental policies mental issues is lukewarm at best. But the book have huge financial paybacks. For example, every does help to provide context for and explain some dollar invested in reducing diesel pollution saves of the root causes of our failure as a country to put as much as $28 in health costs, and regulations for- forward meaningful and effective environmental cing pollution reductions from power plants have a legislation. 25-times payback. The author cites dozens of such Doern, Auld and Stoney contend that compet- examples. ing pressures for environmental progress, often These instances may sound surprising, but it from economic demands and particularly as they is a general notion that we have known for some relate to resource extraction, have made achieving time. Although environmental regulations can environmental progress difficult in this country. cost certain industries in the short term, in the The formulation of sustainable development makes long term they are most often economically bene- the environment at best one leg of a three-legged ficial. Strangely this is not true just for the overall stool—the others being economic and social—and economy, but it is often true for the firms that are usually the weak leg at that. being regulated themselves. This strange phenom- But it strikes me that it is not just the environ- enon led to the groundbreaking work of Harvard ment that comes up short. We often create business professor Michael Porter in the 1990s unintended social and economic problems when and has been called the Porter hypothesis, which

we shortchange the environment. It is clear that states that environmental regulation can actually Matters. the Public Because the Harper government’s extraordinary coddling improve economic competitiveness. Porter arrived of the resource sector was ultimately more harmful at this position when he reviewed what happens to than helpful. Like loving parents who smother their individual firms after legislation is imposed upon own child, Harper went out of the way to coddle them. In case after case what happened was an the industry again and again by doing things such increase in profitability, which he attributes to what as curtailing scientific oversight, disembowelling he terms the “ingenuity effect.” When firms are Th e Graphite Club e Graphite Th environmental legislation, attacking environmental forced to innovate to reduce pollution and emis- non-governmental organizations and using his for- sions, they very often find new ways of operating eign policy effectively as a lobbying arm of the Can- that also have a positive impact on their bottom adian Association of Petroleum Producers. But the line. Porter’s research turned the relationship end result of all of that love was an industry that is between the environment and the economy on its in worse shape today than it has perhaps ever been head. Environmental regulation does not hurt the Join the Graphite Club, before: loathed internationally, uncompetitive and economy; it helps the economy! unready for low oil prices, unable to get its product One wonders, had the Harper government devoted to the long-term to market, bloated and overstretched, bleeding jobs actually imposed real regulations on the oil indus- sustainability of the LRC and dollars at an unprecedented rate. In the end, try, would the oil sands be in a better competitive the Harper government’s coddling was the worst position today? Of course, we will never know the and its elemental place in thing to happen to the Canadian oil industry. Other answer to the question, but one can only imagine Canadian life. sectors that were overlooked by the Harper govern- that would have resulted in investment to increase ment may have been praying that he would not get the efficiency of the projects that would have made around to helping them. the industry more competitive and would have Green-Lite perpetuates an assumption that made it easier for Canadian oil to get to markets. Membership bene ts environmental progress is in some ways opposed The lesson is that economics and the environ- to economic interests. And to be fair, in the context ment are intrinsically intertwined. You cannot get and details available at that the book’s authors are considering, which is ahead economically by ignoring the environment; the view of the politicians who set environmental it just does not operate that way. This is true even policy decisions, it is the case that it is very often of climate change. The groundbreaking work of reviewcanada.ca/ perceived that way. But this assumption should be Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist of graphite questioned, for it rarely squares with reality. This the World Bank, helped to further establish this is most obviously true (but not only true, as I will unexpected positive feedback between economic discuss in a moment) in the case of environmental realities and environmental effects of tackling cli- collapse. When a resource collapses, or when it mate change. To join the Graphite Club, becomes in some way environmentally unsustain- The economic argument for reducing pollu- please contact: able, it almost always comes at the cost of eco- tion is in my mind the winning one. People may nomic opportunity too. be inclined to ignore the environment if they feel Helen Walsh, President It is strange how often the economic impacts it will hurt their job prospects and their family’s Literary Review of Canada of environmental policies are overlooked. For a ­livelihoods; but when they know the opposite is [email protected] hundred years, political economists have warned true, the case for pollution goes away. The thought 416-944-1101 ext. 227 about the risks of the Canadian economy being that this idea might catch on is a real reason for overly reliant on resources. The acclaimed Harold optimism, one that might still save us from eco- Innis gave name to the staples thesis, which stated logical peril.

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 11 Coming up Every year, I return to Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage — an incredible collection of truths. What breadth of in the LRC vision, what profundity. The stories are utterly fresh, experi- menting with ever-wilder narrative structures. They turn corners you Retrofitted never sensed were there, but that feel fated once the outcomes play out. Toronto Alice Munro is the master of making the strange seem inevitable. Ray Conlogue Esi Edugyan, novelist Harley chronicles Ted Bishop What ISIS? Steven Zhou Ontario’s gerrymanders Charles Paul Hoffman A museum of the future Victor Rabinovitch Revolt of the telephone operators Sara Mojtehedzadeh Your brain on drugs Vera Tarman Red, felt patch Simon Black Healthcare TLC Keith Oatley Read Well 12 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Cracked Placing the Ford mayoralty in long-term perspective. Michael Booth

mayoralty race to seek treatment for cancer. Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable — There are explanations of Canadian govern- How I Tried to Help the World’s Most ance and political offices unnecessary for Notorious Mayor domestic readers. This seems a combination Mark Towhey and Johanna Schneller of the publisher’s wish to cash in on Ford’s Skyhorse Publishing infamy (fair enough) and a desire by Towhey 322 pages, hardcover to solicit political work in the upcoming U.S. ISBN 9781634500425 election. The latter purpose seems especially pertinent. There are subtle factual errors that The Only Average Guy: Inside the feel designed to portray Toronto as a mod- Uncommon World of Rob Ford erately dysfunctional blank slate waiting for John Filion Towhey to come in and set it straight through Random House the personal appeal of his populist boss. For 359 pages, hardcover example, the Toronto Islands are neither ISBN 9780345815996 human-made nor populated with “shanty homes”; the vast Exhibition Place facility, while underused, is hardly empty “347 days of t is one of the mixed blessings of our the year.” Few here in Canada would describe political culture that our memories tend The Globe and Mailas “left-wing” and it is Ito be rather short. Accomplishments and simple hubris for Towhey to claim that he failures of previous administrations are often for- Average Guy: Inside the Uncommon World of Rob personally made “Canadian labour relations his- gotten or misappropriated as the next lot takes over. Ford. The first is by Mark Towhey, a senior strategist tory” in renewing union contracts without labour This seems particularly true of municipal politics. and staffer in Ford’s mayoral office and 2010 elec- action in early 2012. Although every city council has long-serving mem- tion campaign (with jacket credit given to respected For readers wanting all the salacious details of bers, mayors tend to attract attention only when in film and television journalist Johanna Schneller); daily life with the Fords there is enough to satisfy— office. For all their notoriety, one hears little discus- the second by long-time Toronto city councillor and to confirm what many Torontonians assumed sion of Sam Sullivan (Vancouver), Mel Lastman and former journalist John Filion. to be true at the time. (The plural “Fords” refers to (Toronto), Sam Katz (Winnipeg) or Andy Wells (St. In discussing Uncontrollable I will refer to Rob the mayor, his older bother Doug and occa- John’s) after their departures. Polarizing figures Towhey alone as the narrator although Schneller sionally the rest of the Ford clan. Both books use they may have been, even national laughing stocks is rightly given credit on the cover. Towhey never the plural freely and interchangeably.) As Towhey occasionally, but once gone they are confined to claims to be a writer and Schneller captures his takes us through his own achievements he simul- the realms of pub trivia. voice perfectly, complete with profane expletives taneously realizes Ford’s disengagement in the Even in Toronto there is little talk of Canada’s in the first person narrative. The book clips along in day-to-day minutiae and broader policy debates most infamous chief magistrate these days, crisp clean language and mostly confines itself to of governance. All this was glaringly obvious in although he continues to serve as a city council- events Towhey witnessed first hand. The narra- Ford’s conduct as a councillor from 2000 to 2010. lor. It is as if the slow painful exit of Rob Ford from tive proceeds chronologically from Towhey’s first Little changed when he was mayor. Both Towhey the public stage has been relegated to some dark encounters with Ford while a campaign strategist in and Filion express frustration at Ford’s obsession corner of Toronto’s collective unconscious. He early 2010 through election victory, transition, the with one-on-one contact with constituents. As both has resumed his status as a local curiosity, filling early days of agenda implementing and the slow acknowledge, this is a highly useful skill for a local the (entirely appropriate) role of right-wing gadfly self-destruction of Rob Ford’s mayoralty, culminat- representative, which kept Ford elected three times to the current mayor and the other members of ing, for Towhey, in his extremely public dismissal as councillor and re-elected a fourth time in 2014 Toronto city council. in May 2013. despite his physical inability to campaign. But for a Today it is hard to fathom that less than two Rather than offering any stunning revelations, mayor of a city of nearly three million people with years ago North America and large parts of the Uncontrollable confirms missing portions of events a $14 billion budget, it was a destructive distraction world were transfixed by the tragicomic figure of alluded to in the press, suspected among inside from the demands of the job. Rob Ford and his publicly self-inflicted wounds. observers, or released in bits and pieces by the Towhey does credit Ford with some early suc- The latest two contributions to the considerable Toronto police service and provincial courts. The cesses in the immediate wake of his election vic- print content generated by the Ford saga are Mayor bulk of the book is Towhey’s description of his own tory, but blames a lack of focus and consequent Rob Ford: Uncontrollable — How I Tried to Help achievements at City Hall woven through with his absence of results later in his term on a combina- the World’s Most Notorious Mayor and The Only concerns and suspicions about Ford’s increasingly tion of factors: Ford family intrigue, questionable erratic and potentially illegal behaviour. figures occasionally popping up in Ford’s per- Michael Booth served as a policy advisor in the It becomes clear early on that Uncontrollable sonal life and, somewhat vindictively, other staff administration of Toronto mayor David Miller and is written for a U.S. audience who witnessed only in the mayor’s office. Singled out for particular is currently director of special projects for the LRC the international media spectacle commencing opprobrium are “The Night Shift”—a group of and production director for the LRC-affiliated Spur with the initial story of the so-called crack video Conservative operatives, friends and family from Festival. in May 2013 up to Ford’s departure from the 2014 patriarch Doug Ford Sr.’s brief time as an member

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 13 of the provincial parliament under Mike Harris. old guard or Miller’s predecessor Mel Lastman of city council (preparing the motion that reduced Members of this group would advise the Fords dur- being WASPy and dull. If Towhey’s main purpose Ford to a mostly ceremonial role in the administra- ing regular late-night phone calls that would daily is to convince us that he could have ushered in a tion, for example) to further his thesis. So the line change the mayor’s mind after a course of action new golden age for Toronto if only the Fords had between observer and participant becomes blurred had been implemented. Most jarring in Towhey’s listened to him, he fails to make his case. He seems as the book shifts back and forth from analysis to a telling is the author’s contempt for senior city staff more genuine when he tells us of his personal recounting of events and personal memories. (the eminently respectable and long suffering city struggles and concern for other staffers still strug- Despite the occasionally jarring changing of the manager Joe Pennachetti being a notable excep- gling with the aftermath of their time in the Ford narrative perspective, Filion’s position on council tion) and members of council. Towhey boasts of his administration. If Uncontrollable confirms that and his personal relationship with Ford permit him manipulations of staff and takes pride in lying to Rob Ford indeed was uncontrollable, the subtitle’s to share with us the view from the floor with an seemingly hapless allies to win council votes. Later assertion that Towhey tried to help him is less con- authenticity usually masked by quick sound bites as the political climate darkens, Towhey sees these vincing. In fairness, there is also very little evidence and edited scrums designed to spin or advance same allies as conspiring to betray the mayor’s to suggest Ford would or could accept that help. individual political agendas. In Toronto’s municipal office. Towhey’s attempts to portray himself as a Where Towhey gives us a behind-the-curtain system there are no political parties or formal blocs. noble staffer struggling to bring common sense to perspective on well-known events, John Filion—a The mayor is but one of 45 votes on council. By a dysfunctional and sclerotic municipal adminis- long-serving member of Toronto City Council— mid 2013 most members were in a deep quandary tration end up coming off as petty score settling. attempts to fill in much of the backstory of Ford. over a seemingly impossible governance situation. He asks for our sympathy or, at least, our under- Filion, who worked as a journalist prior to his pol- Filion, deservedly, takes credit for coming up with standing. That in itself is not unreasonable, given itical career, reaches out to Ford family members one of the few solutions available to the council. It the extremely difficult, even traumatic, working and past acquaintances to garner an understanding is also a credit to Filion’s skills as a writer, perhaps environment he was operating in, but at the same of the enigma that is Rob Ford. It is a worthwhile a tad rusty after 30 years in politics, that despite time he cannot seem to help alienating us with his endeavour. Ford’s portrayal in the media, within the multiple shifts between actor and observer he glib self-absolutions. City Hall and among both “Ford Nation” and the avoids in his work the trap of self-justification and This conflict comes through most clearly in so-called downtown elites more often than not aggrandizement that Towhey falls into. the relating of two now well-known events in the cascades to the one dimensional, even cartoonish. There is one common element in both books Ford downfall; a disturbing late-night phone call Filion reminds us that between the polarized images worth noting—the role of Rob Ford’s older brother from Ford to Towhey during a domestic conflict of the flawed but heroic tribune of the people and and self-appointed family patriarch Doug Ford. in the Ford home and Ford’s drunken escapades the drunken drug-addled oaf manipulated by crim- Both Towhey and Filion portray Doug as nothing on St. Patrick’s Day 2013. Towhey has taken much inals and shady ne’er-do-wells, there is a real person but a destructive influence on the younger Ford, criticism for his actions, or lack thereof, in response woefully ill prepared for the demands of his job. whether as a disruptive enabler in their youth or to the first of these. Guns and drugs in addition Filion starts with a story of an uncomfortable, on council in Filion’s work or as a power-grabbing, to past incidents and indiscretions are referred to friendless ten-year-old kid his mum invites over meddling usurper in Towhey’s book. Filion at least during the call. Ford’s children are in the house for dinner during Filion’s elementary school days. acknowledges what appears to be Doug Ford’s and are dragged into the dispute between Ford Was Rob Ford as a kid similar to this hapless boy? disappointment and concern for his brother when and his wife, Renata. Towhey tells us of his fear Filion thinks so. He wades through Ford family the drug consumption videos prove unquestion- that something far more serious than a verbal history and reports what he has been told by past ably real and when Rob Ford’s cancer is diagnosed argument may be taking place and claims to have (mostly estranged) friends, former colleagues of (although at one point he refers to Doug as “King of his hand on a second phone to dial 911. He does Ford patriarch Doug Sr. and more recent players the Crocodiles”). Towhey’s deep-seated, and appar- not make that call. For that decision, many have in the political rise and fall of the Fords (again the ently mutual, loathing of the elder Ford comes criticized Towhey. Nor can he offer any compel- interchangeable plural is much in use) including through his book in many vitriol-laden passages. ling explanation why no one calls the police, when former Toronto police chief now MPP Bill Blair At the end of The Only Average Guy, Filion gives Ford jumps into his car and drives off after being and Conservative political operative Nick Kouvalis, us a view from the one person who we never really transported home in a cab, drunk, at 4 a.m., at manager of the successful Ford 2010 mayoralty hear from in either book, Rob Ford himself. In the end of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Towhey, campaign. Many refuse to speak with Filion—par- an example of a council meeting in the spring of perhaps unintentionally, implies but never states ticularly members of the Ford family itself. Some 2015 when he was harshly criticized for missing a that he does not trust the police service, particularly tell Filion that Doug Ford has told them not to vote while attending a funeral and subsequently the local division serving Ford’s neighbourhood, to speak. Doug Ford himself initially refuses to speak a hockey game with his seven-year-old son, we hear protect Ford, as has often been rumoured, and is to him, although in typical Doug Ford style he ends of Councillor Ford’s shock at how his children are alluded to also in Filion’s book. up talking to Filion four times. told at school his dad will soon be eaten by worms. The fundamental frustration with Uncontrollable From these interviews, Filion provides a pic- Filion tells Ford at one point that people hate him is Towhey’s role in his own story. He claims at vari- ture of the Ford family’s belief in its own destiny too for his role on council. Ford replies “No. They ous points to be charmed by Ford’s skin-deep summed up with an oft-repeated Ford biblical dislike you John. They hate me. I don’t know why.” affability and proclaimed dedication to the “work- paraphrase, carved even on Doug Sr.’s tombstone: This is the most poignant part of the Filion’s book. ing guy” against the “elites” of the city, but is also “Many are called, few are chosen.” This single- The man-child resembling a ten-year-old boy who quite clear from the outset about his doubts about minded belief that any means justify the ends goes cannot understand why his only friend’s mum will Ford’s character, commitment to office, friends and a long way in explaining how Ford survived events not invite him to dinner any more. recreational habits. So why does he stay? Towhey and actions that would have ended any other polit- Where Towhey’s book smacks of score settling often refers to personal financial troubles and not ical career. Is Ford like the ten-year-old looking for under the guise of setting the record straight and wanting to forego a steady paycheque while mak- friends or the angry drunken lout who threatens justification for his own actions in unpredictable, ing clear his military dedication to duty, probity and attacks anyone who challenges his world view? perilous circumstances under extreme public scru- and adherence to the law. Yet, although he did not Early on, Filion agrees with addiction expert Gabor tiny, Filion uses his book to remind us, as is too actively abet Ford’s descent, he seems to have let Maté that the authentic Rob Ford is similar to the often forgotten when discussing public figures and it continue while taking considerable pleasure in young boy craving attention. Filion’s mission is to the unforgiveable sins we accuse them of commit- wielding power at City Hall. Did Ford dupe Towhey explain how this reconciles with the Ford witnessed ting, that for all the madness, infuriating obfusca- or did Towhey just enjoy exercising the power Ford in the public eye, and he executes much of it as the tion and dishonesty, whirlwind of inconceivable could not be bothered with? Readers are left to draw unseen reporter in Citizen Kane gathering different events and characters, allegations, accusations and their own conclusions. At the book’s end, Towhey versions and perspectives on Ford’s family, career paranoid hyperbole in the Ford story, at the centre attempts to claim a public policy legacy of the Ford and the seemingly endless stream of publicized of it all was a human being. A needy ten-year-old administration, but struggles to define it. The best events and revelations. boy and deeply flawed adult perhaps, but still he can come up with is: “Perhaps it is a new sense For the most part Filion achieves his goal. Still, someone facing possible death trying to be a good of what Toronto is and isn’t. Ford wasn’t old guard there are a few incongruities. He tries to be the dad. If this is what Filion wants us to take away from WASPy, dull. Neither is Toronto, not anymore.” dispassionate reporter and succeeds in drawing his book, he succeeds. This is an awkward and lazy conclusion to an information out of the interviewees he gains access No one yet knows how the Ford (or Fords’) story otherwise well-written book. Few would accuse to, but he is also part of the story itself. He uses will end, but in The Only Average Guy Filion pre- Ford’s immediate predecessor David Miller of being his interactions with Ford and his own actions on pares us for the next chapter.

14 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Be elemental to our future

The LRC turns 25 in 2016, which makes the LRC as old and wise as Athena—in magazine years.

We owe our survival through this period of turbulent media and publishing changes to Canadians like you, who believe that robust and respectful public debate is the cornerstone of a successful society.

As we launch into our anniversary celebrations next year, and build our strategic plan for the next 5, 10 and 25 years, we ask for your support. You are elemental to our ability to contribute thoughtful solutions by convening the best Canadian thinkers and writers, both in the pages of this magazine and at our events across the country.

Please consider making a donation today to our 25th anniversary campaign.

We aim to raise $250,000 to celebrate 25 years of the LRC’s brand of incisive and thoughtful writing on issues that matter to our communities, and to help us grow in the coming decades. We are $100,000 toward that goal already, thanks to the amazing generosity of donors who have contributed to our 25th Anniversary Campaign.

We hope you will join them. How can you help?

You can give monthly. As a monthly supporter, your contribution is convenient, automatic and effective. It’s a stable source of funding that allows the LRC to plan its work into the future. Please visit www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/literary-review-of-canada.

You can write a cheque now for a donation to the LRC. Mail it to 170 Bloor Street West, Suite 706, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1T9.

You can give over the phone. Please call Helen Walsh, Publisher, at 416-944-1101 ext. 227.

You can give securities or give Aeroplan points. The LRC is now able to also receive donations of securities, including shares, bonds and mutual funds. The donation of Aeroplan points helps us deliver national programming and build the LRC community across the country. For further information, please visit reviewcanada.ca/donate.

Your generosity is deeply appreciated. Tax receipts are issued for donations, and all donors are gratefully acknowledged on our website. Visit reviewcanada.ca/25-for-25.

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 15 Huntingtin

It’ll begin when my bald babies But the deflowering of my days are still clung to my breast, is more fascinating than I could have predicted — as I trace their soft veins each soft petal becoming crisp by night; with a trembling thumb, another to slap against a page, feeling for the skull to observe like a scientist, that will soon outgrow my palm. to fixate upon against a blank slate.

The spidery mutation Before I begin to crumble, sits and multiplies like algae, I must be nebulous — my chronic underwater weed like the bruises I’ve collected tucked hot beneath thick blood, as rites of passage — sparking silver, each lavender constellation relentlessly. art on tender flesh.

It was a gift from my father. In the dust before my wake The first I ever received — I have to inhale it all — before air burned my wet lungs, take shrapnel to the heart, before he knew he’d have a daughter let grime and then beauty soak my eyes, and the silver coin would fall on its tail. allow each reverberation to pound my chest.

It’s unorthodox knowing When my legs soften that I have two decades left — in match with my brain time is an abstract concept I want to remember fire, that sits on your tongue not doubt that I was too weak like the acrid taste of death, not doubt that I did not love the world until you become numb to its effects, as much as I did undeserving men. until you know no other taste. If all I leave my precious babies, But I do not fear dissolution — their golden hair thickened the melting of my stitches but breaths still sweet, into froth. are a lapful of words, then they must be plump, When the idea first flowered injected with being, it was haunting. so that their mother’s death It shot my eyes to pink may release its antonym. the year I turned fifteen and I discovered prayer served no purpose. I know this white marble will collapse — God is not my saviour. my temporary palace His won’t be the face I stare into won’t last half a century. when I fade to white. I need to know that it will be full and flow with gems when the landmine goes off.

A.J. Stainsby A.J. Stainsby is a student at Queen’s University studying English and Richard Greene is the author of four French literature. A.J. is currently books of poetry and has received working on a novel and a collec- E. Alex Pierce is the author of Vox the Governor General’s Literary tion of poetry. She is currently read- Humana, published by Brick Books in Award and the National Magazine Brian Henderson is the author of ing Johnny Panic and the Bible of 2011. After ten years teaching creative Award (Gold), both for poetry. His eleven collections of poetry, the latest Dreams and Crossing the Water, both writing at Cape Breton University, most recent collection is Dante’s of which is [OR] from Talonbooks. by Sylvia Plath. she returned to East Sable River, Nova House published by Véhicule Press Nerve Language (Pedlar Press, Scotia, to establish E. Alex Pierce in 2013. His book Graham Greene: 2007) was a finalist for the Governor Writing & Editing. She is senior edi- A Life in Letters (Knopf, 2007) General’s Award and Sharawadji tor for Boularderie Island Press and was widely praised in the interna- (Brick Books, 2011) was a finalist for the current writer-in-residence for tional press, as was Avant Garde the Canadian Authors Association the Shelburne County Arts Council Poet, English Genius: Edith Sitwell Award for Poetry. He is the former Mentorship Program. Alex is cur- (Hachette, 2011). He is now writ- director of WLU Press. Brian is rently reading Harry Thurston’s ing an authorized biography of the currently reading Cyclonopedia: Keeping Watch at the End of the novelist Graham Greene. He is direc- Complicity with Anonymous World, Anthony Doerr’s All the Light tor of the Master of Arts program in Materials by Reza Negarestani, The We Cannot See and Oliver Sacks’s the Field of Creative Writing at the Conquest of the Useless by Werner On the Move: A Life. More informa- University of Toronto. He has recently Herzog, What Animals Teach Us tion about Alex’s work is available at been reading George Elliott Clarke’s about Politics by Brian Massumi and www.ealexpierce.com. Traverse, Brecken Hancock’s Broom Unflattening by Nick Sousanis. Broom, Aisha Sasha John’s Thou, Jane Munro’s Blue Sonoma and Lisa Robertson’s Cinema of the Present.

16 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Hurricane Season The fetch of the wind

(after Louis MacNeice) Definition: Fetch — the distance wind travels over water before meeting an obstacle, like a shoreline or reef, and how it builds up a wave on the sea. A long Hurricane Bertha is giving up her ghost, fetch of the wind will produce larger and larger waves. and from the window of the Jumping Bean I watch the weather losing heart. My dark roast My mother travels over the fetch of the wind, eddies and curls towards me. and that guy’s cup of tea are all the caffeine On this day of the storm I feel her coming in curves and circles, see her shoulders they’ve sold this morning. These days, Harvey Road wet, from swimming. I hear her voice. She is moulding me, moving a message belongs to Tim Hortons, always gridlock into me that I can neither understand nor comprehend. My muscles in the drive-through where the taxi-men load feel her and I know she is somewhere near. up on crullers; inside, it’s RNC talk — chasing maggots high on OxyContin — I feel my feet kicking against her belly, or is it her feet and the boarding-house souls who come to nurse against mine — I want to slide out and away. one sweet coffee, then light a Players Plain But she holds me. outside the door. Everything used to get worse here, but now there is oil, and jobs that pay: Listen. You have to tell this story of your eye. Your eyes. “Just try to find yourself a carpenter!” You will not go blind. Wet asphalt is black, grey clouds are less grey. Listen, I say back. Let the sound carry you. Give voice. The rain is growing slack, the wind will veer a few points. Sadness itself seems faded. And we are at the bright green, glassy sea. A shape in the breakers dives Transparent among the empty tables and dives again. Hears me singing, high up and steady. Curls and goes under. I’m the ghost. The system’s been downgraded. * My mother, swimming. Free and so long dead. Years ago, I left these streets and their troubles, Arms breaking the surface — bend, up, over, the top-floor rented flats with single panes breathe — sure in the Australian crawl. Bend, of glass to hold the winds out, and clap-board up, over — dives. flaking more each year down to the deep stains of wood rained on and rotting. The harboured And we are in the green and glassy sea. self in a place it clings to — all my life I will see the shouldering hills, the Narrows, E. Alex Pierce the fished-out ocean, its greyness a grief that gathers beneath all that the heart knows. Always I will hold them in memory — the last men still jigging cod and squid, their years of waiting — for the fishery — for the return of things that strong hands did. * We can almost afford our discontents: False Essay the city painted in reds, yellows, greens, all old slums are listed with the agents It was then someone thought it might be possible for about a quarter million. Cuisine’s To have a declension of the one only possibly to die for in St. John’s. The cruise ships bask Sonared waiting for time to precipitate out inside the harbour. It’s all an answer No matter the excuses no one had been to a question our history didn’t ask I think interrogated but kelp’s when it seemed we could fail forever. Beached strewn bladders and blades Not sure how this is leading the wrack Richard Greene Of fossil shell schist aside we’ve always been Told a single line through time is best or Maybe fastest but I have my doubts overexposed By fog an ambush of chill silver To return to a previous moment might be Someone’s idea of a joke the book of poems Left out in the thunderstorm becomes What after the deluge fossilized Prehistoric sharks teeth some still Quite sharp speed is indeed Duration even if instantly What does duration mean anyhow When it is infinitely divisible Without getting smaller as you walk Toward her camera in very long Exposure you shed a stream of memories But everyone can stay calm the ocean Won’t want those shells those shell Casings of words back anyway or will it

Brian Henderson

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 17 Hungry and Angry Body size is the theme of Mona Awad’s powerful first novel. Brett Josef Grubisic

Awad traces a coming-of-age that goes awry. At ease in her flesh.” Their fraught relationship 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl Narrated from varying points of view, the stories ended by death, Liz carries forward her mother’s Mona Awad begin with high school circa the early 1990s. “When fury and self-loathing. Penguin We Went Against the Universe” and “Full Body” Having reached a weight plateau due to “pun- 212 pages, softcover feature discomfiting, darkly comic episodes set ishing concoctions of grain, bean curd, and ISBN 9780143194798 in “Misery Saga,” Ontario. Bitter suburban goths in sprout”), Liz (in “She’ll Do Anything”) feels her Catholic school kilts who wear their angst on their “once-soft edges … suddenly grown knife sharp.” sleeves, Liz and her friend Mel argue about which She marries Tom but their relationship is mutually have lost and gained and lost again a one is the bigger “whale” and fantasize about (and combative. Tom dislikes their suburban environ- “ total of 300 pounds, from prepubescence to later go through with) illicit and degrading sex ment and dreads their banal lifestyle. Awad depicts Imy present age of twenty- Tom as baffled and annoyed by six. My mother’s fluctuations Liz’s coldness, inwardness and were more vast and violent still. Liz pictures another version of her mother, bodily obsessions, and unaware For as long as I can remember, of how he contributes to her one of us was always either one she rarely saw: “Happy. At ease in her dilemmas. rapidly shrinking or rapidly Wearing a very tight cock- expanding.” These declarations flesh.” Their fraught relationship ended tail dress to a barbecue where belong to Mona Awad, whose by death, Liz carries forward her mother’s friends of her husband joke essay “The Shrinking Woman: about a fat woman who agreed How Fad Diets Conquer Our fury and self-loathing. to any sexual act in exchange for Dignity, Not Our Fat” recounted attention, Liz is beside herself in her long, arduous relation- fury. She is conscious of being ship with food, dieting and body size. Aside from with older men. As bored, sharp-tongued, miser- surrounded by clothing stores, ads and the judge- depicting the radical ups and downs of her and her able and erratic as any teen rebel, Liz has not quite ment of men, all of which remind her of the con- mother’s weight-loss experiments in Montreal and learned “the arts of starving [her]self” (but has demnation reserved for obese women—the figure Toronto, Awad’s essay, published in a 2005 issue ­discovered mirrors and self-evaluation: “I never she has been and fears becoming again. of Maisonneuve Magazine, pointed to a recon- look at my body if I can help it”). Instead, she fore- In Lady Oracle, Joan’s realizations about self, sideration of what we know about the motives and casts an adulthood that is glorious and fated: “Later social categories and womanhood are incisive and doctrines of Jenny Craig, Dr. Atkins, and company: on I’m going to be really fucking beautiful. I’m sobering. Despite them, however, the novel ends “The idea that a woman could never be safe from going to grow into that nose and develop an eating with her pondering “What’s next?” Her life is full of her flesh, even its ghost, is crucial to understanding disorder. I’ll be hungry and angry all my life but I’ll possibility. Awad’s heroine Liz is last glimpsed feel- why collective dieting is so successful. Thinness is also have a hell of a time.” As far as predictions go, ing “dangerously close to a knowledge” she believes discussed as a precarious condition, requiring eter- she is about half right. “could change everything.” In the final story she bat- nal vigilance, and fatness is a state of abject aliena- Temp jobs that follow a “useless degree in the tles with her sworn enemy—a slightly more skinny tion. Both turn your weight—whatever it is—into a humanities,” disastrous flings, growing cynicism, and obsessive doppelgänger—over a coveted piece position of weakness.” manic bouts of weight losses and gains, and the of equipment at her condo’s fitness club. Fit within Born in Montreal, Awad grew up in Mississauga repeated phrase “How do I look?” set the mood of an inch of her life but divorced, solitary, adrift and and is currently a doctoral candidate in Denver. “If That’s All There Is” and “The Girl I Hate,” which perpetually fearful of the “angry, hungry maw in With 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, a brilliant and describe her early twenties. Learning the categor- [her] that is fathoms deep,” Liz is far from successful. disturbing first novel composed of linked stories, izing ways of the world, she learns as well her place Although with self-regulation, sacrifice and a lot of she returns to the “abject alienation” she described in it. Hatred and contempt directed both inward rage she has grasped an elusive goal, her victory is in Maisonneuve. Like the essay, 13 Ways portrays and outward cloud her outlook. For a short while undoubtedly Pyrrhic. For the time being she has a “rapidly shrinking or rapidly expanding” pair of she takes to calling herself Beth. attained the ideal magazine-cover body but, just women who are also a daughter and mother with a As friendships subside, men and mother remain. over 30, she is also miserable, lost and lonely—crit- knotty relationship. In “My Mother’s Idea of Sexy,” Liz, having slimmed ically examining herself in mirrors and measuring Awad has chosen an epigraph taken from Lady down, visits her mother, now living in Seattle. Dis- herself against impossible standards. Oracle, Margaret Atwood’s 1976 novel. But in dainful of her mother’s weight, clothing choices Knowledge that can “change everything” is contrast to irrepressible Joan Foster, the occasion- and desperation, she nevertheless agrees to nights what sympathetic readers will wish for Liz and ally foolish, hapless and enraged protagonist of out, where her mother shows her off to colleagues the class of individuals like her. As Awad frames Atwood’s sharp-edged comedy, who had to lose with the subtlety of a pimp and basks vicariously Liz’s individuality and our entrenched cultural 45 kilos to claim an inheritance, Awad’s protagon- in the attention. Saying goodbye, her mother asks, norms, though, she does not nurture that hope. As ists some 40 years later are much darker and more “You’ll call when you get home?” Liz thinks, “‘Yes.’ long as our culture continues to promote a virtu- troubling. I won’t. Not for a long time.” The next story, “Fit4U,” ally unattainable female body type and stigmatize features a hungover Liz speaking to a woman “with those who fall short of it, Awad suggests that noth- Brett Josef Grubisic teaches English at the University hair and eye shadow out of John Waters” about ing can change or be fixed. of British Columbia. His novels include The Age of a dress her mother dropped off for dry cleaning That a writer of such skill and insight can arrive Cities (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2006) and This Location shortly before her death. Feeling her mother’s at that bleak conclusion is disheartening. Liz may of Unknown Possibilities (Now or Never Press, anger rising in her throat, Liz later pictures another be no more than ink on paper yet we yearn for her 2014). version of her mother, one she rarely saw: “Happy. to be granted happiness.

18 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Sex, Death and Tourism Two narrators tell intersecting stories in Farzana Doctor’s novel. Rashi Khilnani

tion jolts Ameera back into reality; she realizes what are you?” Similarly, soon after a group of tour- All Inclusive that salvation lies in the truth. Finding out who ists land in Huatulco, one approaches the Atlantis Farzana Doctor she is, both in terms of her history and sexuality, kiosk, but focuses on the only white person stand- Dundurn is imperative. She is forced to confront her career, ing behind it. 295 pages, softcover and to take a hard look at those surrounding her, Azeez’s portion of the story is mainly set in ISBN 9781459731813 including her colleagues, whose friendly faces Hamilton and Mumbai. Doctor seizes the oppor- might be hiding a saboteur. Another question that tunity to include brief but biting references to the has followed her for some time, the identity of her Air India bombing of 1985, when Flight 172 blew up he title of Farzana Doctor’s latest missing father, becomes increasingly pressing as off the coast of Ireland. It remains a sensitive topic novel refers to vacation packages at a the novel progresses. for many Indo-Canadians, who remember the hurt Tresort in the small, sul- when the Canadian government try Mexican town of Huatulco, seemed to view the crash as an but it could just as easily refer to Despite Ameera telling a tourist that she Indian tragedy and not a Canadian the novel itself. All Inclusive lives one although 280 of the 329 people up to its name: it encompasses hails from Hamilton, he continues to on board were Canadian citizens, erotic exploration, an anonymous predominantly of Indian origin. workplace saboteur, complicated press her, asking her a question she is One of the characters in the novel, family dynamics, the mystery of a loath to hear: “So what are you?” the Indian sister of a victim, can- lost love, international terrorism not understand why Canadian and facets of the supernatural. prime minister Brian Mulroney Despite mixing different elements that sometimes Azeez, the novel’s second narrator, takes us back offered condolences to the Indian government. feel out of tune with each other, it is a compelling to 1985, when he was a PhD student from India at The reader of All Inclusive could, however, easily read, taking the reader on a fast-paced journey Hamilton’s McMaster University. In many ways, he miss the serious subtext when wrapped up in a fast- through Mexico, Canada, India, up in the air and is the opposite of Ameera: focused, eager to please paced story about sexual exploration and finding into the afterlife. his family, sexually inexperienced, nerdy. A chance oneself, with captivating characters. Of these, Azeez The book consists of two parallel storylines that encounter changes his life and forces him to grow is particularly delightful: he is intelligent, sensitive, intersect at certain points. One storyline takes us beyond the limited future he has planned. vulnerable and hilarious, whether he means to back to the time of the Air India bombing 30 years The relationship between Azeez and Ameera be or not. As critical of stereotypes as Doctor is, it ago. We are guided by two narrators, who, we soon becomes apparent early on: he is her father. seems that she is not above using them with Azeez, suspect, have more to do with each other than is Although he cares about her and watches over her an amiable character except in Doctor’s depiction initially apparent. in his own way, he is unable to become a tangible of his Indianness. She describes him as being short, We first meet Ameera, a hard-working tour guide presence in her life. Both of them need to come to skinny and suffering from dandruff, the stereotyp- at the Atlantis resort in Huatulco, who mixes well grips with it in order to find peace. ical, bumbling Indian nerd. Despite his personal with tourists, both in an official capacity and in the All Inclusive is a page turner, and Doctor is a growth through the novel, including encouraging bedroom. Bilingual and biracial, she is a sensual deliciously evocative writer. Her image of a post- another character to accept his transgender iden- Canadian without a stereotypically Canadian name, drink headache made my own eye twitch with tity, Doctor keeps Azeez comically conservative, who has left behind a hopeless relationship and an familiarity. Her lightness and humour coexist with which makes him less believable. When dealing uninspiring career in Toronto for Mexican warmth. serious social criticism of Canadian society, past with a character who drinks too much, he thinks to “Being far from home allowed me to travel outside and present. She describes the complexity of race himself, “Evil alcohol,” an exclamation that brought the borders I’d once drawn for myself,” she says. in modern Canada, one of the most multicultural Apu, the clichéd Indian convenience store worker Although she is a diligent worker, an anonymous countries in the world, in a way that few other from The Simpsons, to mind—an image that Indians complaint on the company’s website reaches her Canadian authors have attempted (Zadie Smith in and those of Indian origin have been fighting since boss in Canada and potentially derails her chances the United Kingdom comes to mind). he first appeared on television screens in 1990. of an upcoming promotion. She is accused of being Aside from being an author, Doctor is a psycho- Occasionally, Doctor’s emphasis on race feels “sexually inappropriate with Atlantis customers,” an therapist and is prominent in the LGBTQ writers’ unnecessary and tiresome, for instance when a allegation that leaves her indignant, even defensive, scene. Her other novels, including Six Metres of friend tells Ameera “That colour is perfect for you never mind that her swinging nights with visiting Pavement, which won the Lambda Literary Award against your brown skin.” Hearing repeated refer- couples could be construed as unprofessional. for Lesbian Fiction in 1992, also delve into charac- ences to race bothers Ameera and perhaps they are Ameera discusses her situation with a few of her ters of disparate racial, sexual and life backgrounds. meant to annoy the reader, too: they are a not-so- colleagues, but remains wary. Her freewheeling Ameera, and perhaps Doctor, as a woman of col- subtle criticism of society’s obsession with it—the ways and sexual exploration are now followed with our, is aware of herself as “the other.” For example, where-are-you-froms that point out our otherness, a cloud of suspicion: which of her partners reported she reminds us that nationality does not bring the even unintentionally. her? same privileges as race because it is invisible, and Azeez dies in the Air India bombing but his soul She came to Huatulco to escape but the accusa- what constitutes being a Canadian within Canada is not at rest. All Inclusive demands that we sus- is not immediately accepted overseas when your pend belief when the book slips into dealing with Rashi Khilnani is a freelance writer and a com- skin is not white. Despite Ameera telling a tourist the afterlife and the supernatural, but the novelist munications and strategy consultant based in that she hails from Hamilton, he continues to press makes it all worthwhile. Reading All Inclusive, like Toronto. her, asking her a question she is loath to hear: “So tourism, is a satisfying form of escape.

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 19 Cruelty at Mealtime Exploring the realities of factory farming for Canadians. Don LePan

The Canadian journey that Faruqi subsequently many of those who own or manage or work in these Project Animal Farm: embarks on includes stops at a conventional egg- animal processing operations. An Accidental Journey into the Secret World laying operation (“every microwave-sized cage Once one knows of the horrors, though, what of Farming and the Truth about Our Food would soon confine six or seven hens instead of the then? How do we bring them to an end? The eight Sonia Faruqi present four or five”); a pig processor (“the sows “producer solutions” Faruqi proposes (“large-scale Pegasus Books lay on their sides in their crates, their flesh burst- pastoral farms, natural breeds, gender diversity, 390 pages, hardcover ing out from between metal bars … They could not internal commitments, meaningful inspections, ISBN 9781605987989 walk a step”); a “free range” turkey farm (“I real- decisive lawmaking, accurate marketing, and ized that farmers today spend more time remov- organic strengthening”) all represent steps in the ing dead animals than caring for living ones”); a right direction, as do her consumer solutions—she hen the subject of animal cruelty broiler chicken oper- advises paying atten- comes up, Canadians instinctively ation (“toxic environ- We tend to reflexively tion to the information Wthink of pets or wild animals being ments … so automated on the label and not mistreated. The cows whose milk we take and who that people don’t even assume our agricultural to “grassy pictures on eventually become hamburger, the calves who are need to be present for the product packaging,” taken from their mothers and turned into veal, the supervision”), and the practices to be less cruel patronizing farmers’ birds whose eggs we eat and the birds who we turn kill floor of a meat- markets and, in general, into chicken nuggets and turkey burgers, the pigs processing plant (“as than those of most other casting “votes for cer- whose bellies are sliced up thinly for our frypans— [the employee] hung tain values over others” we try not to think of any of them. At some level we and gutted the animals, countries. Sonia Faruqi in choosing what to eat. know that if we did not eat them they would not be I noticed that at least a All good, so far as killed, but we would prefer not to take responsibil- third of them had inter- tells another story. it goes—but none of it ity for those deaths (currently just over 20 animals nal organs covered with goes nearly far enough. per capita per year). And most of us would like to oozing, pus-filled abscesses”). Her tour of Canadian Lawmakers need not only to recognize animals as think the animals are treated humanely, at least “farms” takes us to roughly halfway through the sentient beings and ban the most extreme meth- before they are sent to the slaughterhouse. Anyway, book; Faruqi then travels the world, and discovers ods of confinement (as Faruqi recommends); they we must be a lot better than the United States, right? that animals are treated in roughly the same way as need as well to require that farms follow humane No is the short answer. The period in which they are in Canada at a dairy operation in Vermont, specifications for every aspect of farm animals’ intensive farming has taken over world agricul- a chicken operation in Indonesia, a pig factory living conditions, as is now often done in Europe. ture—roughly, the past half century—coincides farm in Mexico and various facilities in California, Those of us who are not lawmakers need to speak with the period in which Canadians have shed Dubai, Malaysia and numerous other jurisdictions. up—write letters, call phone-in programs, talk to their humility; just as we now tend in so many Sometimes with even more cruelty, sometimes our friends—so as to change the culture among other areas to assume Canada to be the best in the with slightly less—the cruelly efficient principles politicians and members of the media (in all the world, so too we tend reflexively to assume our are precisely the same. endless discussions of the Transpacific Partnership agricultural practices to be less cruel than those of It is not all bad news. Faruqi tells us too of the trade agreement and Canadian producers, has any- most other countries. Sonia Faruqi’s Project Animal humane way in which cows are treated in Bali, of one addressed the impact the deal would have on Farm: An Accidental Journey into the Secret World of an equally humane small-scale farm in Vermont, the true producers—the animals themselves?). We Farming and the Truth about Our Food tells another and of Harley Farms near Keene, Ontario—a need to give more support to organizations work- story. Shockingly, Canadian agricultural practices model of responsible stewardship. But these are ing to improve the lives of farm animals. We need are grotesquely cruel not only at large operations of anything but typical. “The secret world of farming” to alter the way in which we educate young people: the sort that are often (and rightly) associated with is a world of virtually unrestricted cruelty (a telling we need to tell them that in the Canada of which horrific cruelty, but even at small-scale, organic detail: Canadian slaughter inspectors are paid by we are so proud, cows live their lives on concrete operations such as the dairy farm outside Toronto the slaughterhouse, not by the taxpayer). What is floors, in chains, and that chickens, packed tight in where Faruqi begins her journey: more, factory farming causes horrendous damage toxic sheds, never see the light of day. to the non-human environment (“a single factory If we are to continue eating animal products, Though every cow’s hindquarters were caked farm can generate as much waste as an entire city”). this is the least we can do if we are human beings with a crusty layer of excrement, she was Faruqi barely touches on the third part of the equa- with any sort of conscience. Beyond that, the better helpless to clean them. Her neck chain held tion—the health risks to humans that are associ- way forward is to do as so many in India do: choose her in place … Directly above her shoulders ated with our consumption of animal products. to be vegetarian or, even better, vegan. That meat dangled a device that [the farm owner] called (For that side of things, Michael Greger’s recently consumption in Japan and in China has increased a “shit trainer” … [a device] that punishes published How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Sci- as those countries have become richer is well docu- the cow underneath with a jolt of electricity entifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease is mented. Less well known is one of the many fas- whenever she does not position herself at perhaps the best guide.) cinating statistics Faruqi provides: in India, “meat precisely the stall-gutter boundary as she But what is to be done? First of all, Canadians consumption per capita has actually dropped in defecates. need to know what is going on. For that purpose, it the last two decades” to three kilos per person is hard to imagine a better overview than this. The annually, less than one 20th what the average North book is entirely fair-minded. (Far from being anti- American consumes. It has often been said that the Don LePan, founder of the publishing house business, Faruqi came to her investigation from truest moral test of humans’ moral progress is how Broadview Press, is the author of several academic a career in investment banking.) It is also highly we treat those weaker than ourselves—not least of books and of two novels—Animals (Esplanade readable, in large part because at every stage the all, the non-human animals with whom we share Books, 2009) and Rising Stories (Press Forward, factual information is personalized. Faruqi is telling the Earth. By that measure, Canada continues to 2015). her own story of discovery, as well as the stories of receive a failing grade.

20 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Beneath the Surface Diving into our obsession with dolphins. Andrew Westoll

Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins Susan Casey Doubleday Canada 302 pages, hardcover ISBN 9780385679404

hile a predisposition toward opti- mism is by no means a prerequisite Wfor involvement in the animal welfare movement, we can all agree that these are auspi- cious times for the cause. The last ten years have brought enormous change to the way western society thinks about and engages with species other than our own. Vegetarianism and veganism are wholly mainstream, science journals regularly trumpet the cognitive accomplishments of parrots and rats, trophy hunters post photos online at their peril, and a steady drip of damning evidence against factory farming continues to seep into the cultural water table. Last year, the National Institutes of beneath the surface of our moral consideration. To between the human and dolphin worlds. All told, Health finally retired the last of its chimpanzees to bastardize George Orwell, our ethical code toward Voices is very much equal to The Cove and Blackfish sanctuaries, effectively ending the practice of inva- animals in 2016 might be summed up as “Four legs in terms of its veracity and moral power. sive research on great apes worldwide. And a few good, two legs better, all fins bad.” It is clear, though, “Dolphins are enigmas,” says Casey, equal months earlier, a chimp named Tommy filed suit that if we are serious about mending our relation- parts saltwater savants and metaphysical marvels. against his owner in New York State Court. ship with the natural world, no real progress can Pioneering dolphin scientist Ken Norris put it more Meanwhile, interdisciplinary collaborations be made without coming to terms with the vast bluntly, calling the Delphinidae “the most mysteri- such as the Great Ape Project, the Nonhuman aquatic communities that range across more than ous of fauna on the planet.” To wit: They hunt in Rights Project and the 70 percent of the Earth’s teams, use tools and heal their wounds with super- Cambridge Declaration “Dolphins are surface. natural speed. They can distinguish between left on Consciousness pro- Filmmakers have and right, understand the difference between pres- vide the scholarly and enigmas,” equal parts recently made signifi- ence and absence, report whether they feel sure or legal ballast. The lat- cant headway on this unsure about answers to difficult questions, and ter, signed by many saltwater savants and count. With The Cove in they never sleep. They are talented mimics, some of the world’s leading 2009 and Blackfish four affix sea sponges to their beaks to protect them- neuroscientists in 2012, metaphysical marvels. years later, audiences selves as they forage the seafloor, and many have states that “the weight were roundly stupefied famously come to the rescue of drowning humans. of evidence indicates that humans are not unique and enraged by the revelations of how whales and They are self-aware, and they love to share. When in possessing the neurological substrates that gen- dolphins—among the most intelligent, emotional you give fresh food to a dolphin, that dolphin may erate consciousness.” and social creatures on the planet—are being return later with fresh food for you. So, some animals are conscious and they can exploited, abused and bludgeoned for profit. And Casey finds herself entranced by the dolphin’s litigate; these are indeed heady times. But while now, bestselling chronicler of the seas Susan Casey “beguiling mix of mystery and reality,” and in this there is much to celebrate, and the list goes on, adds her formidable voice to this growing chorus she is not alone. Dolphins have long been central the majority of these important gains have been with her new book, Voices in the Ocean: A Journey to the New Age. On Hawaii’s Big Island we meet reserved for the landlubbers, the cows and chick- into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins, the charming inhabitants of “Dolphinville,” a com- ens and pigs and primates in our immediate a compelling portrait of our fraught relationship munity of roughly 200 people who have given over vicinity, while marine creatures, those who live in with the Delphinidae, or “toothed whales,” through- their lives to communing with the megapods of the world’s oceans, continue to drift significantly out the ages. dolphins who ply the Kona coast. Their guru, an As with the ancient Minoans, whose culture ex-psychologist named Joan Ocean, leads daily Andrew Westoll is the author of The Riverbones: was awash with reverence for all things marine, the swims with the animals, facilitates dolphin-centred Stumbling after Eden in the Jungles of Suriname sea is Casey’s literary muse. Her previous books retreats at her home and has personally spent more (McClelland and Stewart, 2008) and The Chimps delved into the mysteries of great white sharks and than 20,000 hours in the water with the animals. of Fauna Sanctuary: A True Story of Resilience and rogue waves, and here, what begins with a brief but Ocean is such a dolphin aficionado that she once Recovery (HarperCollins, 2011), which won the “soul-shaking experience” swimming with spinner had a remora—the suckerfish that hitch rides on 2012 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Nonfiction. dolphins off Honolua builds into an impassioned, dolphins’ skin—stuck to her leg. On another swim, His debut novel, The Jungle South of the Mountain, globetrotting examination of the many enlighten- she witnessed five spinners give birth underwater will be published in fall 2016. ing, surprising and often gruesome intersections simultaneously.

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 21 Ocean and her fellows harbour some pretty which up to this point we hadn’t even seen. The dim Often, as Casey writes, “the animals orbit their tea- extreme beliefs about their dolphin neighbours: outlines of a someone began to appear.” cup pools as endlessly as lost satellites.” that they are capable of healing people, that they Lilly went on to found the Communication Headlining Casey’s international cast of dolphin are multidimensional beings, that their sonar acti- Research Institute (CRI), where dolphins would live activists is Ric O’Barry, the former dolphin trainer vates interplanetary messages that are encoded in with humans in specially designed buildings in an (he trained all five animals who played Flipper in our DNA. Ken Norris, concerned with the uncanny attempt to, in his words, “learn our language and the 1960s) and the central figure in the Academy ability of his study subjects to elicit emotional reac- ways.” Money rolled in from the National Science Award–winning documentary The Cove. Casey joins tions from humans, lamented such hippy-dippy Foundation, the Navy, the Department of Defense, O’Barry in Taiji, Japan, to take part in opening-day thinking: “I would rather have truth than mysti- NASA; federal bureaucrats saw potential implica- protests of the gruesome dolphin drive hunt, and cism,” he once wrote. But to reduce our seemingly tions for sonar development, mind control, even in the process airs even more of Taiji’s dirty laun- instinctive connection with dolphins to nothing communication with alien life. But in the 1960s, dry: the town is not just the site of indiscriminate more than a shared recognition of a higher intel- when Lilly started administering LSD to his dol- dolphin slaughter; it is also the epicentre of the live ligence that can be demonstrated in a lab does phins and regularly tripping with them, his career dolphin trade. “Taiji is a one-stop shopping destin- not quite pass muster, either. As Casey cautiously began to veer off the rails. Meanwhile, CRI’s experi- ation for anyone who would like to buy a dolphin, points out, “There is something singular about ments devolved into the provocative and absurd; and who is untroubled by the process of plucking them … Orangutans are wicked smart too, and you in one ten-week cohabitation study, a waitress that dolphin out of a pool of blood that contains the don’t find people gathering to teleport with them.” named Margaret Howe was stalked around the dead bodies of its entire family.” To recognize the ocean as a But the town’s split personality cosmos unto itself, and to become toward the marine world reaches aware of how the human and Dolphins are communicating with us its most awful expression—and the marine worlds are increas- from an alternate universe. “What if the book reaches its emotional ingly coming into dire conflict, nadir—when Casey visits the is to accept that there is at least nature spoke to us in music, and the bizarre Taiji Whale Museum, a a kernel of truth to the idea that place O’Barry calls “the Bates dolphins are communicating with dolphins were her chorus?” asks Casey. Motel for dolphins.” Inside, happy us from an alternate universe— ticket holders can ogle dolphin that in some ways, when they “What if we stopped talking, and joined and orca fetuses in formaldehyde, seek us out in the water they do buy dolphin plush toys and take become multidimensional beings, their harmony?” in a live dolphin show—all while if only metaphorically, if only for chowing down on snacks made of a moment. house 24 hours a day by a bottlenose named Peter fresh dolphin meat. Perhaps new age thinking relies too heavily on who had a constant erection. Astonishingly, Howe Imagine a circus selling elephant burgers, a such metaphors. But this does not mean that rich, eventually gave in to Peter’s lusty advances, but as zoo hawking giraffe-on-a-stick, an aquarium serv- instructive comparisons should be outlawed when Casey recounts, “Howe couldn’t keep pace with ing grilled calamari. The cognitive dissonance is attempting to articulate other forms of intelligence Peter’s appetites, despite incorporating hand jobs so stunning it seems like a bad joke. But for irony and consciousness. “We’re primates—I get it,” says into his daily routine.” you cannot beat the U.S. Navy, whose mid- and neuroscientist Lori Marino, a leading expert on The story of Lilly’s work on dolphins offers eerie low-frequency sonar—invented on the backs of the dolphin mind and the founder of the Kimmela parallels with experiments that were done on chim- countless dolphins killed in the Lilly-era sonar Center for Animal Advocacy. “But there is more panzees at about the same time. The similarities studies—has been proven to cause internal hem- than one way to be smart.” Marino and her col- between the species are unavoidable: their cogni- orrhaging, embolisms and mass beaching events leagues have discovered the dolphin neocortex is tive brilliance, the history of vivisection and abuse of wild whales and dolphins. As Casey writes, the unlike anything in the mammalian world, humans at our hands, our attempts to profit from them U.S. Navy is “an institution that is busily blasting included. “This is a brain that is built for speed,” scientifically and financially, the metaphysical [whales and dolphins] out of existence, using the says Marino. “The rate at which they process infor- questioning they engender in anyone lucky enough same technologies that we recruited them to help mation is astounding.” And the Delphinidae brain to witness them first-hand. Psychologist Robert us develop.” has three times as many von Economo neurons Yerkes, a contemporary of Lilly’s, once summar- One could argue that over the last decade west- (VENs) than humans do. Marino calls VENs the ized the critical importance of a social life to the ern culture has taken a number of significant steps “superstar neurons,” and they play key roles in chimpanzee by stating that “one chimpanzee is no to expand its moral sphere to include other species. empathizing, modulating emotions, joking with chimpanzee.” The same could be said of dolphins. As Casey writes: “researchers around the world are others and even love. “A solitary dolphin is like a floating oxymoron,” coming to the same conclusion—we are not the When you extrapolate from the findings that writes Casey, and the ravages of prolonged captivity only beings who matter—and new ideas are stir- a dolphin’s brain is essentially working at warp on these animals is a recurring theme in her report- ring about how the startling depth and breadth of speed, and that its emotional centre is three times ing. She visits the largest human-made dolphin other creatures morally obliges us to act humanely larger than a human’s, perhaps we can begin to enclosure in the world, Ocean World Adventure towards them.” conceptualize how a dolphin might indeed be Park in the Dominican Republic, and Marineland It makes sense that the great apes might come operating on a level that appears supernatural. in Ontario, where in 2012 whistleblowers drew first in this grand reshuffling of allegiances. But “There is some sort of cohesiveness in them that widespread public attention to alleged mistreat- if we are serious about transforming the human- I don’t think we get quite yet, but it accounts for a ment of the star attractions. Between the lines, we animal relationship on this planet, we must press lot of the behaviour that seems strange to us,” says are offered an excoriating history of marine parks, on beyond our closest evolutionary cousins. That Marino.” I think a lot of it comes down to emotional where despite the lip service paid to animal welfare is where the real work will be done. Philosopher attachment … a very strong sense in them that if and public education, dolphins and whales suffer Raymond Corbey once suggested that the great something happens to the group, it happens to you.” physical and psychological torment, even if their apes might serve “as go-betweens and mediators Along with a quick jaunt to Ireland to meet the caregivers perform their duties flawlessly. between humans and other animals, philosophic- “Most Loyal Animal on the Planet,” a bottlenose “Only now are we beginning to understand what ally, scientifically, and morally.” Perhaps, and hope- dolphin named Fungie who has lived in Dingle that word, together, means to a dolphin,” writes fully, this process is already underway. Harbour for more than 30 years, Casey’s fascinating Casey, and only recently have we understood the The Minoans, those dolphin-loving ancients, experiences with Joan Ocean at Dolphinville and consequences of denying the Delphinidae this believed in time as a circular construct. In such Lori Marino at Kimmela serve as a balm to most of togetherness. In captivity, the animals can develop a philosophy, old forms of knowledge might be the narrative in Voices, which necessarily dives into ulcers and heart problems and succumb to nor- revisited and made new again. This seems like a tall some very dark waters. We meet John Lilly, a neuro- mally non-lethal illnesses. They gnaw on the walls order for us, especially when images from the Taiji scientist whose experiments on the dolphin brain of their enclosures until their teeth are ground Whale Museum refuse to leave one’s neocortex. in the 1950s, while catastrophic for the animals, down; they slam themselves repeatedly against the But Casey, who has seen it all, remains optimis- produced an epiphany for the scientists: “We felt sides of their pens; they attack their fellow animals tic. “What if nature spoke to us in music, and the we were in the presence of Something or Someone, and human caregivers, occasionally killing them. dolphins were her chorus,” she writes. “What if we who was on the other side of a transparent barrier That is, unless they have completely given up hope. stopped talking, and joined their harmony?”

22 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Dramatis Personae The players in our historical drama. Mark Starowicz

able member of the Junker class, whose peers held ory, but whose stories vividly illuminate their times, History’s People: Personalities and the Past a low opinion of him. Neither did greatness or and it is in these portraits that some of the most Margaret MacMillan destiny appear to be woven into his character. He memorable elements in the book are to be found. House of Anansi was an indifferent student given to drinking and One would not expect, for example, to find 389 pages, hardcover gambling. “Throughout his life,” MacMillan writes, an admiring portrait of Elizabeth Simcoe, the ISBN 9781487000059 “Bismarck was a serious hypochondriac and was high-born wife of John Graves Simcoe, the first prone to prolonged fits of self-pity.” He evaded ­lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, in the same military service, yet claimed to have been a soldier volume as Babur, the first Mughal emperor of India. he first thing that strikes you about and, later in life, affected military prowess by wear- One associates Elizabeth Simcoe with needlepoint. Margaret MacMillan’s new book is the ing extravagant uniforms. Indeed, he is usually Yet the picture emerges of a pioneering woman who Tunusual selection of personalities she pro- portrayed in a silver helmet. leaves behind her four oldest children in the care of files. Her chapter headings are also unconventional: Accident cast him onto the stage of history. A relatives while she accompanies her husband to a “Hubris,” “Daring,” “Curiosity,” colony that elicits this warning to “Observers” and “Persuasion and What would have happened if Hitler her from one sentry: “There is but the Art of Leadership.” The lat- a sheet of brown paper between ter focuses on Franklin Delano had not been born? If Champlain had this place and hell.” Yet, although Roosevelt, Otto von Bismarck and she lived in a canvas house in a William Lyon Mackenzie King. not established the first lasting French mosquito-infested landscape, Her chapter on hubris more con- her writings and sketches project ventionally studies Hitler, Stalin, settlement in Canada? a sense of wonder and curiosity. Woodrow Wilson and—uncon- Near the tiny settlement of York— ventionally—Margaret Thatcher. Her chapter member of the Prussian parliament from his dis- today’s Toronto—she and her husband built a sum- that looks at curiosity is a refreshing portrait of trict fell ill, and Bismarck was elected to replace mer residence, a log cabin “on the plan of a Grecian women who have often been ignored by historians: him. He ultimately became Kaiser Wilhelm I’s Temple” with giant white pines as the columns. The Elizabeth Simcoe in colonial Canada, Fanny Parkes right-hand man, although they were observed to subway station Castle Frank is named after it, and in India and Edith Durham in Albania. have tempestuous arguments, accompanied with all that remains of it. One thing that unites these themes and person- histrionics such as weeping and slamming of doors. For all her husband’s vision of founding alities, big and small, is MacMillan’s anger at the “Bismarck would come down with crippling head- a bucolic piece of Britain in the wilderness, historical profession’s disdain for narrative history aches and fits of vomiting,” MacMillan writes, “and Elizabeth’s letters and diaries demonstrate a deep and the role of the individual. “Sadly,” she writes claim he was dying.” affection to the land and the people she finds. She in her introduction, “biographers themselves, as This is not to say that MacMillan reduces his- admired the aboriginal people she met, particularly well as historians who use biography, have too long tory to random chaos and personalities. The deep the Ojibway, whom she found courteous, spiritual been regarded with suspicion by much of the his- currents of economics, empires, class and war and noble like “figures painted by the Old Masters.” torical profession—dismissed as amateurs whose run through the narrative. But the achievement is She came to respect, and dine with, the legendary grasp on history is shaky.” to create a balance between the role of men and Iroquois leader Joseph Brant. She was thrilled to This book, which comprised the CBC Massey women and the tide of history. That has been a travel by canoe: “To see a Birch Canoe managed Lectures in the fall of 2015, is a welcome antidote hallmark of her body of work—such as Paris 1919: with that inexpressible ease & composure which is to this snobbery by a historian whose reputation Six Months that Changed the World and Nixon in the characteristic of an Indian is the prettiest sight is founded on her ability to balance the role of the China: The Week That Changed The World—that, to imaginable.” When she finally returned to England individual and the times that shape that individual. paraphrase Marx, men and women make history and Tory society, she was unhappy with what she We are not the same people, with the same values, but not in circumstances of their own choosing. saw: “the fields looked so cold, so damp, so cheer- with the same concepts of honour and morality, Germany would have been united had Bismarck less, so uncomfortable from want of our bright as the Romans or Victorians. “What was Russia not appeared on the scene, but it would likely not Canadian sun.” like in the eighteenth century,” she asks about have become the same Germany. So what is MacMillan striving for in this collec- Catherine the Great, “especially to a young woman “The study of individuals in the past,” she writes, tion of portraits? She does not follow the classic who came from a small German court? What values “also makes us aware of contingency and timing,” upstairs/downstairs formula of many narrative did she bring with her?” and she poses a number of questions: What would historians. Neither is it all history from below, and One of MacMillan’s most striking profiles is have happened if Hitler had not been born? If certainly not political or economic or military his- that of Otto von Bismarck, the man who effectively Babur had not conquered India? If Champlain had tory. Well, she answers that in her first sentence: united a myriad of quarrelsome principalities into not established the first lasting French settlement “I like to think of history as an untidy sprawling modern Germany. As I learned about him in his- in Canada? She does not go up those paths, but house.” This is Margaret MacMillan’s exploration of tory books, he was the Iron Chancellor, the man leaves us appreciative of the precarious balance that mansion, walking from this ballroom into that of indomitable will and certainty, who shaped not between characters and circumstances. The lives of bedroom, that library, leafing through the books. It only Germany but the history of Europe itself. He tens of millions can depend on the interplay. is filled with wonder, curiosity, surprise and medi- was all that, but he was not predestined to be that MacMillan, however, does something very tation about the people, the times they lived in and by the circumstances of his birth—an unremark- refreshing in this very readable and reflective book. the forces that shaped them. In the end, the theme She interweaves the lives of the Bismarcks, the that unites this highly readable journey through Mark Starowicz is a writer, filmmaker and the pro- Stalins and the Churchills with cameos of much time is Margaret MacMillan herself, a master histor- ducer of Canada: A People’s History. smaller figures who were in no way pivotal in hist- ian at the top of her game.

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 23 Due South Are Canada’s constitutional values becoming more American? Emmett Macfarlane

ment of key aspects of our con- Red, White and Kind of Blue? stitution, coupled with similar The Conservatives and the analyses of its American counter- Americanization of Canadian part, provide a rich and nuanced Constitutional Culture narrative that, even if divorced David Schneiderman from the book’s main argument, University of Toronto Press make the book stand out among 314 pages, softcover those that cover similar territory. ISBN 9781442629486 Second, Schneiderman is a very clear and accessible writer. In con- trast with many impenetrable aca- here are people for demic tomes, Red, White and Kind whom the threat of of Blue is an engaging read. With TAmericanization appar- its focus on contemporary political ently looms over the Canadian and legal issues, it should clearly collective consciousness like a serve the politically engaged, non- cultural guillotine. As a major academic reader as well as it does preoccupation of Canadian stud- scholars of constitutional law. ies of political culture, com- Despite these virtues, parisons of Canadian culture to Schneider­man’s main argument that of the United States seem regarding recent attempts to at once natural and myopic. As Americanize Canadian constitu- two of the most similar countries tional culture is not particularly in the world, it is not always clear convincing. Part of this stems whether the comparison allows from an under­specification of for important insights into some aspect of what Constitutional culture, as Schneiderman examines the American nature of the influences discussed. it means to be Canadian or instead obscures it it, has more to do with the dominant understand- In the case of the 2008 prorogation controversy, entirely. A significant subset of commentary on ings of norms and values that inform constitutional which saw the prime minister make a request to Americanization is alarmist: the influence of the law and politics, rather than structural innovations the governor general to prorogue Parliament after United States is viewed as an existential threat in per se. a proposed Liberal-NDP coalition, supported by the realm of public policy for protectionist lobby Framed this way, Red, White and Kind of Blue the Bloc Québécois, threatened to defeat his gov- groups such as the Council of Canadians, or is rou- examines what Schneiderman alleges are efforts ernment, Schneiderman contends that Harper tinely employed as a useful cudgel for politicians by former prime minister Stephen Harper and his sought a shift in Canada’s constitutional order by against opponents’ ideas. Conservative government to Americanize Canadian misrepresenting the legitimacy of coalitions in our In Red, White and Kind of Blue? The constitutional values and to disrupt traditional system and maintaining that no change of govern- Conservatives and the Americanization of Canadian practices and understandings of the constitution. ment could happen without an election. He cites Constitutional Culture, David Schneiderman makes The book includes a chapter for each of four signifi- a public opinion poll that found that 51 percent of a useful contribution to this literature by examin- cant instances of this purported American influ- Canadians incorrectly believe the prime minister is ing Americanization in the context of Canada’s ence: the 2008 prorogation controversy, the debate directly elected as proof of the pernicious effects of constitutional culture, which he defines rather over the Afghan detainee scandal (which led to the this argument. broadly as “the compendium of fundamental 2009 prorogation), the government’s failed efforts While it was emphatically irresponsible and values and norms that are represented in law, cus- to reform the Senate and changes to the Supreme factually incorrect for the Conservative govern- tom, and popular culture.” The U.S. influence on Court appointments process. Schneiderman is well ment and its supporters to imply coalitions are Canadian constitutionalism generally is enormous, placed to conduct this analysis. The University of somehow legally illegitimate in our parliamentary and includes institutional innovations within a Toronto law professor is a leading scholar of con- system, we must distinguish this concern in the Westminster parliamentary democracy such as stitutional culture, and has published work on a context of criticism about the political legitimacy federalism and judicial review of a constitution- variety of related topics, particularly the Charter of of a particular coalition. What no doubt appalled ally entrenched bill of rights, to name just two. Rights and Freedoms. many of Harper’s critics about the prorogation was There are two reasons this book is well worth that it succeeded as a political tactic: the governor Emmett Macfarlane is a professor of political reading. First, it constitutes an excellent contribu- general acceded to the request and the coalition science at the University of Waterloo. He is the tion to understanding not just Canada’s constitu- fell apart under attacks from the Conservatives. author of Governing from the Bench: The Supreme tional culture, but also its constitutional history and But this arguably has as much to do with the polit- Court of Canada and the Judicial Role (UBC Press, recent reform efforts. This includes the discussion ical unpopularity of the proposed coalition taking 2013) and the editor of the forthcoming book of constitutional culture in the first substantive power as it did arguments about constitutionality. Constitutional Amendment in Canada (University chapter as well as in sections throughout the book. If there had been sufficient political support for of Toronto Press, 2016). Schneiderman’s careful analysis of the develop- the coalition, the opposition parties were free to

24 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada defeat the government in a confidence vote once an adequate explanation of why Americanization is innovations in the Supreme Court appoint- Parliament resumed sitting. the pertinent issue. ments process with the confirmation process for There is no question that the notion that the If the book’s core argument suffers somewhat United States justices. Beginning in 2006, judicial prime minister is directly elected—and poor civic from insufficient specification of why certain ideas appointees to the Court appeared before a com- knowledge about the parliamentary system in are particularly American in nature, other aspects mittee of parliamentarians for a public interview. general, for that matter—has been influenced by of the analysis risk undermining it entirely. The Schneiderman repeatedly—and incorrectly—refers our proximity to, and the cultural dominance of, chapter on the Afghan detainee scandal is illustra- to the appointees as “nominees” and to the inter- American politics, but Schneiderman’s analysis tive. When it became known that the Canadian view process as “nomination hearings.” But, of of the 2008 affair simplifies the story by down- Forces transferred detainees to the Afghan National course, they were no such thing. There was no con- playing the legitimate politics at stake in favour of Army in whose hands they would face abuse and firmation vote by the committee or by Parliament. the constitutional element. The author’s nuance torture, pressure mounted on the government to The objective of the public interviews was to bring regarding other aspects of this debate mitigates release documents that would allegedly reveal in transparency, not to provide a check on the prime this problem, in part. For example, Schneiderman Canada knowingly violated article 12 of the Geneva minister’s authority to appoint judges. The author’s himself critiques the idea that the prime minister Convention governing the treatment of prisoners framing of this issue essentially conflates minor has undergone “presidentialization” as “improb- of war. reforms to the Canadian process with the American able only because the prime minister is already so The Conservative government responded to judicial confirmation process, and thus the concern much more powerful than the president.” He notes, demands in Parliament for the release of the docu- about Americanization here is unconvincing.­ however, that Harper’s leadership Schneiderman’s broader criti- style personalized his office in cisms of increased transparency a manner more consistent with a The U.S. influence on Canadian in appointments to the Supreme presidency via an obsession with Court—citing fears of politiciza- agenda setting and attempts to constitutionalism generally is enormous. tion—are equally problematic, exploit convention and practice. and connect to an ongoing debate Yet even this is difficult to separ- that tends to occur between ate from the similarly less-than-principled actions ments in part by citing the separation of powers and political scientists and some legal scholars about of Harper’s predecessors, including the 2003 pro- the executive’s responsibility to protect information the distinction between law and politics, includ- rogation under the Liberal government, which relating to national security. Schneiderman argues ing the degree to which it exists. There is ample came conveniently timed to delay the tabling of a that this constitutes a misrepresentation of the evidence, some of which the author himself cites, report on the brewing sponsorship scandal. More Canadian system, where the notion of a separation that who sits on the Court matters, and matters in importantly, it is not clear why such unscrupulous of powers is “largely a fiction” that “stubbornly per- part because of the inherently political nature of behaviour from politicians seeking to retain power sists” in Canadian constitutional parlance despite the Court’s work. The desire for transparency in the is particularly American, notwithstanding the pub- there being “only a veneer of separation between appointments process does not risk politicizing it lic’s underwhelming comprehension of how their the legislative and executive branches.” The appeal because the process is already inherently political, parliamentary system operates. to executive authority and a separation of powers if only by virtue of the Court’s work and the nature A similar problem of underspecification regard- was thus an attempt by the Conservatives to import of judicial decision making. This is not to sug- ing American influence crops up in Schneiderman’s American concepts to defend the indefensible. gest that increased parliamentary involvement in discussion of attempts to implement a senatorial Although there is little doubt that Parliament appointments does not risk partisanship (a distinct election process. The Conservative government’s enjoys the ultimate authority to compel the docu- concern), but given the way Schneiderman sets out failed attempts to achieve unilateral reform of the ments in this case, in my view Schneiderman is his critique of the reforms readers might conclude Senate—specifically by bringing in an advisory wrong to dismiss the relevance of a separation of that transparency is both undesirable and an espe- electoral process and senatorial term limits—risked powers in the Canadian constitution. His analysis cially American virtue, neither of which is true. introducing the problematic deadlock between discusses but then dismisses political scientist In the introductory chapter, Schneiderman Parliament’s two chambers that regularly occurs in Dennis Baker’s important work, which elaborates repeatedly assures his readers that Red, White and the U.S. Congress. Schneiderman makes a strong how the separation of powers functions in Canada’s Kind of Blue is not meant to be an anti-Harper case that the government’s proposals ignored the parliamentary tradition. The author cites constitu- polemic or an anti-American one. It becomes relationship between the House and the Senate tional scholar Peter Hogg’s argument that there is clear why the author felt the need to make such and failed to consider concomitant reform of the no separation of powers and contends that it could disclaimers after a few chapters. The book is not Senate’s basic powers and role. The Supreme Court be said this view was endorsed by the Supreme always successful at making it clear why certain ruled that this unilateral effort to reform the Senate Court. A review of the jurisprudence, however, events or reform efforts even constitute forms of was an impermissible attempt to alter the constitu- presents a much more robust affirmation of the Americanization, let alone why it should concern tional architecture without provincial consent, and separation of powers than Schneiderman’s discus- us if they did. Nevertheless, the book offers read- Schneiderman provides an excellent critique of its sion implies. ers much more than its main thesis. By providing decision. The Court has endorsed the idea that there is no a provocative discussion of contemporary issues While the reform’s failure to address other ele- strict separation of powers, but it has repeatedly and and analysis of constitutional reform, Red, White ments of the Senate was questionable, the author’s emphatically recognized the existence of a separa- and Kind of Blue is a worthy read. As for its core analysis then links this to Americanization mostly tion of powers as a defining feature of the functional argument, the book should succeed in spurring a by simply asserting it. In Schneiderman’s view, constitution, including in cases Schneiderman useful debate about Canada’s constitutional culture “the Harper government persistently mimics highly himself cites. Whereas the Supreme Court states an as well. problematic practices of U.S. constitutional govern- explicit separation of powers is not provided for by ance.” It is unclear why an effort to democratize the constitution’s text (although separate powers for the Senate is necessarily an American idea. For the executive are indeed listed in the Constitution Schneiderman, the debate over the Senate itself— Act, 1867, as Schneiderman acknowledges), it does Practise and its origins in the old Reform Party proposals note, as it did in the 2003 case Doucet-Boudreau v. for a triple-E senate—clearly speak to the American Nova Scotia, that “the functional separation among conversation experience. But as the author himself points out, the executive, legislative and judicial branches of an elected upper chamber and the risk of deadlock governance has frequently been noted.” And in that comes with it are a feature of the Australian sys- the 2004 case Newfoundland (Treasury Board) v. conservation. tem as well. Indeed, Schneiderman points out that N.A.P.E. the Court refers to the separation of powers Australia is second only to the United States in the as “a defining feature of our constitutional order.” LRC back issues extent to which deadlock is a trait of its bicameral- Moreover, the separation of powers was explicitly ism. He seems to concede this point when he later acknowledged by all sides of the detainee docu- and subscriptions writes that “irrespective of influence, it is apparent ments debate, including the speaker (at the time, a are available at that an elected Senate would result in a significant Liberal member of Parliament). change in Canadian constitutional culture.” This is In the final chapter, Schneiderman dramatic- www.reviewcanada.ca undoubtedly true, but the reader does not receive ally overstates the resemblance of minor Canadian

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 25 Queen’s Park Dad A former Ontario premier looks back at his years in office. Steve Paikin

McGuinty’s memoir is the big price many of those that he called the Conservative leader to thank Dalton McGuinty: Making a Difference in his vast family have paid, so that his career could him for running and to remind him of the valuable Dalton McGuinty take prominence. His long-suffering wife, Terri, experience he had just gained, even while losing. Dundurn never liked the harsh spotlight of a political life, and Harper, McGuinty tells us, was in no mood to speak. 240 pages, hardcover yet whatever plans she had for their lives together Then, after Harper got to the top of the mountain ISBN 9781459729575 always took a back seat to her husband’s career. in 2006, McGuinty writes that “Harper would Furthermore, some of the McGuinty siblings never allow me to forget that he was the prime would like to have gone further in politics minister and I was just a premier. That hierarchical y all objective criteria, Dalton James themselves, but did not or could not because distinction was always front and centre. As was his Patrick McGuinty Jr. enjoyed remarkable politics just could not accommodate more than partisanship. It had a stranglehold on him.” Belectoral success in Ontario politics. When one McGuinty star, and the star was always Dalton. Surprisingly, McGuinty reveals that his 59 Liberal members of the provincial parliament Yes, his brother David has been the member of relationship with one of his toughest opponents were going down to defeat in the 1990 general Parliament for Ottawa South since 2004, but he has mellowed over the intervening years. While election, McGuinty was the only new Liberal declined to run for the leadership of the federal the Tories tried to frame McGuinty as a not-ready- elected that night. Six years later, against all odds, Liberal Party despite kicking the tires twice. And for-prime-time loser during the 1999 campaign, he won the leadership of the Ontario Liberals, when the Liberals returned to power last October, McGuinty tells us that when he called Harris on despite coming fourth on the first ballot, and a the younger McGuinty did not make cabinet, election night to concede, the premier surprised worse fourth on the second. despite lobbying from his older brother. The book him with his comments. His first electoral confrontation with Premier is silent on this price paid by his siblings, but when “Hang in there,” the 22nd premier told the Mike Harris in 1999 ended in defeat, after the Dalton McGuinty appeared on The Agenda on TVO opposition leader. “I know what it’s like.” In fact, Progressive Conservatives’ ad campaign convinced to promote his book, I asked him how he repays Harris had also lost his first campaign as leader. most Ontarians that McGuinty was not up to the that debt to the rest of his family. “You can’t,” he After both men were out of public life, these former job. In fact, in his new memoir Making a Difference, said. “You’re just grateful.” foes actually got together for a beer, which was an McGuinty confirms what most people had already McGuinty became a skilled and disciplined unusual development for two men whose enmity suspected—he was not ready to be premier in 1999. campaigner, but he also got very lucky. In 2003, occasionally got very personal during their time Still, he captured enough of the total vote to voters were increasingly tired of the Conservatives’ together in politics. warrant getting a second chance. His 40 percent Common Sense Revolution. McGuinty’s softer Despite McGuinty’s electoral success, he did of the vote in a losing campaign was better than touch, promising to rebuild Ontario’s health and accumulate more and more barnacles during his Kathleen Wynne’s 38.6 percent or Bob Rae’s education services and bring labour peace to the 23 years in politics. By the time he left in 2013, 37.6 percent, both of which delivered majority province, was a welcome respite from nearly a his government was mired in numerous scandals, governments to those two leaders. decade of constant turmoil. some of which he tackles in the memoirs, others of But four years later, McGuinty was ready, and In 2007, the premier was tied in the polls with which he gives scant reference. Ontarians rewarded him with two consecutive his Progressive Conservative counterpart four The province’s air ambulance system— majorities and then a third victory that was just one months before election day. Then, PC leader John ORNGE—became the personal fiefdom of a rogue seat short of a majority. McGuinty became the first Tory (now the mayor of Toronto) unveiled a plan emergency room doctor. Patients died because of a Liberal premier in 128 years to win three straight to provide public funds to faith-based schools. lack of oversight. Efforts to digitize patients’ records elections. Not bad for someone who was not up to The polls then began to diverge as voters became through a new e-health agency always seemed to the job. disenchanted with what has often been a toxic fail, costing hundreds of millions of wasted dollars. Dalton McGuinty got into politics in 1990 only mix of politics, religion and education in Ontario. And, of course, the granddaddy of McGuinty’s because his father of the same name died while The Tories’ self-inflicted wound allowed McGuinty sins was his cancelling the contract for a gas-fired holding the provincial Liberal seat in Ottawa South. to win again, despite breaking his single-most electricity generation station in Mississauga in Early in his memoir, McGuinty shares the details discussed promise not to raise taxes. the dying days of the 2011 election campaign. of what must have been the worst night of his life, And in 2011, he won his third straight election McGuinty does not allow for the possibility that arriving at his parents’ home only to find his father when the Conservatives, now under Tim Hudak, people might have interpreted that as a last-ditch had collapsed on the back deck. Dalton Sr. would over-reached on wedge issues such as excoriating attempt to save seats in the western Greater Toronto die shortly thereafter in hospital at age 63. “foreign workers” and promoting chain gangs. Area. He confesses he should have been more on A big family conference followed—there were Before Justin Trudeau’s reprise of Sir Wilfrid top of that file, and should not have publicized the ten McGuinty children—and the decision was Laurier’s “sunny ways,” it was Dalton McGuinty who $40 million contract cancellation price tag, which made that Dalton Jr. should be the one to run to fill reminded Ontarians that they could do more if they became an enormous embarrassment when the his father’s vacant seat. After all, as he quipped to went “forward together.” Whether as a backbench auditor general later estimated the cost at $1 billion. his siblings, “We’ve already got a garage full of signs MPP, opposition leader, or premier, McGuinty just But McGuinty critics will be disappointed that with my name on them.” never came across as a vicious partisan. (Mind you, there is still no apology for the gas plant debacle— One personal theme that emerges from he left that dirty work to some of his colleagues, something Kathleen Wynne did eleven times on who never had a problem attacking Tories.) As a The Agenda despite not making the cancellation Steve Paikin is anchor of The Agenda with Steve result, McGuinty’s memoir is remarkably free from decision herself. Nor is there any reference to the Paikin on TVO. He is also chancellor of Laurentian settling old scores. He does allow that he never scrubbing of computer hard drives in the premier’s University in Sudbury. His biography on Ontario’s did have a good relationship with Stephen Harper, office, which took place after McGuinty’s departure, 18th premier, William Davis, will be published later despite repeated efforts to connect with him. When and which led to a police investigation. this year. Harper lost the 2004 election, McGuinty writes Naturally, Making a Difference is Dalton

26 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada McGuinty’s book and so he is entitled to tell the stations, who led the implementation of full- The negotiations were disastrous and hosannas story he wants. For a man who has lived much of day kindergarten despite its high price tag, who quickly turned into brickbats from the thousands his life in public, McGuinty is a relatively private hired thousands of new teachers to improve of teachers the premier had previously successfully person who drew indelible lines between his students’ educational experiences, who secured wooed. A former McGuinty insider whom I shall family and his political “friends.” So it is perhaps 1.8 million acres of Greenbelt in the Greater Golden leave unnamed read the book and concluded: not surprising that the book does not delve deeply Horseshoe, making it one of the largest and most “He should have broken a few more eggs so we into some issues about which the reader may have successful environmental initiatives in history, and could have learned more about what really goes on wanted more insight. who had the guts to potentially commit political behind the curtain. But Dalton is too nice a guy to But as a Queen’s Park watcher for more suicide by raising taxes when he swore he would go there.” than three decades, I have to confess some not to rebuild Ontario’s health and education What does come through in the end is, despite disappointment as to what was not in the book. systems, then raised them again after deciding to it all, McGuinty still believes in politics. It is clearly McGuinty was fortunate to have been surrounded harmonize the provincial and federal sales taxes. not an enterprise for the faint of heart, he adds, but by some top-notch advisors throughout his Some of his decisions were extraordinarily part of his reasoning for writing the book is to show premiership, but they barely make even cameo controversial. He stands by his Green Energy Act, young people the possibilities of politics. appearances in this memoir. For example, Gerald which the auditor general estimates gave Ontarians And you have to hand it to him. For an often Butts, his chief policy advisor and close confidant, an extra $37 billion in electricity costs from 2006 awkward, introverted guy from Ottawa, McGuinty whose influence in helping make Justin Trudeau to 2014. McGuinty can live with the criticisms grew in the job and eventually became “Premier prime minister cannot be overstated, rates barely because he is convinced in the long run, history will Dad.” He retired in 2013 as the sixth longest-serving a mention. The same applies to former principal vindicate his decision to “pick a lane” and double premier of Ontario ever, just two days shy of John secretary Jameson Steeve, the “keeper of the flame” down on green energy. Where he clearly erred, Robarts’s fifth-place finish. Perhaps, as the numbers in McGuinty’s premier’s office, and other key such as with the gas plant fiasco, McGuinty owns indicate, it was meant to be. McGuinty is the sixth operatives as well. None of them has complained up to it and takes responsibility for getting it wrong, longest-serving premier, from a family of twelve. He to me about the exclusion. But whatever influence, even if an outright apology remains elusive. was Ontario’s 24th premier, elected at age 48. advice or role they played in McGuinty’s success “I should have been on top of these issues much It is a small indication that even after 23 years in presumably remains between them and their sooner,” he writes. “It was a mistake for me to public life, Dalton McGuinty remains a remarkably former boss. delegate decisions to locate gas plants to the energy grounded, decent fellow who had a good run in Furthermore, McGuinty barely lets us in on experts … I take full responsibility for this failing politics, and tells some of that story well in his the grand debates that must have happened and I deeply regret this.” memoir. The McGuinty haters, who are always behind closed doors. How did he determine which In addition, I would have loved him to peel back very easy to find on social media, will have to ask ministers ended up in which cabinet portfolios? the curtain much more on the failed negotiations themselves how a politician they despise so much Who performed well for him and who disappointed with Ontario’s teacher unions. McGuinty always managed to hold the second-toughest political job him? Why did he fire two cabinet stalwarts, wanted to be known as the “education premier,” in the country for nine years and 111 days. Monte Kwinter and David Ramsay, neither of and much of his legacy in that sector is enviable. Despite one of the rockiest departures from whom is even mentioned in the book? And what But once the province’s fiscal capacity went south politics, they may have to acknowledge that Dalton about Michael Bryant, his attorney general, who during the Great Recession, McGuinty unveiled the James Patrick McGuinty Jr. was simply a better was at the centre of a tragic traffic fatality while government’s need to claw back many previously politician than they think, but also maybe too nice simultaneously fighting his own personal demons negotiated teacher benefits in a YouTube video. to write a more revealing memoir. of alcoholism? Both revelations, which occupied so much bandwidth when they became public, are dealt with in half a paragraph in McGuinty’s memoir. What was his relationship like with his successor? I know from my own reporting that the 24th and Subscribe! 25th premiers of Ontario get on just fine in public, 1 year (10 issues) *Rates including GST/HST by province but that many of Wynne’s allies think McGuinty Individuals Libraries and Individuals Libraries passed along a poisoned chalice to her. None of Institutions ($56 + tax) ($68 + tax) this is addressed in the book. Nor is McGuinty’s Canadian addresses* $56 + tax $68 + tax ON, NB, NL (13%) $63.28 $76.84 preference as to who might succeed him, other PE (14%) $63.84 $77.52 than to say he would have been content with either Outside Canada $86 $98 NS (15%) $64.40 $78.20 Wynne or Sandra Pupatello, the two candidates on Prices include shipping and postage. Rest of Canada (5%) $58.80 $71.40 the final ballot—although I suppose we can forgive him for that one. It is rare for departing leaders to express a preference on succession. Name Suite/Apt. Similarly, we do not learn anything about why McGuinty chose David Livingston, the highly Street City regarded head of Infrastructure Ontario, to be his Province or State Country chief of staff during his final mandate. Those were minority parliament years and having a skilled, Postal/Zip Code E-mail political veteran as chief of staff surely ought to have been a priority. Instead, McGuinty chose Telephone Fax Livingston, an able public servant with experience NH1603 in the banking sector, but someone with political Please bill me! My cheque (payable to the Literary Review of Canada) is enclosed. antennae that just, to borrow an expression, were Charge my Visa or MasterCard. not up to the job. Card number Expiry It is probably no coincidence that McGuinty’s biggest political headaches came after the Signature departure of some of his experienced political hands, who were replaced by those with no history Fax or mail completed form to Literary Review of Canada, PO Box 8, Station K of managing a minority parliament. Toronto on m4p 2g1 • fax: 1-800-635-5255 • tel: 416-932-5081 These criticisms point to the fact that I wish email: [email protected] the book were longer. At 240 pages, the memoir To subscribe online, visit www.reviewcanada.ca/sub2016. is a relatively brisk recitation of the McGuinty If you do not wish to receive correspondence from the LRC or other organizations years, which were extremely consequential. It was unless it pertains directly to your subscription, please check here this premier who can take credit for closing all of the province’s coal-fired electricity-generating

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 27 The 2015–16 season THE PRESENTS

Girl Power: The Rising Economic Potential of Women Sally Armstrong

Despite certain headlines, the future is bright for women, globally: this year, women cast their fi rst ballots in Saudi Arabia and India passed legislation addressing sexual assault. At home, we achieved a federal cabinet with gender parity and Alberta sent the highest number of women to public offi ce in Canadian history. Sally Armstrong details an international realization of the vast economic and fi nancial benefi ts that come with bringing women to the table. She claims this fi nancial recognition is coupled with a gradual change in mindset: economies and countries are beginning to see March 1 | 7 p.m. women as equal players, spearheaded by individuals with immense personal will—whether Hart House it is Pakistan’s Malala, who faced off against the Taliban in her fi ght for female education, or Kenya’s Milly, who demanded her government protect her and others from sexual assault. A week before International Women’s Day, the LRC invites Sally Armstrong to discuss where change is happening internationally, who is leading that change and what continues to stand in the way of women.

Tickets are FREE for subscribers, $10 for the general public and $5 for students. Special subscription rate available at $49/year including a ticket to this event and subscriber access to future events in the series.

Reserve your tickets at reviewcanada.ca/events

Human Rights in Canada A History

Dominique Clément

Is there such a thing as a Canadian rights culture? There are virtually no limits to how people employ rights-talk today, from the most profound violations of individual freedom to the mundane realities of daily life. This book is both a history of human rights in Canada and an attempt to better understand our rights culture.

240 pages | 6 x 9 | 978-1-77112-163-7 Laurier Studies in Political Philosophy series | paper | $24.99

“Anyone interested in human rights in Canada should read this engaging book.” – Rhoda Howard-Hassmann, Wilfrid Laurier University / Balsillie School of International Affairs

WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY PRESS 1-866-836-5551 | www.wlupress.wlu.ca Available from: UTP (Canada) 1-800-565-9523 Ingram (USA) 1-800-961-8031 www.HistoryOfRights.ca

28 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada Unfinished Business A British Columbia writer exorcises ghosts from her family’s past. Stephen Reid

maternal grandmother, one for the two girls and to get directions. He called head office in Toronto; A Rock Fell on the Moon: one for Gerry and his wife, Helen. Omi and Helen they called the RCMP and the great silver heist Dad and the Great Yukon Silver Ore Heist shopped at the company store where the man- began to unravel. Alicia Priest ager would bring in German sausage and Danish Gerry Priest, tarnished and under suspicion, Harbour Publishing cheeses and was under strict orders to refrain from was soon fired from his job and evicted from the 251 pages, hardcover profit making. In Alicia’s words, the town operated company town by UKHM. Alicia was lifted from ISBN 9781550176728 under “a corporate socialism of sort.” There was a the pure white fantastical world of Elsa to the robust social life where adults would begin cocktail slushy grey streets of Vancouver. She and her family hour at one house, then make the circuit sometimes moved into a basement suite near Main. y wife, a cynical observer of liter- not stopping the travelling party until the wee hours Alicia Priest, the investigative journalist, pieces ary criticism in this country, seemed of the morning. together the story over the next few years—two sub- Mcurious. “Why would they ask you?” At home the family played parlour games and sequent trials, expert witnesses on both sides, cross she wanted to know, referring to the blue hardcover Gerry serenaded them with country songs on his examinations, evidentiary procedure—in such I had just received in the mail along with a request guitar, while Omi baked their favourite desserts. exquisite detail as to make your teeth hurt. from the LRC to write a 1,200-word review. Although strict, Father, or Poppa, was equally The story that pushes through is the painful I started to tell her “because I am a writer expressive in his love for Helen and for both the disintegration of the family. Gerry’s obsession known for my provocative essays, with beating the case, his increas- insightful criticisms, and, and …” This story of a daring silver heist in ing paranoia and his growing but before all the words could temper start to wear down even tumble from my tongue she fired the North is written by the daughter the implacable Helen. The once her follow-up question, “What is carefree, Texas-tattooed, guitar- it about?” of the bandit, who at the age of ten, playing, buckskin-wearing, self- Paraphrasing the jacket blurb styled cowboy becomes a shell of I replied, “a daring silver heist in watched her father go to prison. his former self. He is oblivious to the North written by the daughter the harm he has wrought on his of the bandit, who at the age of ten, watched her girls. “We were … a … touching family.” He referred two young girls, even to the loyal Helen. It is almost father go to prison.” affectionately to Helen as Lambchen, but often as if, self-centred to the end, he had left his family My wife does not smirk much but when she mocked Omi for her religious beliefs and forbade in that mine shaft back in Elsa. does … “Anything ring familiar there? A daring gold her teaching them to the children. Helen’s health deteriorates, and she is hospital- heist? A ten-year-old girl, father goes to prison?” Then life began to change. Gerry was mysteri- ized on several occasions, while the girls try to fit in The penny dropped with about the same resound- ously disappearing, sometimes for days, coming to their new life. “As Vona stampeded and I tiptoed ing whump as the silver boulder in the title of Alicia home in the middle of the night. He and Helen toward womanhood, his hands trembled, becom- Priest’s first and only book. stayed up late whispering at the kitchen table. An ing rough and, at times—there is no other word for A Rock Fell on the Moon: Dad and the Great atmosphere more grim and tense began to creep it—cruel.” Yukon Silver Ore Heist opens with the storybook into the edges of the girls’ universe. Unbeknownst In the fall of 2008, Alicia Priest walked into one childhood of a young Alicia growing up alongside to both of them and to Omi, and possibly to Helen of my small writing classes at Camosun College her sister, Vona, in Elsa, a small company town as well, Gerry had begun piecing together the great in Victoria. Class exercises were designed to get wholly owned by United Keno Hill Mines, a silver silver ore heist. people to write from experience, not about it. Many mining concern, about 700 kilometres north of Gerry had gone underground both figuratively of the exercises asked you to write about what mat- Whitehorse in the Yukon. This is the land of the and emotionally. He became secretive, short with tered to you, often the wounds we fear. In week northern lights and ice roads, an ideal and idyl- the family, while at night he laboured furiously, seven one of the in-class assignments was to “write lic place to be a child. “The almost imperceptible sneaking into the back entrances to the mine haul- down a name then encircle it—someone with creep of time combined with the material simplicity ing bags of high grade ore along unsupervised whom you have unfinished business. Now write and communality of Elsa created a universe apart.” shafts. He buried the loot in snow banks to be one to two paragraphs.” Alicia sat there circling a Within this universe of snow and mittens, toboggan moved at a later date. name, I have no idea whose name, then she got up sledding and egg-on-a-spoon races, there was choir The score itself was more labour than heist, hin- and left. She never returned to another class. practice and brownies (both baked and uniformed ging on the monumental task of sledding 670 bags In 2011 Alicia Priest got sick. In January 2012 girls’ club). Between playing bingo or sneaking of ore to a loading site where he could arrange she was diagnosed with ALS, “a relentless, neuro- down to spy on the single miners’ bunkhouses, transport and pretend it came from his recently muscular destroying mutation that results in total “we’d spread out on the snow, five-pointed angels.” registered claim known as “The Moon.” Gerry body paralysis and death,” she wrote in The Globe The family lived in a prefab log cabin owned would later assert that a large boulder, 80 percent and Mail in 2014. She referred to the news as her by the mine but made available to Alicia’s father, silver, had dislodged from the hill above and landed ultimate deadline. “As a trained journalist I respond Gerry, on a subsidized rent because of his salaried fortuitously upon the apron of his claim. That rock, to pressure,” she stated in an interview with The position as chief assayist for the company. There later the subject of much legal argument, would Tyee that year. were bedrooms for Omi, the German-speaking become the title of this book. If this family memoir was her unfinished The plan may have even succeeded but for a business,­ then she has finished brilliantly, under Stephen Reid lives with his wife, the poet Susan much despised nosey parker of a mine manager “stars so big and bright we reached to pick them Musgrave, on Haida Gwaii. His last book was A who, peering out his office window one afternoon, like apples from a tree.” Alicia Priest died Crowbar in the Buddhist Garden (Thistledown saw a flatbed truck loaded with ore bags. The driver January 13, 2015, four months after her book was Press, 2012). had taken a wrong turn and then stopped in Elsa published.

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 29 Letters and Responses

Re: “Paper Hanging,” by Paul Knox of Newspapers, dealt only with U.S. newspapers. or detractor whose position is not in some way (January/February 2016) That is not true, and being a Canadian author motivated by a sense of what government ought n his review of Crash to Paywall: Canadian with a Canadian publisher (Vancouver’s New Star to be doing, how services ought to be provided in INewspapers and the Great Disruption, Paul Books), it would not make much sense. Greatly Canada, and who ought to be making decisions Knox starts off misinterpreting me and never lets Exaggerated is based on peer-reviewed research when it comes to public infrastructure. up. First, he accuses me of echoing Marc Edge’s published in the Newspaper Research Journal that Most striking with Fenn’s review is that it turns Greatly Exaggerated: The Myth of the Death of shows that no publicly traded newspaper company on the normative framing of the PPP issue itself Newspapers, which argues that newspapers have in the United States or Canada lost money on an as opposed to the empirical detail or substance of the financial resources to survive well into the operating basis in any year between 2006 and the book. The concluding paragraph alone makes future. I not only reject the notion that industrial 2013. These data are also included as appendices it clear that Fenn believes “our PPP agreements” journalism will endure; I suggest that the sooner to Greatly Exaggerated. It is galling to have one’s are here to stay. As a fait accompli, the task of PPP Big Media organizations fail, the better it will be for research ignored in one’s own country, as the most policy research shifts decisively from interrogating journalists, democracy and the public. recent crisis in Canadian journalism has shown it the why of PPPs to instead focusing on improv- Knox appears to acknowledge this when he to have been. It is even more galling to have a myth ing the how. But a PPP is a political choice: it did argues that it is “far from clear that large-scale perpetrated that it does not deal with one’s own not emerge by chance and it is not a practical text-driven journalism—the ‘factory’ or ‘industrial’ country. necessity today. If the normative underpinnings model—is on its deathbed” and that organiza- Marc Edge of this policy are ignored, it is simply not possible tions “with global reach … are rising to the digital Vancouver, British Columbia to understand its dominance given the checkered challenge.”­ PPP track record. No argument there. (I piled so much praise Paul Knox responds: Fenn argues that it makes sense for PPP policy onto The Guardian and The New York Times that n conversation among journalists—okay, bar makers to “learn from their mistakes and hone the I expected to be taken to task for it.) However, I fail Italk—I’ve often heard “What does it mean to policy, rather than throw over the whole initiative.” to see how the success of a few global brands could Metro?” cited as a news-defining mantra of the Indeed. Yet, in the absence of government con- be mistaken for an antidote to the sickly state Toronto Star. The purpose was usually to lampoon ducting a systematic evaluation of the traditional of local newspapers that are being kept alive to the parochialism that tended, back in the day, to model, high-profile failures on both sides of the enrich a few executives and a hedge fund. I don’t produce coverage along the lines of “Etobicoke ledger leave one wondering why only PPPs deserve think anyone doubts big news organizations will couple survives as quake toll tops 4,000.” Brian such considered treatment and grace. The simple continue to cover the world. But who will report Gorman says he meant it as a compliment. In this answer is that the PPP push has never been strictly on the dozens of communities where newspapers instance I misinterpreted him, and I welcome the evidence-based. Four hospital projects from the have been eviscerated? correction. early 2000s sit on the precipice between debate Most perplexing is Knox’s accusation: “He ridi- Unfortunately, the passage in question invites and silence on the whys of PPPs in public health cules the Star for its at-times-obsessive focus on misinterpretation, especially given the preceding care. Fenn queries my choice of older projects at Toronto.” I praise the Star for being a reliable, local sentence: “In Canada, the voices of dissent are so the expense of those developed more recently. progressive voice, and complain that there isn’t a quiet that they are practically inaudible.” Following I target those four because they ushered in a sea national equivalent: “Progressive media are few, this, it was surely legitimate to read as limiting, change, they sit as nodal points connecting highly ill-funded, and regionalized. The Tyee speaks to or even dismissive, Gorman’s characterization politicized PPP policy to its normalization today. Vancouver, Rabble preaches to the converted, and, of the Star as “regionalized.” If his goal was to Opening up the black box of PPPs by sorting though ‘Metro Toronto’ has become ‘The GTA,’ the praise the paper—well, fine, but he can’t have it fact from fiction initially motivated the research Toronto Star still lives by its old slogan: ‘What does both ways. The Star is Canada’s largest-circulation that went into my book; exposing the ideological it mean to Metro?’” newspaper. It employs more journalists than any underpinnings and dogged tenacity of PPP sup- Then there is the distortion of my comments other. It has a robust Ottawa bureau and a young, port was, I hope, an outcome of its publication. about training journalism students to be “cannon aggressive Washington correspondent. It is an Reading Fenn’s review reminds us of the fodder.” In context, this isn’t as dismissive as it industrial news-breaking machine whose content core issue at hand: public infrastructure deci- is made out to be. The entire quote is: “We need is widely available online. To laud it as progressive sions are about more than just bricks and mortar. journalism education that is highly critical and while at the same time pining for the failure of Big Differences in our interpretations and personal independent of Big Media, and that trains its stu- Media is monumentally inconsistent. opinions fall away on this fundamental point. PPPs dents to go out and build new structures to replace Readers approaching the end of Gorman’s implicate not only public works but also key social the crumbling old ones. We need to produce news- book will find a series of potshots directed at services, urban planning, fiscal burdens and finan- industry revolutionaries, not cannon fodder for journalism schools. They may judge the fairness cial windfalls, and the ability of government (and establishment media.” of my selective quotation in the light of these. citizens) to make decisions in these areas when Finally, I take issue with Knox’s interpreta- To Marc Edge, my thanks for pointing out that and if they see fit. Contributing to an informed tion of my aims. I never set out to outline the Greatly Exaggerated includes data and analysis on debate about how PPPs work, ought to work, and differences between the Canadian and U.S. news Canadian as well as American newspapers, and why they exist at all is a much-welcomed oppor- industries (although I do, at great length) or to apologies for suggesting otherwise. tunity. I thank Michael Fenn and the Literary argue for federal regulation. What I aimed to do, as Review of Canada for providing me with space to I say in the introduction, was tell the story of the Re: “Government Inc.,” by Michael Fenn continue the conversation. recent crisis and put it into the context of a century (January/February 2016) Heather Whiteside of media criticism. History shows the futility of thank Michael Fenn for his engaged and Waterloo, Ontario endorsing regulatory measures. Iengaging review of my book on public-private Brian Gorman partnerships in Canada. I am particularly appre- Re: “Golden Routes,” by Valerie Knowles Ottawa, Ontario ciative of his view that the book provides “practical (January/February 2016) advice” on PPPs by constructing counter­ alerie Knowles, in her review of Canadian aul Knox mentioned in his review of Brian arguments beyond the ideological. Ideologues, VPacific: The Golden Age of Travel by Barry PGorman’s Crash to Paywall that my similar it seems, exist on all sides when it comes to Lane, writes that Lane barely alludes to aspects book, Greatly Exaggerated: The Myth of the Death PPPs. It is scarcely possible to find a proponent of the early Canadian Pacific story that were not

30 reviewcanada.ca Literary Review of Canada positive. In her review of the book, Knowles also work in the committees of the House of Commons ignores the stains on the company’s history. where partisanship has too long trumped states- However, those events are an integral part of manship. the Canadian Pacific story and should not be side- I believe that what Segal proposes is practical stepped so easily. and I hope that it will be implemented. Among the As Paul Yee has recounted in Saltwater City: proposals that should garner broad support is that An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver, the Senate follow the decision by the British House a national festival of Chinese labourers, who were paid half the wage of of Lords to relinquish its ability to defeat govern- politics, art and ideas white workers, cleared and graded roadbeds and ment legislation or measures in favour of a power secured the rail ties. Yee quotes conservative esti- of delay. Sober second thought is accomplished by mates that concluded that 600 Chinese died during delay, focusing public attention on the reasons. A construction. In 1891, more than 300 unidentified continued ability to defeat measures passed by a corpses along the Fraser and Thompson rivers democratically elected Commons is offensive and 2016 theme: were retrieved and sent back to China for burial. brings our Senate itself into disrepute. Pause on that for a moment. The company did Segal also suggests that the prime minister and not know the names of those who were building cabinet base the appointment of a Senate speaker Our New the railway and did not find out even after the men on a secret ballot by senators themselves. Allowing died on the job. the Senate to select their own speaker would Tribalism The federal government also played a role enhance the speaker’s legitimacy. Another recom- in facilitating the use of Chinese labourers. The mendation already seemingly embraced by Prime Winnipeg British Columbia government passed restrictive Minister Justin Trudeau is that prime ministers May 12 to 15 anti-Chinese legislation at the time that the rail- should refrain from overwhelmingly partisan ways were under construction. The federal govern- appointments. A Senate appointment should be Join Spur Winnipeg in ment disallowed the provincial initiatives until the for service to country not to party. railway was completed in 1885. Once the demand- Public confidence not only requires these chan- May to share ideas worth ing work was done, the government passed the ges but also the further Segal prescriptions. The spurring into action! Chinese Immigration Act, which imposed the Senate has fallen a long way and will need time infamous head tax, the first initiative in Canada to and reforms to regain public confidence. Hugh Spur Winnipeg speakers exclude immigrants on the basis of ethnic origin. Segal’s thoughtful words should be required read- include Brianna Wu, head Knowles writes that Lane’s audience is the ing for those wrestling with the challenges facing general reader and those looking for a full view of the government with regard to the Senate. of development at railway history should look elsewhere. But how Michael Decter Giant Spacekat, and can even a general reader understand the golden Toronto, Ontario age of travel without an appreciation of how the Barry Lane, author of Canadian Pacific built its empire? A Note of Clarification Canadian Pacifi c and the Robert Matas n “Flotsam and Jetsam” by Adriana Craciun Golden Age of Travel. Vancouver, British Columbia Iin the January-February 2016 issue, the state- ment “The RCGS’s involvement with Shell in 2014 And many more! Valerie Knowles responds: included plans for Shell to develop educational am well aware of the plight of the exploited materials on Erebus and the Arctic for free distribu- IChinese labourers. In fact, when describing tion to Canadian schools” should be expanded to some of the challenges Canadian Pacific faced read “The RCGS’s involvement with Shell in 2014 in building the line through the Rockies and the included Shell Canada donating money alongside Columbia Mountains, I noted that “thousands of The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, Jim Balsillie Chinese labourers, many of whom died from injur- and One Ocean Expeditions, to enable Canadian ies and poor living conditions, performed much Geographic Education to produce educational of the most difficult and dangerous work on this materials on Erebus and the Arctic.” Regarding “the part of the line.” However, this observation was not parting of ways” between RCGS and Parks Canada Early Bird festival passes are included in the published article. referred to in the review, it should be noted that $50 for a limited time. this parting occurred after RCGS completed all its Get yours today! Re: “We Have the Technology,” by Hugh commitments with respect to the 2014 Victoria Segal (January/February 2016) Strait Expedition under its memorandum of ugh Segal is remarkably well qualified to understanding with Parks Canada and declined Visit spurfestival.ca for Hwrite on the future of the Senate, having an invitation from Parks Canada to participate in details on our spring served the Senate and the country with distinc- “Mission Erebus and Terror 2015.” festivals in Winnipeg tion. Never was this more true than when he stood against the rush to judgement of colleague sen- The LRC welcomes letters—and more are avail- and Toronto. ators and defended the right of everyone, includ- able on our website at www.reviewcanada.ca. Fall festivals ing unpopular senators, to the rule of law and the We reserve the right to publish such letters and to come! presumption of innocence. edit them for length, clarity and accuracy. E-mail For many years I favoured abolition of the ­editor@­reviewcanada.ca. For all other comments Senate and its replacement by constitutionally and queries, contact [email protected]. guaranteed meetings of first ministers. Two real- ities have persuaded me to accept that the Senate is here to stay and we should improve it within our constitution. First, abolition is simply unobtain- In memoriam FESTIVAL PARTNER NATIONAL SPONSORS able. Second, over the past decades a number of John Feld, 1948–2016 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada Senate committees have done important policy James Gillies, 1924–2015 Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada work. In particular, Senator Michael Kirby led a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Ed Safarian, 1922–2016 Senate committee that, among other achieve- GOVERNMENT FUNDERS VENUE SPONSORS The LRC is saddened by the loss of three of ments, brought the Mental Health Commission Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada into being and the issue of stigma onto the policy its distinguished contributors, including Jim

Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada agenda. Senator Sharon Carstairs led an insightful Gillies, who was a valued member of our SocialPERFORMANCE Sciences and Humanities Research Council SPONSOR of Canada PROGRAMMING PARTNER look at what we need to address on end-of-life care advisory council. They will all be missed. and support. It is less easy to find the same policy

March 2016 reviewcanada.ca 31 For great reading at any size An anniversary special

Our story begins in 1991, when author and academic Patrice Dutil founded the LRC to be a magazine of serious discussion about books, politics and the important ideas of our time. Since then, we’ve been committed to presenting reviews and essays from some of Canada’s most prolifi c writers.

In 2016, the LRC turns 25. To mark the occasion, we asked you, our devoted readers and supporters, to contribute the names of the most infl uential Canadian books published since 1991 that have had a lasting—or at least seminal— infl uence on the development of Canadian thought, politics or culture in the broadest sense. We are now busily compiling a list of the 25 most infl uential Canadian books visit the new reviewcanada.ca of history, public policy, memoirs or fi ction, published in the Read well last quarter-century, to be presented in a special anniversary issue later this year. at any size reviewcanada.ca Titles had to have been published after January 1991 to be considered. You can still voteFor on your favouritesgreat by tweeting reading at any size @LRCmag using the hashtag #LRC25years or posting on our Facebook page. If your suggestion was selected to be included in our fi nal list, you will receive a 25% discount off a one-year print/digital subscription to the LRC.

Over the coming weeks, we will continue to feature the recommendations of some of our contributors and other prominent Canadians on the books they feel should be included in the list. Visit reviewcanada.ca/the-lrc-turns-25 regularly!

The LRC has always been more a com- “ munity than just a magazine. And it has been our readers who have carried us through these past 25 years. —Mark Lovewell, Interim” Editor

32 visit thereviewcanada.ca new reviewcanada.caLiterary Review of Canada HAD HER FIRST BREAK- DOWN WORKING FOR THE CBC.

INSIDE THE MENTAL: Silence, Stigma, Psychiatry, and LSD by Kay Parley

Before she became a psychiatric nurse in “The Mental” in the 1950s, Kay Parley was a patient there, as were the father she barely remembered and the grandfather she’d never met. Part memoir, part history, and beautifully written, Inside The Mental offers an episodic journey into the stigma, horror, and redemption that she found within the institution’s walls. Now ninety-three years old, Parley reveals her role in groundbreaking experiments to treat addiction and mental illness with LSD.

“A revelatory account of the importance that psychiatric treatment and research from the 1950s has for mental health today.” Jean Freeman, Author of Fists Upon A Star

LRC mental and reading ffrom behind.indd 1 2016-02-10 3:14 PM New from University of Toronto Press

The Marketing Revolution in Politics What Recent U.S. Presidential Campaigns Can Teach Us About Effective Marketing by Bruce I. Newman Lessons of the Holocaust This book shows how recent U.S. by Michael R. Marrus presidential campaigns have adopted This book challenges the notion that the latest marketing techniques and there are definitive lessons to be how all organizations can benefit from deduced from the destruction of their example. European Jewry and shows how its “lessons” are constantly debated, altered, and reinterpreted.

A Nation in Conflict Canada and the Two World Wars by Andrew Iarocci and Jeffrey A. Adapting in the Dust Keshen Lessons Learned from Canada’s War in A Nation in Conflict is a concise, Afghanistan comparative overview of the Canadian national experience in the two world by Stephen M. Saideman wars that transformed the nation and Adapting in the Dust is a vital evaluation its people. of how well Canada’s institutions, parties, and policy makers responded to the need to oversee and sustain Canada’s six-year military mission in Afghanistan.

Commemorating Canada History, Heritage, and Memory, 1850s-1990s From New Peoples to New Cecilia Morgan Nations In Commemorating Canada, Cecilia Aspects of Metis History and Identity from Morgan demonstrates the importance the Eighteenth to the Twenty-first Centuries of history in shaping Canadian identity. by Gerhard J. Ens and Joe Sawchuk From New Peoples to New Nations is a broad historical account of the emergence of the Metis as distinct peoples in North America over the last three hundred years.

Also available as e-books at utppublishing.com