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Home , Deborah Grey, Jean Charest, Jeffrey Simpson, John Diefenbaker, Kim Campbell, Mel Hurtig

PRACTICAL AND AUTHORITATIVE ANALYSIS OF KEY NATIONAL ISSUES

SPECIAL DOUBLE ISSUE—THE CHRÉTIEN ERA: A RED BOOK AUDIT FEATURES

Adaptive navigation in the Chrétien era Adaptive navigation by Michael Adams, page 1 Taking care of business: Chrétien and the Americans by John Herd Thompson, page 1 Jean Chrétien and the Shawinigan step dance in the Chrétien era from the Editors, page 2 Creative inaction: Jean Chrétien and the art of doing CHANGING THE BY MICHAEL ADAMS nothing by H.V. Nelles, page 3 CANADIAN LANDSCAPE Systemic transformation: Are up to it? hen Jean Chrétien defeated Michael Adams is the president of by Charles F. Doran, page 4 the Environics group of companies Right, left, and forever the centre by Daniel Drache, page 5 WKim Campbell in the fall of Jean Chrétien’s surprise: A Canadian nationalist legacy and author of Fire and Ice: 1993, ’s economy was emerg- by Reg Whitaker, page 10 The United States, Canada and ing from a recession, the country The quintessential “domestic” foreign policy prime the Myth of Converging Values. minister by Andrew F. Cooper, page 13 was in serious debt and running He kept us out of Buffalo: Jean Chrétien and Canadian annual deficits, and the by Seth Feldman, page 14 dollar was eroding in value. In the fall of 2003, the Canadian The Rt. Hon. Jean Chrétien: Revised standard version had joined the majority of Canadi- by George Elliott Clarke, page 15 economy is strong, the federal gov- Securing our future: What follows tomorrow? ans the year before in defeating ernment has reduced its debt and Chrétien and cultural policy by Joyce Zemans, page 16 the and was no longer runs deficits, and the Jean Chrétien and cultural policy: ramping up for another referendum is rising in value. The biggest deficit of all? by David Taras, page 19 Post-secondary education in the Chrétien years on its constitutional status. Adaptive navigation, page 7 by Paul Axelrod, page 20 Quebec and the democratic deficit by Guy Laforest, page 22 The Chrétien legacy: Courting democracy? Taking care of business: by Allan C. Hutchinson, page 24 Turning the page: Deterrence against legitimacy by Jules Duchastel, page 25 Chrétien and the Americans Liberalizing Canada: A political calculation, not a question of principle by Jamie Cameron, page 28 Chrétien and the Aboriginals “HARMED” RELATIONS BY JOHN HERD THOMPSON by Andrée Lajoie, Éric Gelineau, page 29 AND THE BAD SINGER Take a green poultice and call the next prime minister: s I write this comment for John Herd Thompson is director of Mr. Chrétien’s remedy in federal health policy the North American Studies Program by Dr. Terrence Sullivan, Dr. Colleen Flood, page 30 A Canada Watch “The Chrétien Federal social policy, the provinces, and the rise of and chair of the Department of Era,” his successor, , is cities by Francis Lankin, page 31 History at Duke University. gathering editorial praise for his The Chrétien legacy and women’s equality promise to restore the US–Canada by Barbara Cameron, page 32 Women, work, and social policy reform: relationship, supposedly damaged I’ll argue instead that—given the The Chrétien legacy by Sylvia Bashevkin, page 33 by Jean Chrétien during his decade circumstances in which he gov- The non-legacy: Health care in the Chrétien decade as prime minister. Today’s e-mail in- erned and the massive asymmetry by Gerard W. Boychuk, page 34 The Canadian contribution to international security cluded an invitation to a scholarly of power between the United States under Jean Chrétien: The good, the bad, and the conference devoted to the question and Canada—Chrétien did a pretty ugly by Kyle Grayson, David Dewitt, page 35 “Did the relationship between Presi- good job with US–Canada relations, Chrétien, NAFTA, and the United States by Earl H. Fry, page 36 dent Bush and former Prime Minis- by any reasonable measure. Re- The Chrétien record on environment and sustainability ter Chrétien ‘harm’ the Canada –US member that Jean Chrétien won by David V.J. Bell, page 41 relationship, and how might this office in 1993 in large part because Income inequality and poverty: The Liberal change with the recent political Canadian voters were fed up to the record by leadership shift in ?” Taking care of business, page 8 Andrew Jackson, page 42

Canada Watch is a publication of the Centre for Public Law and Public Policy and the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies of York University FROM THE EDITORS

Jean Chrétien and the EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Daniel Drache, Robarts Centre for Shawinigan step dance Canadian Studies, York University Seth Feldman, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, York University othing so befit Jean Chrétien’s man- Chrétien, it would almost Robert Wai, Osgoode Hall Ndate as his departure from it. After Law School, York University nearly a decade of being criticized for seem, had adopted undermining the financial security of Ca- good old American MANAGING EDITORS nadian institutions (hence Canadians), Joan Shields and Laura Taman drifting toward continentalism and glo- pragmatism—now that balization and for otherwise being asleep the Americans no longer COLUMNISTS THIS ISSUE at the switch, Chrétien became deter- Michael Adams John Herd Thompson mined to leave the country with an im- had any use for it. H.V. Nelles Charles Doran age of himself as an activist prime min- Daniel Drache Reg Whitaker ister with a strong nationalist bent. He Andrew F. Cooper Seth Feldman would write his own legacy with a thor- The traumatic deficit reduction exercise George Elliott Clarke Joyce Zemans oughness seldom devoted to his more rode roughshod over any stated agenda. David Taras Paul Axelrod quotidian tasks. Was it enough? And At the same time, though, the conse- Guy Laforest Allan C. Hutchinson what is the real legacy of Jean Chrétien’s quences of that exercise fell far short of Jules Duchastel Jamie Cameron 10 years in office? the Republican ideology that imposed a Andrée Lajoie Éric Gelineau The Chrétien Era: A Red Book Audit very obvious societal catastrophe south Terrence Sullivan Colleen Flood is an in-depth look that defines the fail- of the border. Chrétien, it would almost Francis Lankin Barbara Cameron ures, accomplishments, and real legacy seem, had adopted good old American Sylvia Bashevkin Gerard W. Boychuk of the Chrétien years across a wide num- pragmatism—now that the Americans no Kyle Grayson David Dewitt ber of fields. Our point of departure is longer had any use for it. Earl H. Fry David V.J. Bell that Jean Chrétien had, thanks to strong Under Chrétien’s watch, the Canadian Andrew Jackson majority governments, a fragmented op- political landscape and public policy PRODUCTION position, and a united Liberal Party, a were deeply and profoundly trans- WordsWorth Communications world of options open to him. More than formed, shifting to the right. At the same that, he had a carefully considered man- time, Canadian civil society reaffirmed CONTACT FOR INFORMATION date in the form of the 1993 Red Book its long-standing centre/left values. For Canada Watch and its two successors. 10 years, our former prime minister step 227 York Lanes, 4700 Keele St. So what happened? Are deficit reduc- danced around all these contradictions, , M3J 1P3 tion, gun control, same-sex marriage, de- cutting and spending, seducing and of- Phone (416) 736-2100, ext. 77562 criminalization of marijuana, the Kyoto fending, globalizing and raising the flag Fax (416) 650-4321 Protocol, border security, the Third with equal conviction. www.robarts.yorku.ca Country Agreement on Immigrants, the It is our hope that in these first cold Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, winter months of Paul Martin’s reign, we ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Anti-Terrorism Act, the Clarity Act, off- will have assembled a fair description of 6 issues per year. Outside Canada, add $10 side in the Iraq war, and new social Jean Chrétien’s watch. Martin is himself Institutions: $75 spending the building blocks of the something of a Chrétien Liberal—elusive, Individuals: $35 Canada Jean Chrétien wanted? indecisive, pragmatic, self-contradictory, Students: $20 Reading the contributions submitted full of spin, and short on action. It is also Canada Watch is produced jointly by to us by some of the leading commenta- possible that spending the better part of the York University Centre for Public Law tors on Canadian political affairs, our first a mandate around Chrétien’s Cabinet and Public Policy, and the Robarts Centre impression is that Jean Chrétien was a table, Martin will want to distance him- for Canadian Studies of York University. far more substantial prime minister than self from these less than admirable hab- Copyright © 2004 either his supporters or detractors were its. Whether or not he can, and where Centre for Public Law and Public Policy; prone to acknowledge. Certainly, he Canada goes from here will be to a large the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies never felt himself obliged to follow his extent shaped by the man on whose Printed in Canada ISSN 1191-7733 own Red Book manifestos to the letter. shoulders Martin is now standing.

2 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 Creative inaction: Jean Chrétien and the art of doing nothing

MACKENZIE KING AND BY H.V. NELLES peared as a political force, and support THE STRATEGY OF INACTION for independence without association— H.V. Nelles holds the honorific title cademics have an understandable which is what the next question must ask of university research professor according to the Supreme Court—has Abias toward evaluating politicians by at York University. their accomplishments. A generous but little chance of achieving general accep- questionable liberal assumption lurks be- tance within Quebec in the foreseeable hind this impulse—a belief that action Chrétien did not do future. “No” is an answer, and Chrétien makes the world a better place. But Ca- delivered with a devilish effectiveness nadian academics should be mindful of things that he might hidden by his shambolic style. The with- the advice of William Lyon Mackenzie ering scorn and visceral hatred of the King, by all measures one of Canada’s reasonably have separatists directed toward him ought to more successful politicians. He urged us been expected to do have been a clue as to how thoroughly to pay more attention to inaction. At the their ox was being gored. height of the Conscription Crisis he con- and in not doing so NOT CHANGING THE ECONOMY fided to his diary: “I must make increas- The Canada Chrétien inherited from the ingly clear to the world that prevention spared the country Conservatives, despite their vaunted talk of wrong courses of evil and the like of fiscal responsibility, was an economic means more than all else that man can a good deal of grief. basket case. Here too Chrétien did not accomplish.” Taking liberties with his do things that substantially improved the typically obtuse prose I would reformu- situation. In the first instance, he did not late this as the Mackenzie King maxim: question off the front burner. The coun- repeal the GST as he implied he would. “Judge politicians not by the good they try was tired of constitutional wrangling, The hated and much evaded GST had do but rather by the ills they prevent.” first ministers’ conclaves, the clamour of been one of the measures that destroyed By this metric, how does Jean Chré- interest groups, and the divisiveness of the Conservative party. The Red Book tien fare? Using one of Chrétien’s favour- ratification and referenda. Expectations hinted and Sheila Copps promised to ite words, let’s examine Kingian inaction had been raised in so many quarters; the eliminate it. Yet the Chrétien government in three areas: the constitutional file, the centre seemed unlikely to hold. Chrétien found ways to keep the in place and economic file, and the foreign policy file. gauged the mood correctly. By not ne- finesse its way through the repeal imbro- In each case, Chrétien did not do things gotiating, he could direct attention to glio with Sheila’s resignation and resur- that he might reasonably have been ex- other more pressing issues and shift the rection through by-election. pected to do and in not doing so spared burden of responsibility for action to the It was a vitally important manoeuvre the country a good deal of grief. separatist government of Quebec. His because the GST replaced a tax that had inaction even during the Quebec refer- produced roughly 10 percent of federal STRATEGIC INACTION endum brought new players into the revenues at the end of the 1970s with a ON THE CONSTITUTION game—the hitherto silent public. Though much broader tax that generated By not doing things on the constitutional the vote was much closer than he would roughly 20 percent of federal revenues file, Chrétien deftly outmanoeuvred a have liked, I am sure, the defeat pro- at the end of the ’90s. Put another way, whole team of anguished political scien- duced the gaffs and revealed the sepa- the GST financed either the surplus or tists and hand-wringing constitutional ratist hidden agenda in a way that put the the tax cut, perhaps both. Not touching lawyers as well as a gang of very smart PQ on the defensive ever after. He let the the FTA and the GST allowed Paul Mar- and ruthless separatists. In case anyone PQ make the mistakes, and they did. tin to cut the deficit and , a death hasn’t noticed, the answer to the Que- The Supreme Court reference and the defying circus trick as finance minister bec question was “no.” That, curiously Clarity Act have fundamentally changed that effectively made him our next prime enough, has produced a better outcome the rules of the game. No more “nudge, minister. for the time being than “yes” or “maybe.” nudge, wink, wink” questions to fool the By the same token, Chrétien did not After the tumultuous years of Meech rubes. And what has been the result of back out of the Free Trade Agreement and Charlottetown, Chrétien came to this tough love? As he takes his leave, the as might have been expected from Lib- power intending to take the constitutional PQ is in opposition, the BQ has disap- Creative inaction, page 12

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 3 Systemic transformation: Are Canadians up to it?

n the aftermath of the Cold War, the BY CHARLES F. DORAN VALUE-ORIENTED Iworld has changed structurally and in FOREIGN POLICY terms of statecraft to a degree that few Charles F. Doran is Andrew W. Mellon Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, in shap- governments yet seem to realize. Experts professor of international relations, Nitze ing his foreign policy, has selected for- School of Advanced International Studies, call this “systems transformation.” In- eign ministers who, for the most part, , Washington, D.C. deed structural change was responsible reflect his own philosophy of foreign for the collapse of the and policy conduct. For a prime minister for the ongoing change in power relation- with considerable political experience, ships elsewhere in the international sys- If Canada does this is not surprising. Illustrative are tem. In the face of such change, Canada, and Bill Graham, two the country that could claim one-half not do things very former academics, who epitomize this century ago to have possessed the fourth differently, according preference for a strongly value-oriented largest navy in the world, finds itself kind of foreign policy. Two additional somewhat at odds with two of the allies to Thomas Axworthy, features mark the foreign affairs of the that have always held it in deepest es- Chrétien years. teem—Britain and the United States. in terms of military First, this kind of ideological foreign policy works well with governments that CHALLENGES AHEAD preparedness, it will either tend to share the same partisan In the next several decades, Canada, in put its citizens values, or tend to be sufficiently eclectic terms of trade volume with the United and pragmatic that they minimize issue States, is likely to be overtaken by “at risk” and/or differences in external relations, such as Mexico. It is likely to be pressed very hard was largely true for . Where by Brazil and some other countries who condemn itself the ideological foreign policy fails is in believe they should, on the basis of their dealing with a government such as that size, replace it in the G8. If the UN Secu- “to foreign policy of George W. Bush, which is equally ideo- rity Council is expanded, Canada, de- logical but of an opposite bent, or in spite its exemplary record in the United irrelevance.” some cases is completely power-based Nations, is not likely to be among the and refuses to accept any form of value- candidates picked for those slots (in the driven foreign policy whatsoever. Chré- absence, at least, of a huge lobbying ef- financial stake in its growth and pros- tien got along well with ideological fort by its friends). If NATO recedes in perity, is so relevant. Canadian business friends (Clinton) but tended to alienate importance to titular status, as “coalitions has discovered how hard the European ideological rivals (George W. Bush). of the willing” emerge worldwide, a cru- Union (with the exception of Britain) is Hence Chrétien’s first term in office, as cial forum that Canada helped found will to crack, and how diffident the Euro- far as Canada–US relations is concerned, be lost to its multilateralism. If Canada pean Commission can be to Canadian with regard to content and coordination, decides to opt out of future research and trade overtures. Canada, like other is in huge contrast to his second term. development on defensive missile sys- countries, can see how Asia is being That the Clinton and Bush foreign poli- tems, on whatever grounds, moral or transformed, and what a difference this cies were at considerable odds (despite material, its extraordinary defence part- metamorphosis will make to the Pacific much continuity such as in the determi- nership with the United States in NORAD balance of power. The government of nation to use force in Kosovo and in Af- is at risk. None of these events will oc- Canada knows that, in the age of inter- ghanistan) admittedly contributed to the cur tomorrow. But in an interval of the national terrorism, at least one of its divergence of response from Ottawa. next two decades or so, any or perhaps own communities has been targeted, all of them could happen. just like some in the United States. This THE FOREIGN DOMESTIC FIT This is why reinforcing bridges to the is a time for sober interdependence and Second, Jean Chrétien, not alone among two governments that share its values careful future planning. In reflecting the leaders of western democracies, and understand Canada best, have de- upon the Chrétien years, these longer- used foreign policy for domestic pur- fended it militarily and politically—de- term limits upon the possible are worth pose. Chancellor Schroeder used anti- spite occasional tiffs—and have a large contemplating. Systemic transformation, page 11

4 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 Right, left, and forever the centre

MULTIPLE LEGACIES BY DANIEL DRACHE Tory party reduced to rump status. With hrétien had no vision, no grand ide- Manning at the helm, Reform’s standing Cology, and no special purpose for Daniel Drache is senior research fellow in the polls jumped from 12 to 25 percent. building the nation or saving it from it- and associate director of the The million dollar question for Chré- Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies. self. He was not a thinker, or a “tink- tien was, could a revitalized Alliance erer,” nor even much of a technocrat. Party convince voters in Ontario to send He left those tasks to others. But he was He was no Trudeau, a whack of Ontario MPs to Ottawa as a perfect leader in an unheroic time as Reform loyalists? a clever tactician and a man of shrewd- Roosevelt, De Gaulle, Regional political movements are boat- ness. Like every other prime minister, rockers and have repeatedly transformed he awarded his friends mightily and or even a wannabe Canadian national politics—the CCF gave skated dangerously on the edges of pa- rise to the NDP, the Progressive move- tronage with what many in public Tony Blair. He did not ment merged with the Conservatives, thought was a government with few if have to be innovative and Bouchard left Mulroney’s Conserva- any ethical standards. tives to organize the Bloc Québecois as The Canadian Oxford Dictionary re- because his political Quebec’s “official opposition.” minds us that a legacy is something Uniting the right proved to be an ex- handed down by a predecessor. From opponents were so ercise in masochism. Moral conservativ- both the left and the right sides of the ism and fiscal conservativism became a political spectrum there is much to mull weak and uninspiring. witch’s brew, which Canadian voters over. Readers to this issue will discover would not imbibe as Michael Adams so there was no single legacy. Legacy is in vividly and convincingly explains. While the eye of the beholder. Experts, like the believed that the within-a-nose-of-victory Canadians value fiscal prudence, they public, are deeply divided over Chrétien’s referendum gave them the forward mo- are socially progressive. Politics must failures and accomplishments. Social mentum to realize their final goal. have a moral and ethical dimension that policy analysts give Chrétien low grades But Chrétien out-gunned, out-fought, reflects Canada’s social values. The Alli- on social and health policy. Federalists and out-mobilized them, and his nation- ance ignored this basic rule at their po- cheer Chrétien while Quebec national- alist enemies were never able to recover litical peril. ists jeer. If you believe that Charter activ- and regroup. ’s search For Ontario voters, Canadian western ism and the constitutionalization of Ca- for the right conditions ended in failure Conservatives and looked nadian politics produced a revolution and he quit politics for good. The Que- like the archetypical brothers from an- then you’re a Chrétien loyalist. If you bec nationalist project did not collapse, other planet somewhere south of the believe that the absence of political will but it was no longer politically viable. The 49th parallel—Ohio or Michigan per- tells us more about the Chrétien years sovereignist movement couldn’t win and haps—when they campaigned against than any other factor, then Chrétien was Chrétien knew it. He forced the Clarity abortion rights, against immigration, and the perfect man for this age of B-grade Act through parliament with barely a in favour of American-style gun laws. political leaders worldwide. whisper of opposition in the country Even someone as politically smart and Still 10 years is a lifetime in politics and outside of Quebec. effective as could not Chrétien was cleverer than the Toronto make a difference in Ontario, the heart- media ever reckoned him to be. He sur- CRIPPLING THE RIGHT land of Liberal support. prised himself and easily romped to With his principle rival boxed in, Chré- In the end, Chrétien brawled with, three successive electoral victories. He tien had only the once mighty western- outlasted, and outsmarted all of his ri- was no Trudeau, Roosevelt, De Gaulle, based Reform/Alliance movement to vals. He kept Paul Martin out in the cold, or even a wannabe Tony Blair. He did manhandle. Under Manning, the right for what must have seemed to Martin as not have to be innovative because his had gained a national audience and an eternity. political opponents were so weak and credibility. At the height of its popularity, uninspiring. neo-liberalism had created a broad au- A MASTER OF SPIN dience for its template ideas. Preston Where does he belong in the House of STEALING QUEBEC’S THUNDER Manning was the smartest politician that Commons hall of the political greats? After the defeat of the Quebec referen- the Canadian right ever produced after Pearson was admired but not loved; dum in 1995, many Quebec nationalists Mulroney was driven from office and the Right, left, and forever the centre, page 6

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 5 Right, left, and forever the centre continued from page 5 Trudeau was feared, respected, and ad- mired; and Mulroney was vilified and He did not act from ideological conviction, scapegoated. Even Clark is held in affec- tion by the chattering classes and Cana- but more from his own temperament and dian public opinion. In a bland, Cana- a belief in Canadian internationalism dian way, Chrétien was liked and thought to be an okay guy. and support for the UN. He did a lot of harm to Canada’s so- cial fabric but it surprisingly did not make a difference to Canadian voters. They able at the political margins where moral place in the global economy. liked his franchise even if he was diffi- fundamentalism is less important than In a recent poll, 70 percent of Cana- cult to understand in either French or maintaining social cohesion in a coun- dian respondents believe the single most English. His communication skills were try already divided along regional and important thing Chrétien did was to be a better than his mastery of either official linguistic lines. part of the coalition of the disobedient language. It is likely he would not have and not send Canadian troops to war in been remembered for very much be- CANADA’S Iraq. Pearson had his moment of waffle cause much of the legacy remains a blur COMPETITIVE DOLLAR and so had Diefenbaker. By political in- with too many broken promises as oth- His success with crisis management was stinct Trudeau was not a “yes” man ei- ers have so well-documented in this spe- due to the fact that interest rates were ther, but no Canadian prime minister had cial issue. falling and the Canadian dollar was more ever refused a top-priority request from But he was politically savvy and read competitive than NAFTA could ever an American president. in the national mood an incredible sen- hope to be. These two factors worked sitivity to the damage done by free mar- politically in his favour. The economy DOING THE RIGHT kets and closer ties with the United grew and unemployment did not go THING BY INDECISION States. He understood that the Conser- through the roof. In the last two years, Chrétien made a stand on principle and vative policies of the past decade had job creation in Canada outperformed the Canadians supported him for it. Die- created the conditions for their own de- once mighty US job machine. hard conservatives, Alliance MPs, and mise in Ontario, and he wasn’t going to Because he was never a man who leading voices of Canada’s business let that happen to the federal Liberals in embraced ideology more than he had to elites thought they could stir up a hor- Ottawa. By far his smartest achievement as a practical matter of macroeconomic nets nest and cut him down to size. was to move to the right and cripple the management, in the end he knew that They were wrong. electoral prospects of the Alliance and Canadians were attached to their social Standing up for Canadian indepen- Progressive Conservatives. With Martin programs more than they were to broad- dence, if only for a nanosecond, proved as finance minister, Chrétien stole their ening and deepening North American to be the most important nanosecond of thunder and most of their fiscally con- integration. Thus, it was only a small step his prime ministership. He understood servative policies. His government for him to abandon theories that the symbolic and real nature of the wrestled the deficit to the ground and when they seemed incongruous and out border mattered a lot to Canadians. In vanquished the American republican-in- of touch with Canadian needs. Chrétien’s monotone world of never Canada and Tory right to the margins of Chrétien was not anti-American. He doing the right thing, he followed the Canadian political life nationally for a admired the United States for its techno- map that read “do anything necessary generation to come. logical smarts and economic resource- that pays handsome political dividends.” He had the good sense to create the fulness, but the Bush government dissed With the economy so highly integrated Romanow commission to repair the Canada post-9/11 and, much more seri- and Canada’s business naysayers lining damage to Canada’s health policy, which ously, made its neighbour into a security up behind Bush and Cheney, Chrétien his government so wilfully and cynically outsider inside . Chrétien took a huge gamble. This was his singu- implemented. Unlike other neo-conser- had never liked bullies, and the aggres- lar moment in history—as Canadian as vative politicians, he was never on auto- sive unilateralism of Bush and Cheney necessary in the circumstances. He left pilot. He could see the limitations of the got his back up. He did not act from ideo- his mark in a way no one could have pre- imperatives of a deregulated economy. logical conviction, but more from his dicted. A savvy Quebecker, he ran the He was neither doctrinaire nor unimagi- own temperament and a belief in Cana- country with as much indecision as native as the right wing of the Liberal dian internationalism and support for the street smarts. For Paul Martin, it is a tough Party normally is. He was most comfort- UN—capstone elements of Canada’s act to follow. Or is it?

6 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 Adaptive navigation continued from page 1 The United States has removed Saddam his country is his assertion of Canadian two great predecessors Hussein from power in Iraq, although sovereignty and independent foreign and , both of whom had Canada and many of its other traditional policy in spite of the overwhelming pres- seriously worn out their welcome well allies, including and Germany, sures for continental integration, particu- before they left office. refused to join the American-led coali- larly after the terrorist attacks on the Our most recent 2003 survey of Ca- tion. The sovereignist Parti québécois United States in September 2001. His sec- nadian social values finds Canadians’ has been replaced by a fiscally conser- ond greatest contribution, I believe, and orientation to life to be that of “adaptive vative Liberal government in Quebec, one he shares with his successor Paul navigation” in the context of an increas- and the 1999 Clarity Act provides a rules- Martin, is the restoration of fiscal bal- ingly challenging and dangerous world, based divorce should Quebec or any ance, at least at the federal level and put- one characterized in our research by other province ever wish to separate ting the investment of the country’s pub- “apocalyptic anxiety,” “social Darwin- from the rest of Canada. lic pension assets under the manage- ism,” and “global ecological aware- Canada continues to rank among the ment of an independent board. His third ness.” Canadians know that bad things best countries in the world for its quality major contribution is his bold initiative can and will happen. They see the of life as measured by the to provide for a rules-based exit from world descending into survival of the Development Program. The crime rate, Confederation by Quebec or any other fittest and the earth’s ecosystem to be particularly violent crime, is falling. Cit- province. in jeopardy. They also see “everyday ies continue to be safer places and the Ironically, while Chrétien has pursued ethics” to be in decline: “don’t do it be- destinations of choice for the two mil- his activist agenda, the public has been cause it’s wrong” has been replaced by lion plus immigrants who have arrived disengaging from politics at least as mea- “don’t get caught.” Witness Enron and from every corner of the world over the sured by voter participation. The turnout a host of other scandals that seem the past decade. in the historic 1988 Canada–US free trade rule rather than the exception of Ameri- While not standing shoulder to shoul- election was 75.3 percent of eligible vot- can capitalism. der with the United States and the United ers. By the third election of the Chrétien In spite of this chaotic context, Cana- Kingdom in the overthrow of Saddam era in 2000, the proportion was only 61.2 dians tell us they will achieve their goals Hussein, Canada under Chrétien has percent and half that among the young, of personal autonomy, control, and supported the establishment of the Inter- those born since 1970. Chrétien’s suc- choice. They will do this not by defer- national Criminal Court, ratified the cess in coalescing the winning plurality ring to the leadership of our traditional on global warming, and when combined with the inability of his hierarchies in business, government, or led an international effort to ban the use political opponents to challenge him or the church, but by exploiting their own of landmines. At home, Chrétien’s gov- find the common ground among the out- personal resources. When it comes to ernment has mandated the registration groups has resulted in de facto one-party their hard-earned money, they search for of all firearms, proposed the decriminal- rule at the federal level. trusted intermediaries. When it comes ization of the possession of small As a result, Canadians have turned to their health, more look first to them- amounts of marijuana, and allowed away from news and public affairs as cen- selves rather than the doctor, the phar- people of the same sex to marry. tral to their lives, toward business and the macist, or advanced medical technology The Chrétien government has not at- serious work of making money with oc- because they know that personal lifestyle tempted to replace abortion under the casional respites in hedonistic escapes (diet, exercise, not smoking) are the jurisdiction of the Criminal Code after the to Starbucks for a jolt of caffeine or the most important health determinants and Senate rejected the last abortion legisla- sunny beaches of Mexico, and a wide are within their control. tion the House of Commons put before array of artistic and cultural pursuits. Canadians assert their autonomy not it under then Conservative Justice Min- by relying on secular or religious ide- ister . In Canada, abortion, SATISFIED CITIZENS PRACTISING ologies, but by being informed. They be- as far as the law is concerned, is now a “ADAPTIVE NAVIGATION” lieve in networking and heterarchical medical procedure no different from Jean Chrétien leaves his countrymen (as opposed to hierarchical) leader- knee surgery. All of these initiatives con- and women generally satisfied with their ship—not who you know, but what and trast to the direction of public policy in lives and personal prospects, and gen- how you know. the United States. erally supportive of his leadership and Aside from education, Canadians that of the Liberal Party. If the popularity rely on information technology to help CHRÉTIEN’S GREATEST of his party and policies upon exit is the them adaptively navigate the unpredict- CONTRIBUTIONS measure, Jean Chrétien is a more suc- able oceans of everyday life. PCs, laptops, Jean Chrétien’s greatest contribution to cessful prime minister than either of his Adaptive navigation, page 8

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 7 Adaptive navigation continued from page 7 cell phones, Blackberries, Global Posi- ture. In the United States, money is vir- Chrétien leaves Canadians less angry tioning Systems and Personal Digital tue and is used for conspicuous con- and more inured to social change than Assistants are the advanced weaponry sumption; work is paramount and fealty his predecessors. He leaves a people tol- of the information age as Canadians bal- to employer expected; imagine Canadi- erant of, even celebrating, the religious ance work, family, social responsibilities, ans pledging allegiance to their employer and ethno-cultural diversity of this coun- and leisure. as do Wal-Mart’s 1.4 million employees. try. That so many people of such diverse As consumers, Canadians wish to be backgrounds and value systems can live THE PURSUIT OF discriminating and ethical as they re- together in such relative harmony in AUTONOMY AND BALANCE member the harm being done to the today’s world seems nothing less than Canadians’ pursuit of autonomy and bal- environment. miraculous. ance in everyday life has emerged in this Like all moderns who feel the stress Hendrick Hertzberg, the editor of The decade as being just as important as of hectic lives, Canadians express the New Yorker magazine, wrote in July that work. Duty to others has returned after need to escape, to enjoy the simple plea- Canada is the kind of country that makes several decades’ absence to be balanced sures in life, and to be exposed to and you proud to be a North American. I with personal pleasure. Money is impor- even create physical beauty. Escape can know it is hard for Canadians to admit tant, but it is the medium for personal be to another culture or another time, it, but that is Jean Chrétien’s Canada to control of destiny now and in one’s fu- especially a time when time stood still. which he is referring.

Taking care of business continued from page 1 teeth with the Mulroney Conservatives’ ball!) After a farcical claim to have ful. To use only the example of health effusive enthusiasm for America. Chré- wrested “improvements” to the agree- care, we spend 15 percent of our GDP to tien excoriated the Tories at every oppor- ment from President Clinton, Chrétien buy measurably worse care than Cana- tunity for their alleged America-philia. proclaimed the NAFTA. dians get for 9.7 percent of GDP. And His favourite gambit was to remind audi- Ten years on, Chrétien’s about-face every American now knows that Cana- ences of the maudlin Mulroney–Reagan seems prescient. After wrenching ad- dian governments, unlike our own, set performance of “When Irish Eyes Are justments, the Canadian economy re- limits to the rapacity of pharmaceutical Smiling” at the 1985 “Shamrock Sum- bounded to become North America’s companies. mit.” There would be no more such du- and the G8’s most dynamic in terms of ets, Chrétien promised; “besides,” he job creation. Assessments of NAFTA’s A DISTINCTIVE FOREIGN POLICY quipped, “I am not a good singer.” first decade conclude that Canada has In terms of Canada’s international secu- benefited more than the United States rity relationship with the United States, THE CHRÉTIEN DOCTRINE or Mexico from continental free trade. the Chrétien government emphasized ON AMERICAN AFFAIRS If Chrétien read the New York Times Canada’s values and steered a distinc- As a new prime minister, Chrétien analysis on December 27, 2003 (and he tive course despite US pressure, even brought no broad new vision to Canada’s almost certainly did not read it—it ran before George W. Bush succeeded Bill relationship with the United States. In- to 3,000 words) he would take satisfac- Clinton in Washington. When the Helms- stead, he offered a simple defining prin- tion from the conclusions that “In Burton Act of 1996 threatened US repris- ciple: “business is business and friend- Canada... NAFTA helped shape a als against foreigners doing business with ship is friendship, and the two cannot more competitive economy,” and that Cuba, Chrétien made an official visit to be confused.” The phrase deserves a the “growing pains” during the transi- the island. Neither the US embargo nor place in Colombo’s Canadian Quota- tion “were cushioned by a strong social Canada’s constructive engagement tions, or perhaps on a Chrétien statue on safety net.” moved the Castro regime one inch or . Chrétien believed in Canada’s “strong one centimetre toward democracy, of And Chrétien didn’t confuse the two. social safety net,” did his best to preserve course. Neither policy is really about Because “business is business,” he re- it, and never tired of talking about it, es- Cuba: both are designed for domestic neged on the first promise that he made pecially to American audiences. Instead political consumption. Canada was able about the relationship: that he would of prattling about “shared values,” he to wear Cuba as a badge of foreign policy “tear up” the NAFTA. (Shocking—politi- pointed in his speeches on US–Canada independence. cians breaking promises. Next you’ll be difference. From a US perspective in Chrétien also gave Foreign Minister telling me that Pete Rose bet on base- 2004, that social safety net looks wonder- Lloyd Axworthy scope for his “human

8 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 security” agenda in international rela- tions, which infuriated the Pentagon and He guarded Canada’s interests, enhanced the US State Department. Axworthy’s crusade produced the multilateral its dignity, and emphasized US–Canada landmines treaty signed in Ottawa in 1997 differences—those things that set Canada by more than one hundred countries, the United States notably not among them, apart from the United States, those things to President Clinton’s personal embar- rassment. that made it, in the words that he loved President George W. Bush’s belliger- ent unilateralism presented every US ally to quote, “the best country in the world.” with a quandary. Bush repudiated every rule of decent international behaviour that the world community had created, United States? No one would defend the ality of the Canadian prime minister, usually with US leadership, in the previ- comments that President Bush was a exert at best a tiny influence over events ous half century. Jean Chrétien re- “moron,” or that Americans were “bas- and at worst no influence whatsoever. sponded to an impossible situation as tards.” But the prime minister didn’t To the US president, domestic political well as any other . make or endorse those remarks. It’s dif- advantage in New Hampshire or North He procrastinated, for example, on Ca- ficult to believe that they mattered very Dakota carries more importance than nadian participation in Bush’s revival of much. How different would the US– any US–Canada bilateral issue. Within the “Star Wars” delusion, reborn as “Na- Canada relationship have been on these constraints, in a difficult moment tional Missile Defense.” Chrétien’s retirement had Canada em- in North American and world history, bargoed Cuba, ignored landmines, vastly Jean Chrétien maximized the minuscule AFTER 9/11 increased defence spending, and said margin of manoeuvre available to him. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, “Ready, Aye, Ready” to National Missile He guarded Canada’s interests, en- Chrétien endured widespread criticism Defense and Iraq? What would such con- hanced its dignity, and emphasized US– for Canada’s more reasoned approach, cessions have earned Canada from the Canada differences—those things that set at home and overseas, to the “War on United States in return? Canada apart from the United States, Ter ror.” Reactionary commentators in those things that made it, in the words Canada and the United States berated THE MOUSE MAKES THE that he loved to quote, “the best country the prime minister as “soft” on terror- BEST OF THE ELEPHANT in the world.” ism. When Chrétien mused that “the The unhappy truth is that Canadian gov- Chrétien’s successor has promised Wes t” might bear some responsibility ernments and Canadian prime ministers a new US–Canada golden age, to be for creating the circumstances that bred have very little agency when it comes to built on friendlier personal relations terrorism, Fox News commentator Bill shaping the US–Canada relationship. with President Bush, and on frenetic at- O’Reilly opined, “I expected something Those Canadians who believe that Ot- tention in Ottawa to “managing” inter- like this. Chrétien is a socialist. . . . His tawa can substantially change policy in action with the United States. We’ll see. government allows nearly everyone into Washington, one is tempted to conclude, But there’s something pathetic about the Canada even if they have false docu- have been taking advantage of Canada’s first Bush–Martin moment at the Mont- mentation.” more liberal marijuana laws. My choice errey Summit of the Americas. Cana- Canadian public opinion caught up for the most outrageous statement of this dian papers gushed that the president with Chrétien, however, and a substan- argument comes not from The National had extended his pre-breakfast 10 min- tial majority of Canadians approved of Post, but from The Western Wheel, a utes with Martin to 20. Canada’s unwillingness to acquiesce to weekly in southern cattle coun- There is surely no Canadian unfamil- the US “Bush doctrine” of pre-emptive try. The Wheel’s editor argued that “mad iar with Pierre Trudeau’s famous analogy war, and supported their government’s cow” notwithstanding, the United States that, in their binational relationship, the decision not to participate in the US in- would have kept its border open to Ca- United States is an elephant and Canada vasion of Iraq. Chrétien presented nadian beef exports had Chrétien culti- a mouse? Why then do so few Canadi- Canada’s decision with an assurance vated better personal relations with Presi- ans understand the deepest implication worthy of Mackenzie King: “Of course, dent Bush! of that analogy? In a moment of pique, I hope that the Americans will do as well The United States sets the agenda and many years ago, ’s as possible.” determines the terms of the US–Canada Jeffrey Simpson put it best. Americans, Did Chrétien’s words and actions relationship. The policies of the Cana- he wrote, “know and care the square of damage Canada’s relationship with the dian government, much less the person- squat about Canada.”

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 9 Jean Chrétien’s surprise: A Canadian nationalist legacy

THE IRAQ DECISION AS BY REG WHITAKER compelling this might be, but it simply DEFINING MOMENT has not worked out that way. anada’s decision not to support the Reg Whitaker is distinguished research As pollster Michael Adams makes CUnited States and the United King- professor emeritus, York University, and clear in his fascinating study of North adjunct professor of political science, dom in the unilateral invasion of Iraq in American values, Fire and Ice, the no- University of Victoria. the spring of 2003 was a defining moment tion of converging North American val- for Canada and its position in the post- ues is a myth. have ac- 9/11 world. It was also a defining moment The notion of tually been diverging sharply from Ameri- in Jean Chrétien’s decade as prime min- can values over the past decade. Cana- ister. However unlikely it may have converging North dians are becoming more liberal, toler- seemed during his first two terms from ant, and adventuresome, while Ameri- 1993 to 2000, he leaves office having American values is a cans have been growing more conser- staked out a Canadian nationalist posi- vative, exclusionary, and fearful. Eco- tion for Canada, and the Liberal Party, in myth. Canadian nomic integration has not made Cana- relation to an increasingly imperial values have actually dians more like Americans, but less. The United States. assertion of an “America First” concept How likely was it that a prime minis- been diverging of global leadership under George W. ter who had embraced NAFTA and its Bush has persuaded a majority of Cana- projected extension to the Americas, sharply from dians that they do not share the Ameri- economic globalization in all its forms, can view of the world. and starved the Canadian military of the American values over If values do not follow economics, resources required to permit Canada to the past decade. perhaps it can also be argued that eco- play anything but a marginal role in glo- nomics do not follow values. The Liberal bal security, should suddenly step for- conversion of the federal government ward as champion of Canadian au- from deep deficit to sound fiscal status, tonomy—on an issue on which the Grant, it appears, was wrong about the and the expansion of the Canadian United States was trying ruthlessly to Liberals, and about the inevitability of economy under free trade, can be seen enforce compliance? Not likely at all, but nationalism’s defeat. as reducing Canadian insecurity and he did, and in so doing, confounded crit- vulnerability, and providing a level of ics on both the left and right. DEFYING THE LOGICAL LINK confidence upon which a more autono- In 1963, in an earlier defining mo- Left-wing critics have argued that eco- mous and independent foreign policy ment, the Conservative government of nomic continentalization and globaliza- can rest. This is especially the case when had gone down to tion undermine the foundations for na- the United States in the Bush era—at both defeat at the hands of Lester Pearson’s tional autonomy. Moreover, the Chré- the federal and state levels—has sunk into Liberals over the issue of US nuclear tien government’s successful pursuit of a sea of red ink as a result of reckless weapons on Canadian soil. George deficit elimination and its commitment tax cutting and a huge new bill for home- Grant had been moved to write his de- to fiscal as a leading prin- land security and imperial overreach. spairing Lament for a Nation: The De- ciple of its program, led critics on the Contrary to the opinion of critics on the feat of Canadian Nationalism in re- left to conclude that the federal govern- left, the Liberal pursuit of fiscal conser- sponse to what he saw as the triumph ment was fully committed to a neo-lib- vatism has strengthened the Canadian of Liberal continentalism. eral economic agenda that precluded state and stiffened its backbone. Forty years later, a Liberal government swimming against the North American stood up to the United States, while the market tide in foreign policy as in other THE 9/11 FACTOR conservative opposition (in both its mani- matters. The political and cultural super- The new post-9/11 dynamics were festations) demanded unconditional loy- structure, they assumed, will follow the discernable well before the Iraq decision, alty to the American empire. This time, economic base, and the latter points in although they were generally misread resistance did not lead to defeat, but ac- the direction of a North American Im- and misunderstood. Canada did not cording to the polls, rebounded strongly perium under the firm command of blindly comply with American directions to the government’s political credit. Washington and Wall Street. Logically in shaping its response to the terrorist

10 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 challenge. Instead, the Chrétien Liberals rupted flow of commerce, which was have subsequently died down to a whis- organized a campaign on two fronts: always Canada’s primary concern. In per, particularly after the failure to find publicly against the terrorists, and less doing so, Canadian sovereignty has by weapons of mass destruction, and the visibly against the negative repercussions and large been protected, as well as quagmire of the Iraqi occupation on the Canadian economy of American could be expected under the difficult cir- strengthened Canadian satisfaction in border security measures. cumstances. Critics in the Alliance who having made the right decision. There were very powerful and influ- thought Ottawa was giving too little, and Even some who have reluctantly ac- ential forces, both within and without, in the NDP who thought they were giv- knowledged Chrétien’s nationalist cre- urging Canada in the wake of 9/11 to ing away too much, both missed the dentials are expressing concern that Paul adopt a sweeping new North American point. The smart border agreements, still Martin will abandon this course to seek security perimeter scheme, that would ongoing, are in many ways a model of American cooperation at any cost. This have severely undermined national sov- maintaining the always delicate North is unlikely, given that a moderately inde- ereignty under the pressures of “harmo- American balance. pendent Canadian course has proved nization” of policies with the United both viable and popular. States. Despite the insistent voices of US THE FOLKS BACK HOME Martin may benefit from distancing ambassador and Tom The proof of the pudding came with the himself from some of the silly and over- d’Aquino’s Canadian Council of Chief Iraq decision. Chrétien was able to safely blown irritants from the Chrétien era (the Executives, Ottawa wisely chose to ig- ignore the threats of economic retalia- oft-repeated “moron” and “bastard” nore this and other “big ideas” for fur- tion for this act of political apostasy, comments from the fringes of the gov- ther continental integration proffered by threats that came both from the Ameri- ernment), but he will be as faithful in conservative think tanks, and instead cans and from the right-wing opposition pursuit of multilateralism and liberal in- opted for “thinking small.” and right-wing media, secure in the ternationalism as his Liberal predeces- By engaging the Americans in a se- knowledge that, blustering aside, the sors back to St. Laurent and Pearson. His ries of incremental negotiations under Americans would not bite off their nose own experience in global economic gov- the “smart border” rubric, the Liberals to spite their face. Canada was doing ernance pushes him firmly in the adroitly moved the United States away what could be reasonably expected in multilateralist direction. So long as the from the dangerous big picture of conti- the fight against terrorism and in mak- Bush administration remains in office, no nental integration, and onto the safer ing the northern border both safe and Canadian prime minister can easily con- specifics of concrete arrangements to profitable for both sides. Retaliation template publicly enlisting in its America make the border secure enough in never came, and the “ready, aye, ready” First crusade: the folks back home won’t American eyes to ensure the uninter- cries of Canada’s American loyalists, stand for it.

Systemic transformation continued from page 4 Americanism to get re-elected. President Foreign policy for domestic purpose view regarding what benefited the Lib- Chirac used anti-Americanism to try to also assisted the federal Liberal Party eral Party in terms of popularity, all hap- hold the EU together under French tute- through Canadian opposition to Ameri- pily for him were correlated. Whoever lage. Chrétien exploited foreign policy for can initiatives in the UN Security Coun- was right or wrong about foreign policy domestic purpose more deftly. Implicitly cil. The policy did not help Prime Min- direction, this Canadian role in foreign building on the idea of Trudeau’s Foreign ister Chrétien personally, but it certainly policy was in stark contrast to the role of Policy for Canadians, which jettisoned strengthened the party’s chances of re- Tony Blair and of George W. Bush, who Pearsonian “internationalism,” Chrétien election. In the United States, the pho- mortgaged their re-election chances on made foreign policy serve Canadian tograph of Liberal Party MPs standing behalf of a policy in which they believed, domestic ends in two ways. Foreign and wildly applauding the prime minis- against Saddam Hussein and against in- policy-for-domestic-purpose was useful ter, after a speech that denounced Brit- ternational terrorism. in knitting together Anglophone and ish and US intervention in Iraq and af- Francophone, especially in Quebec, firmed Canadian virtual non-participa- THE SECURITY PRIORITY where the response to a common rejec- tion, was perhaps the most visible re- If Canada does not do things very dif- tion of British and US intervention in Iraq minder of this use of foreign policy for ferently, according to Thomas (however heartfelt the criticism was for electoral ends. Axworthy, in terms of military prepared- Chrétien) was a huge success. It came Jean Chrétien’s ideological prefer- ness, it will put its citizens “at risk” and/ at just about the time that assistance was ences, his conception of the Canadian or condemn itself “to foreign policy ir- needed in giving “sovereignty” notions interest in foreign policy, his view of what relevance.” That is quite an indictment a firm shove off centre stage. was good for Canadian unity, and his Systemic transformation, page 12

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 11 Systemic transformation continued from page 11 by a Liberal Party spokesman possess- both in terms of gross military expendi- could be of assistance to Canadian ing a foreign vantage point upon which tures as a percent of GDP, and in terms peacekeeping, but only if the overall to base his remarks. Through a some- of the percent of military expenditures defence budget continues to increase times highly vocal foreign policy, and for equipment. Since 1993, the budget at the current rate. Otherwise, salaries very proud of its capacity to balance its has declined to the point that some De- will continue to eat up the equipment financial budgets, Canada has been cov- partment of National Defence officials budget. ering up its unwillingness to spend were reportedly about ready to close In the larger context, Canada must money, especially on equipment where up shop. make some important decisions soon it counts, for defence purpose. Although An announced increase in expen- about the degree to which it wants to Canada increased its defence spending diture for armoured vehicles, carved in coordinate its defence policy with oth- in 2003 by about 800 million dollars, in part out of the now moribund tank bud- ers. At stake, in time, may well be its sta- the past only about 10 percent of the get and a small administrative saving, tus in NORAD, NATO, and the G8. At budget has gone for equipment acqui- will strengthen the army over the navy stake is continuity with a brilliant recent sition, the bulk of the expenditure go- and air force. The intention to replace half century, and prospects for future ing for salaries. Averaged annually since aging Sea King helicopters and a pos- statecraft that could be equally produc- 1993, Canada is at the bottom of NATO sible increase in the size of the army tive but are a bit more uncertain.

Creative inaction continued from page 3 eral opposition to it. Indeed, on his JFORS units operating in secret did As Tony Blair twists in the wind over watch, the agreement was expanded to much of our dirty work, but quietly in the decision to go to war in Iraq, Canadi- include Mexico. The quantitative eco- Afghanistan. The Canadian Navy re- ans may honestly declare, “there we go nomic effects of these Free Trade Agree- mained well out of harms way cruising but for the grace of Jean Chrétien.” ments are still being debated by eco- the Indian Ocean. Regular Canadian Would Paul Martin or Brian Mulroney nomic historians (I write ruefully as one Forces, a bare minimum, were sent to have been able to resist the incredible who opposed it), but there is no doubt Afghanistan where they experienced pressure from Washington to be with that they significantly shifted attitudes the tragedy of “friendly fire,” which ef- them rather than against them? within Canadian business. No longer was fectively put an end to Canadian fight- the Canadian market enough; being able ing as part of the coalition. Instead CONSTRUCTIVE to compete continentally and interna- Canada reverted to the role it initially INACTION AS LEGACY tionally became the goal of Canada’s rejected, acting as part of a UN security The legacy of Chrétien’s constructive companies. This shift in benchmarks force in the region. inaction in these three key files is quite combined with technological prowess is When the time came for the coalition impressive. Chrétien did nothing in the creating a much more dynamic, globally of the willing to be formed to invade Iraq face of electoral pressure in Quebec competitive economy that can likely with- in alleged pursuit of weapons of mass and the advice of all of the constitutional stand a rising dollar. destruction, Canada shuffled inconspicu- experts. He disentangled his party from ously into the ranks of the unwilling. Un- an implied promise to repeal a hated STAYING OUT OF HARM’S WAY: heroic to be sure, and certainly not the tax, and thus could leave office basking FOREIGN AFFAIRS most direct means of confronting new in the warm glow of reduced deficits After 9/11, what Chrétien didn’t do dem- forms of evil in the world, but until we and balanced budgets that must have onstrated that Canada retained the abil- figure out what our interests are and how old Tories grinding their dentures. And ity to maintain an independent foreign best we might pursue them in this new it is Britain not Canada that must suffer policy even in the face of open threats era with the United States in such a dan- through the anguish of being “had” by from the United States. As the United gerous and self-destructive mood, this the Americans over Iraq. By not doing States descended into its fiercely retribu- policy bought precious time and restored things, Jean Chrétien leaves office with tive mood after the terrorist attacks on our international credibility. It is difficult the Liberals the most popular party in New York and Washington, Canada did to know what all of this will cost us in Quebec, an economy leading the G8, what was necessary under the circum- the long run, but, in the short run, the and a demonstrably independent for- stances as a neighbour and friend with- answer has been fewer lives and a re- eign policy. Mackenzie King would have out being drawn into a subservient po- newed reputation at the UN as an inde- been proud of him. We might at the very sition or an open-ended commitment. pendent actor and a possible mediator. least be moderately appreciative.

12 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 The quintessential “domestic” foreign policy prime minister

THE DOMESTIC SIDE BY ANDREW F. COOPER United Nations during the Iraq crisis—was OF FOREIGN POLICY not entirely risk-free. Most notably, Andrew F. Cooper is the associate director Chrétien’s support for NEPAD at the G8 ean Chrétien will be remembered of the Centre for International Governance flew in the face of the US insistence that with respect to Canadian foreign Innovation at the University of Waterloo. J terrorism be at the top of the agenda. policy in two very different ways. One distinct image will be the manner in CONVENIENCE which Chrétien as prime minister “got it The legacy of Chrétien AND CALCULATION right’” vis-à-vis the majority of Canadian What still stands out about Chrétien’s public opinion, or wrong according to in foreign policy approach, nonetheless, is the strong views of the Canadian economic elite, streak of convenience and calculation. on the 2003 Iraq crisis. The other far terms will be that of a His eye for international good citizenship more diffuse perspective is of Chrétien was conditioned at least in part by the as a Canadian leader who spent his 10 cautious and reactive sense that issue-specific initiatives tapped years in office with only a sporadic—al- leader—possessing into a rich vein of political support. The beit instrumental—interest in how Zaire initiative may have ended incon- Canada played a role in international af- a keen and astute clusively, with military personnel derid- fairs. Both of these takes, however, have ing it as the “bungle in the jungle,” but a common element in the emphasis they eye for ambiguity this conclusion should not detract from pay to Chrétien as the quintessential “do- the enormous popularity that the initia- mestic” foreign policy prime minister. and balance. tive drew from the NGO community and As well rehearsed by Donald Savoie from public opinion in Quebec. in Governing from the Centre, any Cana- In both mode of decision making and dian prime minister is limited in the at- leader—possessing a keen and astute eye policy output there was also a transpar- tention span he or she is going to have for ambiguity and balance. ent desire to find equipoise between con- to pay to an area such as foreign policy. tending forces. The management style Trudeau went more than a decade be- CHRÉTIEN’S CAUSES of the Chrétien government highlights a tween his push for a different mental map This is not to suggest that Chrétien did fundamental duality with concentration for Canadian foreign policy when he first not have strong beliefs animating his and fragmentation equally prominent. became prime minister and his burst of positions. As questions of national unity The PMO and PCO continued to be as- initiatives at the end of his political ca- spilled over into the international arena cendant with key advisers such as Eddie reer on North/South relations and the in the lead up to the October 1995 Que- Goldenberg possessing enormous suffocation of nuclear weapons. bec referendum, Chrétien tried to mobi- power on foreign as well as domestic Mulroney took up a number of issue ar- lize President Clinton’s support for the policy. Yet, at the same time it must be eas in the multilateral arena (the Rio federal cause. In terms of the rest of the acknowledged that Chrétien allowed in- conference, South Africa, among others) world, Chrétien has proved to be at least dividual ministers some considerable to attempt to compensate for his con- an intermittent champion on African is- leeway to run with policy initiatives. In tested image on the FTA and the Gulf sues as demonstrated by his willingness substance, this mix allowed very differ- War. to lead an intervention in the Great Lakes ent deliverables. Even Mike Pearson had to marshal the area in 1996-97 for the purpose of rescu- In many areas, Chrétien moved Ca- time he spent on foreign policy when he ing masses of refugees on the Zaire/ nadian foreign policy to an explicit ac- assumed the position of prime minister. Rwanda border; his desire to put the New commodation with the global/regional Unlike these leaders, however, there will Plan for African Development (NEPAD) competitiveness agenda. Chrétien rev- be little association, for better or worse, into the spotlight at the Kananaskis G8 eled in the role of Canada’s first sales- in the minds of future Canadians about Summit in 2002; and his support for a man, leading a number of high-profile what vision Chrétien stood for. Although global campaign to fight AIDS/HIV as he “Team Canada” missions to putative big- enormously successfully politically, the prepared to leave office. Moreover, this market countries around the globe, an legacy of Chrétien in foreign policy terms approach—akin to his willingness to pro- will be that of a cautious and reactive pose a “Canadian compromise” at the The quintessential, page 18

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 13 He kept us out of Buffalo: Jean Chrétien and Canadian nationalism

CHRÉTIEN AS NATIONALIST BY SETH FELDMAN these thoughts. The opening salvo was Maude Barlow and Bruce Campbell’s hen Jean Chrétien took office in Seth Feldman is director of the Straight Through the Heart: How the Lib- 1993, he had in the bank the po- W Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies. erals Abandoned the Just Society (1995). litical capital of three strong nationalist Barlow and Campbell accused Chrétien credentials. not only of an attack on Canadian insti- First, he was a player in the era of tutions and the identity they embodied Pearson–Trudeau Liberalism that de- The record of fined what, for many Canadians, na- Chrétien’s last year as but also on the very foundations of Ca- tionalism meant. The definition in- nadian democracy. They called for grass cluded well-funded public (including prime minister was roots opposition to address both Cana- cultural) institutions, subsidized cul- dian issues and (with some prescience) tural industries, half-hearted protective unlike anything in the the forces of globalization. legislation, distance (measured metri- Advocating a gentler consciousness cally) from the Americans as well as nine years that raising over a grassroots rebellion, Ri- hefty doses of iconography (the new preceded it—or in chard Gwyn’s Nationalism Without flag) and ritual (centennial year). Chré- Walls: The Unbearable Lightness of tien was most highly visible as a major fact anything seen Being Canadian (1995) came to very player in the climactic act of Pearson– much the same conclusion. Gwyn Trudeau nationalism—the repatriation since the constitution wrote of a Canadian identity battered of the constitution. from without by globalization and from Second, Chrétien came to us as the came home. within by the demands of the near com- anti-Mulroney. Nobody could have done pulsive cultural relativism of our a better job than Brian Mulroney in em- multicultural society. “If we cannot forge bodying everything George Grant saw for Canada. Far more problematic was some kind of partnership between the as lamentable. During the non-Liberal the question of what he was saying. old and new ,” Gwyn warned, interregnum, Mulroney demonstrated “our future may become that of a kind to most Canadians that they didn’t want FROM ANTI- TO NEO-MULRONEY of Northern .” a quick march into continentalist neo- The first Liberal Red Book equated Ca- Gwyn’s sentiment was echoed in conservatism and, really, they had no nadian national identity with Canada’s Jack Granatstein’s tireless campaign to interest in becoming better Americans. cultural institutions and promised to re- restore an appreciation of the nation’s Obliterating the Tories in 1993, was, in store stable funding to help those insti- heritage (most completely expressed in addition to all the sound pragmatic rea- tutions recover from the Tories. What Who Killed Canadian History? (1998)). sons, a feel good event. happened instead was a round of cut- As if to make Gwyn and Granatstein’s Third, throughout the Chrétien man- backs, followed much later by a period point, John Ralston Saul’s Reflections date, the Liberals were the only nation- of deep concern that, in the end, re- of a Siamese Twin: Canada at the End alist game in town. The Tories never re- stored cultural funding to something like of the Twentieth Century (1997) mined covered from being reduced to the what it was when the process began— Canadian political history to identify a leader and the follower. The NDP was, with more strings attached. This syn- worthy and unique intellectual legacy. even more than usual, pre-occupied with drome was not limited to the cultural Gwyn, Granatstein, and Saul re- self-destruction. Only the two regional sector but covered other institutions with minded their readers that there are ide- parties, Reform-CRAP-Alliance (now which Canadians define themselves als inherent to the Canadian experience Conservative) and the Bloc, provided against their southern neighbour. worth preserving, not just for our own any semblance of an opposition. Outside In light of this record, the Canadian sake but also for the sake of the increas- Parliament, the real opposition came nationalist might be forgiven for thinking ingly dumbed-down, globalized world. In from increasingly provincial, provincial that the prime minister had used his na- these and other writings, Canadian na- premiers. tionalist credentials as a smokescreen for tionalism was being repositioned beyond For 10 years, there was very little ques- a neo-Mulroney agenda. Nor was the physical borders. Canada was on its way tion about who—and who alone—spoke Canadian nationalist shy about sharing to becoming a virtual entity—a kind of

14 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 ethereal or what Gwyn had called in 1994 “the First Postmodern Nation.”

CANADIANISM WITHOUT CANADA? The Rt. Hon. For traditional nationalists, though, this all could be read as Canada evolving into a pleasant and useful memory. Nor were Jean Chrétien: they alone in this opinion. Anthony DePalma, concluding his stint as The New York Times’ man in Ottawa, left us with Here: A Biography of the New American Continent (2001). DePalma Revised observed that the work of continentalism was all but complete— and that Canadians welcomed their newly assimilated identity. standard version His predictions got a boost after 9/11, when and others opined that Canadian nationalism would not survive a BY GEORGE ELLIOTT CLARKE militant American demand for continental unity in their “War on Terror.” George Elliott Clarke is a professor of English There was little faith on the part of traditional Canadian at the . nationalists that the Chrétien government, given its record, would prevent Canada from becoming anything more than a Frankenstein-faced, meeching, elfish department within US Homeland Security. A year after 9/11, Murray Dobbin, writing for the Council of Canadians, decried A ghoul, the “rapid Americanization of Canada’s institutions and po- Skulking in a graveyard of prime ministers, litical culture.” ’s The Vanishing Country: Is It Too Admiring how they bagged elections— Late to Save Canada? (2002) concluded that nothing less Or dreading how they later got sacked— than a new political party could protect the country from an Those lumberjacks hulking in silk suits, American onslaught. Those attorneys awkward in buckskins, Perhaps the best researched of the Chrétien era nationalist Defining the country as one more strip mine laments was Stephen Clarkson’s Uncle Sam and US: Global- ization, and the Canadian State (2002). After one more lucrative deforestation, Clarkson was no happier than the traditional nationalists when All Chrétien ever wanted was to join looking at the Chrétien record. If there was a way out, it would This Gothic junkyard of shat-upon statues, come in the Canadian federal, provincial, and municipal gov- Clutching the Criminal Code in one hand, ernments finally seeing themselves pushed to irrelevance by A golf club in the other, the neo-conservative tide and, at long last, stemming it. Clarkson While sloshing out rhetoric that was Martinis went so far as to suggest that this public-sphere revolution might in fact be inevitable. And pabulum drizzled over cooing ministers. Michael Adams’s extensive opinion polling, summarized Slick, he slipped through cracks in bad news elsewhere in this issue, gives a hint as to why. Despite or be- And popped up gleaming like a televangelist, cause of all the affronts documented in the nationalist tomes, While acting Laurier with an Alley Oop it seems Canadians spent the Chrétien years becoming more scowl— Canadian, their core values diverging ever further from Ameri- “Le p’tit gars” orating, “C’est de la bullshit,” cans. It is also possible to read into Adams’s data a vindication His speech spitting clarity like pepper spray. of the nationalists’ claim of a massive disconnect between the will of the people and the Canada being moulded by the nation’s His Canada was cant and cannot, political and financial elites. A Parliament of lepers and peons, A politics of nothing doing THE NEWEST NATIONALIST Cos doing nothing means nothing’s wrong. At the end of the Chrétien era, Canadians appeared to be the He was the perfect mime of a prime minister, people that Canadian nationalists had been talking about all Choosing to ape the mannerisms of the dead, along. But even more surprising was the fact that these inde- pendent-minded Canucks finally had themselves a prime min- To shuffle, zombie-like, into History, ister. For it was in his lame duck year that Jean Chrétien de- Through a labyrinth of fun-house mirrors cided to play his long neglected nationalist cards. The canny Stuttering his forged, misshapen greatness. politician may have simply been acknowledging the trends He kept us out of Buffalo, page 18

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 15 Securing our future: What follows tomorrow? Chrétien and cultural policy

FIXING THE DARK PERIOD BY JOYCE ZEMANS taken on the portfolio in 1996), a skilled etween May and October 2001, in a deputy minister ( joined Bcross-Canada road show, the federal Joyce Zemans is the director of the department in 1999), and a prime Liberal government announced the jew- the MBA program in arts and media minister considering his legacy that the administration at York University’s els in the crown of its cultural program— cultural sector came into its own. Oppor- Schulich School of Business. over a half a billion dollars in cultural tunity for All: The Liberal Plan for the spending. Tomorrow Starts Today Future of Canada (2000) envisioned “a (TST), was intended to signal the Liberal smart country where people are the Party’s commitment to finally fulfill the Though the Chrétien greatest source of competitive advan- promises it had made almost a decade tage.” Many of the Liberal initiatives in earlier. On a number of fronts, it did just government’s last this mandate reflected that larger theme, that. Representing, as the Liberals would mandate went some promising to “connect Canadians,” repeat on a number of occasions, the through high-speed broadband Internet largest investment in the arts since the way toward fulfilling access to be available to all communi- was founded in 1957, ties in Canada by 2004. The chapter on TST appeared to offer something for al- the Liberals’ original culture, “Canadian Culture, Canadian most everyone. Choices,” focused on new technologies: But did it? Closer analysis makes it commitments in the the creation of Canadian cultural content clear that the dollars offered in this new cultural sector, it leaves for the Internet, the development of new program did little more than replace media production, a one-stop all-Cana- funding lost during the Liberals’ deficit an uncertain future. dian Web site, and support for the cul- reduction drive in the 90s. Between 1993 tural industries as the leading content and 1998, in what Canada Council Chair, providers in the new economy. Recapitu- Jean-Louis Roux has called “the dark lating earlier promises, this third Red Book period,” cultural spending declined 17 proach to … cultural policy.” In the after- once again reiterated the government’s percent and culture took one of the math of the split-run debacle, it also out- commitment to national cultural institu- heaviest hits of any portfolio. lined the need to “build international tions; to promoting Canadian culture rules that will support domestic cultural abroad; and to ensuring that Canada and RED BOOK PROMISES expression within a global marketplace.” its cultural sector would be connected This was the case despite the fact that Outlining tax measures that had been and competitive in a globalized world. the Liberals’ first and most comprehen- introduced during the government’s first In successive iterations, the Liberal sive Red Book, Creating Opportunity: term in support of both charitable dona- government had echoed the current lan- The Liberal Plan for Canada (1993) had tions and the cultural industries, it guage of cultural policy internationally, declared: “Culture is the very essence of boasted of a “much more favourable” tax moving from the rhetoric of national national identity, the bedrock of national regime for the arts. Like its predecessor, identity to that of social cohesion—cul- sovereignty and national pride.” Decry- Securing Our Future focused on national ture as “embodiment of a country’s cre- ing the Conservative regime that had cultural institutions. Acknowledging that ativity, spirit and identity, which binds us “deliberately undermined our national financial circumstances had prevented together and builds Canada” in an in- cultural institutions,” a key Liberal prom- the government from fulfilling its earlier creasingly diverse country and the need ise focused on stable multi-year financ- commitments, it promised the Canada to address that diversity. The centrality ing to national cultural institutions. Yet, Council $25 million and described the of the arts was also a theme and, in his in their first term, the Liberals would cut government’s “unqualified support for 2001 reply to the Speech from the deeply into those same institutions that Canadian public broadcasting.” The cul- Throne, anticipating the announcement they had promised to support. tural industries remained a constant of TST, Chrétien committed his govern- The second Red Book, Securing Our theme. ment to “provide significant new support Future Together: Preparing Canada For It was only in the campaign for a third to ensure that our cultural institutions, the 21st Century (1997), reiterated the mandate, backed by an improved finan- our performers, our artists, can play the Liberals’ commitment to the cultural sec- cial situation, a tenacious minister of critical role of helping us to know our- tor, pledging “a more artist-centred ap- Canadian heritage (Sheila Copps had selves.”

16 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 THE RECORD ON CULTURE nectivity and access to Canadian content ation of a very effective civil society or- If the Liberals took office committed at home and abroad. ganization, the International Network to support for national cultural institu- The Chrétien government introduced for Cultural Diversity that meets concur- tions, their record has been uneven to a number of significant initiatives in ad- rently with the INCP. Today, the net- put it politely. Under their mandate, the dition to TST. Tax incentives improved works have members from around the CBC’s funding dropped from $1,089.5 the environment for support to the chari- world. The 2003 UNESCO General Con- in 1993-94 to $923 million in 2001-02 table sector and, consequently, the non- ference voted for the creation of a world (and even lower in the intervening profit arts and cultural sector in Canada. Convention on Cultural Diversity to pro- period). Except for the Canada Coun- One of the government’s last initiatives vide a legal foundation for government cil and, to a certain extent the national was the creation of the Commercial Heri- measures that support cultural diversity museums, national cultural institutions tage Properties Incentive Fund launched and to encourage governments to use have lost ground in real terms. Strik- with the Department of Finance in No- that authority domestically. Canada con- ingly, over 70 percent of the funding for vember 2003. tinues to house the Secretariat for the TST is administered directly by the Though the heritage sector did not INCP and its election to the UNESCO Department of Canadian Heritage, rep- fare particularly well over the last de- Executive Council will enable it to work resenting an increase of more than cade, Chrétien, like Trudeau, under- to ensure that the goals of the conven- $400 million to a budget that in 2001- stood the importance of bricks and tion are realized when the convention 02 stood at $952 million. This reflects mortar in legacy building. Under his is presented for approval at the next a worrying policy shift away from the watch, The Canadian War Museum has general conference in 2005. Whether principle of arm’s length in the man- found a new home and the Archives’ the UNESCO convention will, as Copps agement of the cultural portfolio. long-awaited Portrait Gallery is sched- suggests, “settle international disputes Cultural industries remained a focus uled to move into the former American over issues involving cultural protec- throughout the Chrétien years, with a embassy. Last spring, Chrétien an- tion . . . rather than the WTO,” remains steady shift toward support for building nounced the creation of the Canada to be seen. capacity in the private sector and com- History Centre, dedicated to Canadian In the meantime, foreign ownership, pensating for the ramifications of an in- political and civic history, to be housed media concentration, and Canadian creasingly liberalized trade environment. in the former government Conference content remain critical agenda issues Copps, for instance, highlighted the cre- Centre in Ottawa. Like the merged Na- that have seen much discussion but little ation of the Canadian Television Fund tional Library and Archives that the Lib- resolution. Canadian content in broad- and the “approximately $1.5 billion” of erals also announced during Chrétien’s casting has been the subject of a num- funds which have gone into this private– last mandate, the History Centre was to ber of reports. Foreign ownership regu- public sector initiative as one of her great- be a government agency rather than an lations in broadcasting and the media est achievements. Technology and trade, arm’s-length museum. At present, how- are hotly contested. In recent months, along with the very real threat to domes- ever, all projects are under review and the Standing Committee on Canadian tic cultural policy capacity have been key the History Centre, at least, is unlikely Heritage and the Committee on Indus- drivers in shaping the agenda in recent to be realized. More generally, it will re- try, Science and Technology have taken years. Job creation and the rising per- main for Martin to address the need for opposing positions on the subject. The centage of GDP attributable to the cul- adequate support for the maintenance former recommended that there be no tural sector are among the reasons cited and operation of the underfunded mu- change to the existing rules and urged for action. seum sector as a whole. We have seen increased funding for Canadian content Among its many prongs, which in- little evidence of the national heritage and the CBC. The latter, arguing that cluded capacity building in arts organi- policy called for by the Canadian Mu- carriage and control should be distin- zations and renewal of cultural infrastruc- seums Association that would “engage guished and that broadcast distribution ture, TST enhanced the international all Canadians in their heritage, in all and programming entities can be cultural portfolio with the Department of parts of Canada, not just in Ottawa.” treated differently, recommended that Canadian Heritage’s Trade Routes Pro- Another legacy of the era bears the the rules concerning telecommunica- gram. Positioning Canada in the era of personal stamp of Minister Copps. Af- tions and broadcast distribution be global communications was another ter the split-run magazine decision at the eliminated. This is a hot potato passed critical objective of TST. The virtual mu- WTO, Heritage moved into the interna- on to the Martin regime. seum of Canada, French language and tional arena, taking a leadership role in Though the Chrétien government’s Canadian content on the Internet, devel- the creation of the international culture last mandate went some way toward opment of the multimedia industry, and ministers’ network, the International fulfilling the Liberals’ original commit- the creation of a Canadian portal were Network for Cultural Policy (INCP). ments in the cultural sector, it leaves central to the policy objectives of con- Heritage also lent its support to the cre- Securing our future, page 18

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 17 Securing our future continued from page 17 an uncertain future. Even those prom- grams bundled together under the initiatives introduced in Chretien’s last ises that reflect core values such as sta- umbrella of TST, the Chrétien mandate reflect broad Liberal policy bility for national cultural institutions government’s most expensive and objectives. If it is wise, the Martin gov- have not been ascertained. It remains most publicized initiative, will be sus- ernment will continue to build on its unclear whether the individual pro- tained in the Martin era. Most of the predecessor’s achievements.

He kept us out of Buffalo continued from page 15 Adams describes. Or he may have finally legislative program was a litany of un- life left in Canadian nationalism than ei- had it with the nation’s neo-conservative American activities: gun control, decrimi- ther he or his critics could have antici- elites as they were rather ungraciously nalization of marijuana, same-sex mar- pated. “Canada’s New Spirit,” as The replacing him with one of their own. riage. It would have pleased the by-now Economist called it in September 2003, Whatever the impetus, the record of beatified Trudeau. Chrétien’s signing the was more than a feel good factor or a Chrétien’s last year as prime minister was Kyoto Accord and standing with the UN smokescreen for importing Republican unlike anything in the nine years that pre- against the second Iraq war would have policies. Fostering and defending a na- ceded it—or in fact anything seen since made Pearson proud if not envious. tional identity might yet be the measure the constitution came home. His final As Chrétien left office, there was more of a prime minister.

The quintessential continued from page 13 approach that sold “national unity” on top of more tangible products. Equally Notwithstanding all the immense salient, Chrétien reversed course on pressure from the Bush administration, NAFTA soon after he became prime min- ister. Rather than opening up the NAFTA Chrétien did not join the new coalition of issue to a wide-ranging discussion in Cabinet or the country, Chrétien chose the willing “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” decisively—and personally—to close the issue once and for all. was willing to go along to satisfy US de- expressed in Hobbesian terms. At an- In other, especially non-economic, mands that Canada—with other allies— other—and more convincing level—the areas, considerable autonomy was al- be onside with the war on terrorism. The result can be attributed to Chrétien’s im- lowed for activist ministers such as for- Canada–US border was re-branded. pressive political and pragmatic instincts; eign minister Lloyd Axworthy. On issues Rather than just making contributions a skillful calculation based especially on such as the campaign to ban anti-person- through naval and air forces, as had been the unpopularity of the Iraqi intervention nel landmines and the initiative to cre- the model in the Gulf War and Kosovo, due to the sensibilities of Quebec, ate an International Criminal Court, Canada’s commitment to the first Afghani- multicultural communities, and across Axworthy worked closely not with the stan operation contained not just deploy- an important gender divide. United States but, in a new speeded up ment of a number of Canadian ships but When all is said and done, therefore, version of classic Canadian coalition the participation under US command of Chrétien’s defining moment in foreign building, with a loose grouping of like- a 750-member “battle group” together policy terms constituted a non-action— minded countries and NGOs. On the with the deployment of personnel from that is to say, what he was not prepared more successful of these initiatives— the JTF2 (Joint Task Force Two). to do as opposed to any constructive above all the landmines case—Chrétien Still, notwithstanding all the immense design or strategy. The test for Paul Mar- could bask in the glow of reflected glory pressure from the Bush administration, tin will be to raise the bar of Canada’s without having expended much political Chrétien did not join the new coalition position and role in the world. Just as capital, energy, or exposure to risks. of the willing “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” the caution of Prime Minister Mackenzie DEALING WITH THE AMERICANS At one level, this resistance can be el- King morphed into the so-called Pear- This search for balance comes out in evated to Chrétien idealistically adopting sonian diplomatic golden age, the need most definitive fashion, however, in a value-based foreign policy, with Canada is for a more decisive, creative, sus- Chrétien’s approach to dealing with the defined as a civilian/rules-based (or tained, and operational focus on Cana- United States directly. In the aftermath Kantian) state, increasingly discon- dian foreign policy in the post-Iraq and of the shock and horror of 9/11, Chrétien nected and uneasy with US militarism post-Chrétien period.

18 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 Jean Chrétien and cultural policy: The biggest deficit of all?

THE DREAMING DEFICIT BY DAVID TARAS called for repairs, readjustments, refo- cusing, and in some cases, for the cre- n recent years Canadians have devel- David Taras is a professor and ation of new institutions. oped a bold confidence based on glit- I associate dean in the Faculty of General The report asked the government to tering cultural achievements. From the Studies at the University of Calgary. deal with the grave concerns that it had Cirque de Soleil on the Las Vegas strip about the decline in English-Canadian to the unsettling brilliance of painter drama by making funding programs Alex Colville, from the fantasy worlds Given that the right more efficient and dependable. Wit- created by the award-winning films of nesses who appeared before the com- Denys Arcand to the books by Yann of citizens to have mittee complained about being buried Martel and Margaret Atwood and CBC’s by an avalanche of paperwork. They also often searing documentaries, there is an access to a diversity told MPs that funding was unstable and exuberant sense that our artists and in- unpredictable. Indeed, in 2003, the Chré- deed Canadian cultural products have of viewpoints is the tien government substantially reduced arrived. basic linchpin of a the government’s share of the Canadian However stirring and self-satisfying Television Fund. This was a matter of as this vision might be, the gritty reality healthy and educated considerable concern, even shock in is quite different. Canadian films, books, some quarters, especially since the same TV programs, magazines, and music democracy and budget had bolstered incentives for are still found for the most part at the American TV and film production in back of stores, erased from hard drives, society, the silence Canada. or at the very bottom of the list of pro- The Lincoln report also called on the gramming choices. Indeed, some is haunting. government to provide stable and in- would argue that in the places where creased funding for CBC/Radio-Canada. most people live their daily lives, Cana- The report recognized that in most ad- dian cultural products are quickly fad- BROADCASTING POLICY vanced industrial societies, public broad- ing from view—the legacy of 10 years of OR LACK THEREOF casting remained a central instrument for government neglect. Canadian drama Perhaps the most glaring example of in- communicating values and identities. on English-Canadian TV barely registers action is in the area of broadcasting However, years of cutbacks and indeed in the public consciousness, our music policy. Broadcasting is a particularly poi- of decisions by the Canadian Radio-Tele- industries are struggling to stay afloat gnant arena to look at because while vision and Telecommunications Com- amid technological change, and sur- convergence means that all media are mission (CRTC) to deny the public veys indicate that Canadians are read- converging on the Internet, TV still re- broadcaster valued cable licences (with ing less and buying fewer books than mains the central showcase for Cana- the notable exceptions of Newsworld they were 10 years ago. dian culture whether film, music, or and RDI), had weakened the CBC and All this is to say that Jean Chrétien’s drama. Canadians on average spend al- forced it to largely abandon local and cultural deficit may be the biggest defi- most a full day out of every single week regional production. Except for news cit of all. Cultural deficits can be as dam- watching TV. programs, local and regional production aging as fiscal deficits. As drama pro- During the Chrétien years, the salient has almost ceased to exist in Canada. ducer David Barlow has warned: “An moment for Canadian broadcasting The report recommended new incen- interesting phenomenon occurs when policy was undoubtedly the tabling of the tives to encourage more local and re- a country looks to a foreign culture for report of the House of Commons Stand- gional programming by all broadcasters its popular entertainment over a long ing Committee on Canadian Heritage in including the CBC. period of time. If a society consistently June 2003. The committee’s two-year chooses the dramatic fantasies of an- study, chaired by Clifford Lincoln, was BROADCAST GOVERNANCE other culture, they come to believe that the most comprehensive in almost a gen- But it was in the area of governance that their own reality is not a valid place on eration. The Lincoln report found that the Lincoln report made its most dra- which to build dreams. Their reality isn’t despite many successes, aching wounds matic recommendations. MPs were con- good enough for dreaming.” had been allowed to fester for years. It The biggest deficit of all? page 27

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 19 Post-secondary education in the Chrétien years

THE FEDERAL ROLE IN BY PAUL AXELROD Mulroney government in 1989, was spot- POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION lighted and made permanent in 1997. onstitutionally, post-secondary edu- Paul Axelrod is dean of York University’s Designed to “close the ‘gap’ between Ccation falls within provincial juris- Faculty of Education. academy and industry, and to make sci- diction, but throughout Canada’s history, entific research more commercial,” the the federal government has, in selected NCE, according to one study, repre- areas, participated actively in university In an era of sented “the most dramatic change in the and college affairs. It created the National nation’s science policy since the [cre- Research Council in 1916, regulated uni- globalization, ation of the] National Research Council.” versity admission policies during the university-based By 2001, 29 networks, “deemed strategi- Second World War, provided direct cally important to Canada’s prosperity grants to universities beginning in 1951, research, in particular, and international competitiveness,” had established the Canada Council in 1957, been established. funded the expansion of colleges and was identified by the Another pillar of the federal govern- technical education in the 1960s, and ment’s economic development scheme initiated, with provincial collaboration, federal government was the Canada Foundation on Innova- the Canada Student Loans Program in tion (CFI), founded in 1997 with a one 1964. Always wary of federal incursion as a critical instrument billion dollar budget. The funds were to into their realms, the provinces (with the in the cultivation and be awarded on a competitive basis to periodic exception of Quebec), have universities deemed to have the most welcomed, or at least tolerated, Ottawa’s sustenance of a strategic and economically promising higher educational initiatives, because research programs. An independent they have generally been accompanied “knowledge society.” Board of Directors has governed the by significant fiscal transfers. foundation, which covers 40 percent of In the Chrétien years, this attitude the approved project infrastructure costs. continued. But the past decade had loan repayment scheme,” through which The remaining 60 percent must be pro- some unique characteristics. It began students would be charged higher tuition vided by universities and their (generally with dramatic cuts to social spending, fees and repay loans on the basis of their private sector) “partners.” including higher education, and ended post-university incomes, foundered in Among those academics who qualify with a flurry of initiatives designed to the face of strong opposition. Instead, the for CFI funding are the holders of Canada draw universities into a national eco- federal government introduced the Research Chairs—an unprecedented fed- nomic development strategy. In an era Canada Health and Social Transfer, eral initiative begun in 1999. This pro- of globalization, university-based re- which replaced the system of Estab- gram, designed to lure scholars back to search, in particular, was identified by lished Program Financing, and led to a Canada, and to keep emerging academic the federal government as a critical in- dramatic reduction of support for higher “stars” from leaving the country, pro- strument in the cultivation and suste- education. Federal cuts contributed to vided funding for 2,000 prestigious re- nance of a “knowledge society.” the erosion of all government funding for search chairs at Canadian universities. Following its election in 1993, the post-secondary education; the public While open to academics in all fields, the Chrétien government’s first order of busi- sector covered 64 percent of university awards have disproportionately gone to ness was a deficit reduction initiative af- operating costs in 1993-94 and 55 percent those in the medical and applied sci- fecting virtually all programs. The 1994 in 1998-99. ences over the humanities and social federal budget set out to reduce the defi- sciences. cit to 3 percent of GDP; subsequently, THE FUNDING TURNAROUND some six billion dollars were withdrawn Toward the end of the 1990s, for reasons BOLSTERING APPLIED RESEARCH from the areas of health, education, and future historians ought to probe in depth, The Canadian Institutes of Health Re- welfare through to 1998. A proposal by the federal government suddenly discov- search (CIHR), created in 2000, was an- Lloyd Axworthy, minister of human re- ered the importance of universities to other venture meant to draw universities sources and development, to fund uni- national life. The Networks of Centres of into public–private institutional partner- versities on the basis of a “contingency Excellence Program, initiated under the ships and to stimulate applied research.

20 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 Replacing the Medical Research Coun- cil, the CIHR focuses on health systems, Together, Chrétien’s policies appeared and biomedical and clinical science, and is intended to enable Canada to “keep to improve Canada’s competitive place in its best and brightest scientists and re- the world of higher education. However, main internationally competitive in today’s knowledge-based economy.” In by some important indicators, the country’s addition, the government met a long- standing university request to fund the position has slipped, and risks further indirect costs of research beginning in 2002. Overall, Ottawa resolved to raise decline without concerted action. Canada’s research and development performance from 15th to 5th internation- ally by 2010. For 25 years, the Social Sciences and Scholarship Foundation bursaries to NEW CHALLENGES TO Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) some 90,000 students with demon- POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION has supported university-based scholar- strable financial needs. The program Together, Chrétien’s policies appeared to ship in the non-scientific fields. In 1998, also allocated 930 merit-based en- improve Canada’s competitive place in its diminished budget, along with those trance awards to high performing high the world of higher education. However, of the other federally sponsored grant- school graduates. Within the govern- by some important indicators, the ing agencies, was restored to 1994-95 lev- ment, this plan, perceived as one of country’s position has slipped, and risks els. An additional boost to scholarship Prime Minister Chrétien’s “legacy” ini- further decline without concerted action. in the “humanities and humane sci- tiatives, was reportedly the source of a In the 1980s, Canada, with the United ences” came from the inauguration in pointed debate between those who States, led the world in university partici- 2002 of the Trudeau Foundation fellow- favoured a needs-based versus a merit- pation rates. Currently, it has fallen to the ships, sustained by a federal endowment based system. Concerned about the “middle of the pack—well behind the top of $125 million. growing problem of student debt, Hu- five OECD nations.” And Canadian gov- Clearly, however, the federal “innova- man Resources Minister Pierre Petti- ernments provided students 20 percent tion” strategy prioritized university work grew, changed his mind and opted—as less support in 2001 than they did in in the “harder” sciences. Although more did the program itself—for a mainly 1981—well below comparable American than 50 percent of Canadian academics needs-based allocation, an approach federal and state levels. Furthermore, a are employed in the social science and which duplicated that of the long-stand- recent evaluation of the Canadian Millen- humanities fields, only 12 percent of fed- ing Canada student loans plan. An- nium Scholarship Foundation ques- eral research funding has been directed nouncing the Millennium Scholarship tioned the effectiveness of the program to these scholarly areas. Furthermore, Foundation in his 1998 budget, Finance in improving student access to universi- SSHRC grants themselves, increasingly, Minister Paul Martin said it indicated ties, one of its foundational purposes. have been tied to “strategic” market-ori- how “crucial” the federal role was in Universities face daunting chal- ented themes such as “education and “preserving the Canadian middle class lenges, too, with respect to infrastruc- work” and the “new economy.” Even as in an age of globalization.” tural and faculty renewal. It is estimated Canadian universities welcomed the at- This high-profile project was aug- that deferred maintenance of universi- tention and largesse of the federal gov- mented by the Canada Graduate Schol- ties totals $3.6 billion, and that over the ernment in the latter part of the Chrétien arships Program, announced in 2003, course of the next decade, Canada will era, they had reason to worry about the which will ultimately fund 2,000 masters require 25,000 to 30,000 new professors. future of curiosity-based research, and and 2,000 doctoral students at an annual Whether the innovation, recruitment, the fate of undergraduate teaching, in the cost of $105 million. Finally, the federal and financial aid strategies of the Chré- “knowledge society.” government enriched the registered edu- tien government play a significant role cational savings plan (RESP), which pro- in successfully confronting these chal- SUPPORTING STUDENTS vides tax incentives for Canadians to save lenges, whether provincial governments As well as stressing the importance of for their children’s post-secondary edu- are prepared to make similar commit- applied research, the federal govern- cation. In 1998, the Canada education ments to educational renewal, and ment turned its attention to the grow- savings grant was introduced which en- whether higher education in the future ing private costs of university educa- abled families to top up their annual is to be valued for its cultural signifi- tion for students and their families. In RESP contributions by a 20 percent fed- cance, as well as its economic utility, 2000, it offered the first Millennium eral grant (to a maximum of $400). remains to be seen.

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 21 Quebec and the democratic deficit

met Jean Chrétien only once in my BY GUY LAFOREST ing Quebec an ugly black eye at the altar Ilife, during the 1974 federal electoral of international public opinion. Devising campaign in Iqaluit, then Frobisher Bay. Guy Laforest is a professor of political and implementing a plan to exploit these I had a summer job there with Bell science at the University of Laval. three consequences is essentially what Canada, and Mr. Chrétien came to town the apparatuses of the Canadian state, to shore up the local Liberal candidate. led by Mr. Chrétien, accomplished after He was his usual political self: enthusi- This is my 1995, in three ways. astic, energetic, easily accessible, de- Jean Chrétien: ploying all the skills that made him a for- THE POLITICAL FALLOUT midable campaigner. I did not dislike the imprudent throughout, First, the threat to partition an indepen- man. Quite frankly, I still don’t. This be- dent Quebec was affirmed in 1996 and ing said, his Canada was not mine, and lucky in the crunch, re-stated in the debate surrounding the his way of dealing with Quebec was, in Clarity Act. Ottawa reserves itself the right my view, unenlightened and fraught with skillful and acting with to assess the quality of a clear majority, dangers for our common future. cold and renewed following daily events in the streets of Quebec, in the days and weeks follow- 1995 REFERENDUM: resolve after 1995, ing a referendum. This means the rule A SQUEAKER of law if necessary, but not necessarily Dealing with the Quebec file, Jean Chré- a true Canadian the rule of law. This is “reason of state” tien was plain lucky. From my perspec- of the first magnitude. Our politically res- tive, he was wrong in his efforts with nationalist rather urrected prime minister really meant to Pierre Trudeau to patriate the constitu- than a federalist. save the nation at all costs. tion without the consent of Quebec, and Second, Mr. Chrétien’s government even more imprudent in his concerted aggressively promoted a new rhetoric, association with all those who undid the promoting Canada as it currently stands; . His punishment quintessential political survivor. He open only to minor reforms at the mar- was three consecutive majority govern- barely outran the shadow of his political gins of the political system. Rest-of- ments, a divided opposition, and more death and was forever transformed by Canada public opinion, along with the power for a decade than most demo- the experience. From this angle, Jean media and intellectual elites, was for cratic leaders around the world. Luck fell Chrétien’s fate in 1995 resembles Pierre many years after the referendum quite squarely on his side during the fateful Trudeau’s in 1980. Having announced his receptive to this new discourse. In the Quebec referendum of 1995. His perfor- retirement, Trudeau came back from edited volume that followed the 2002 In- mance was miserable: careless planning, political death to win the February 1980 ternational Conference on Federalism, uncharacteristically awkward campaign- federal election. A resolute man if ever held in August 2002 in St-Gallen, Swit- ing, and a loss of nerve during the last there was one, Trudeau was even more zerland, Raoul Blindenbacher and days prior to October 30. His side won steadfast after he came back in his de- Ronald Watts outlined the institutions by the narrowest of margins. sire to carry the day against his arch- and principles that should be present Space here is restricted, so nuances rivals, the separatists from Quebec. Mu- in the practices and processes of fed- will have to be argued elsewhere. tatis mutandis, the same logic can be ap- eral regimes. I will enumerate here only Canada was not nearly lost in October plied to Jean Chrétien in 1995. three of these principles: 1995. However, a dangerous political cri- Jean Chrétien’s luck was extended by • Non-centralization as a principle sis was averted. What Mr. Parizeau’s own loss of nerve on the expressed through multiple centres and Jean Chrétien have told us since the night of the referendum, and by the stra- of political decision making. referendum, add up to illustrate how tegic miscalculations of the sovereigntist dangerous our political circumstances establishment in Quebec. Parizeau’s • Open political bargaining as a ma- would have been. Canada was not nearly speech had three consequences: inter- jor feature of the way in which de- lost, but Jean Chrétien’s political career nally polarizing Quebec even more, pro- cisions are arrived at. was nearly saved. viding the Rest-of-Canada with an easy • The operation of checks and bal- This, to me, is the crucial point about excuse for not seriously considering the ances to avoid the concentration of the whole matter. Jean Chrétien is the failings of the political regime, and giv- political power.

22 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 THE END OF THE NATIONALIST PROJECT A political party carrying an election with 40 These principles, I would contend, were rather absent from the practices of the percent of the vote, but with a majority in the Chrétien governments, particularly after National Assembly can impose its referendum 1995. Provincial governments were given precious little legitimacy as centres of will on the Assembly and on the whole people political decision making. Mr. Chrétien’s ultimatum to the provincial premiers on of Quebec. The existence of lacunae such as this the financing of health care says a lot about the absence during his mandate one was skillfully exploited by the Chrétien of a culture of dialogue and open bar- government in the debate over the Clarity Act. gaining. Finally, the referendum crisis with Quebec worked to strengthen the trend toward the greater concentration of power in the hands of the prime min- ister. For most people outside of Quebec, will be stronger if he or she triumphs. lated to education, and to promote the caught in a “nation-saving” mind-set, it Logically, this means accepting that one Canadian national identity in every town did not matter at all. will be weaker if one suffers defeat, not- and village of Quebec. The latter endeav- Third, the dramatic results on refer- withstanding the narrowness of such a our has enjoyed mixed results, if we can endum night, coupled with Mr. Pari- defeat. For the sovereigntists in Quebec, believe the monthly and obsessively zeau’s widely publicized remarks, had a fully in control of the referendum pro- computed figures provided by the Cen- huge impact on the evolution of the cess, the results on October 30 did not tre for Research and Information on Canada–Quebec game. Suddenly, the signify “near-victory.” The difference of Canada for the benefit of the Council for international community, and the major a few thousand votes meant a crushing Canadian Unity. power centres within it, became keen defeat. observers. On this stage, it was simply In the post-referendum strategic con- DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT no contest between Ottawa and Quebec figuration, Ottawa held most of the trump AND THE CLARITY BILL City. Fully awakened by the great scare cards, and it must be recognized that Mr. Bouchard and Landry helped Mr. Chré- of October 30, the Canadian state led by Chrétien played them brilliantly. He soon tien by not recognizing that there were Mr. Chrétien firmly decided to use all the realized that the key global power circles, some flaws in the referendum process considerable foreign policy means at the including those in Paris, were on his side, controlled in Québec City. As it stands, disposal of Ottawa to fight Quebec’s drive and he made sure that on this issue a political party carrying an election toward sovereignty in bilateral relations above all else, complete coordination with 40 percent of the vote, but with a and multilateral forums. All in all, seen and unity of resolve would exist between majority in the National Assembly can from the perspective of late 20th cen- the central agencies, the PMO and PCO, impose its referendum will on the As- tury world politics, Canada’s accom- and key departments such as Finance sembly and on the whole people of plishments on issues such as peace and Foreign Affairs. To the best of my Quebec. The existence of lacunae such making, multiculturalism and human knowledge, we have gotten so far only as this one was skillfully exploited by rights, vaunted by the resources of the glimpses of this story. the Chrétien government in the debate Canadian state, have persuaded more In addition, mounting health costs in over the Clarity Act. people beyond our borders than the criti- all provinces, particularly in a rapidly For the time being, this is my Jean cal vision of our political regime argued aging Quebec, joined with the need to Chrétien: imprudent throughout, lucky in by sovereigntist circles. put Ottawa’s fiscal house in order by re- the crunch, skillful and acting with cold ducing deficit and debt, enabled Mr. and renewed resolve after 1995, a true POST-REFERENDUM POLITICS Chrétien to deprive the governments of Canadian nationalist rather than a feder- Sheer luck provided Mr. Chrétien with Lucien Bouchard and of alist. With his departure from political an opportunity to devise a coherent post- the key financial pillars to their “winning power in 2003, coupled with the defeat of referendum plan. helped conditions.” This led to unintended con- Bernard Landry, we lose the last big fig- Mr. Chrétien by performing miserably. sequences in all provincial capitals but, ures who carry all the scars of 40 years of Cold logic requires coherence. The 1980 again, public opinion was firmly on Mr. our constitutional and identity struggles. and 1995 Quebec referendums were Chrétien’s side. A fair share of the mon- It is just too early to say if this will lead to a forms of political rebellion. Whenever eys thus saved by Ottawa was used to new departure in the relationship be- one rebels, it is with the premise that one create many new national programs re- tween Canada and Quebec.

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 23 The Chrétien legacy: Courting democracy?

THE CHARTER AND BY ALLAN C. HUTCHINSON nite role in a vital democracy, but it PUBLIC POLICY should be limited and partial. Being nei- here can be no doubt that Jean Chré- Allan C. Hutchinson teaches law at ther elected by nor representative of Ca- Ttien left his mark on Canadian law Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. nadians, judges can hardly claim to have and society to an extent that few others much democratic legitimacy. Their con- have or could rival. If Trudeau was the tributions must be restricted to the dis- constitutional prophet, Chrétien was, first The twin foundations crete resolution of disputes: extensive as justice minister and then as prime policy making seems outside their demo- minister, his leading disciple. For good of democracy— cratic ambit. On the other hand, while and bad, the fates of Canada’s Charter popular participation the executive can lay claim to greater of Rights and Freedoms and the Shawini- democratic legitimacy, its actual exercise gan lawyer go hand in hand. and political of power offends its democratic pedi- While Chrétien’s influence is immense gree. Too often, political leaders dance and unarguable, the more contested ques- accountability— to their own tune and interests. Increased tion is whether that legacy has advanced “rule by Cabinet” is hardly better than or retarded Canadian democracy. In are going the way extended “rule by the Supreme Court.” “courting democracy” by putting the Su- The fact that public opinion polls preme Court of Canada at the heart of of the polar ice-caps. show almost overwhelming support (be- Canadian politics, has Canada become tween 80 and 90 percent) for the Su- a more or less democratic country? Has preme Court is less an accolade for the switch from politicians to judges as one of the best societies to live, there is judges and more a slap in the face for the ultimate arbiters of much pubic a serious erosion of basic democratic politicians, particularly those leaders, like policy been a boon or a bust? precepts. The twin foundations of de- Chrétien, who preside in and over cabi- Between 1980 and 1982, it was Chré- mocracy—popular participation and po- net. Judges can only ever do a second- tien who brokered the deal that made the litical accountability—are going the way best job at making up the democratic Charter possible, with its characteristic of the polar ice-caps. There seems to be deficit in the present performance of mix of a balancing s. 1 and an overriding an implicit Faustian bargain between elite Canadian politics; they are neither posi- s. 33. Whether the resulting decisions have and rank and file that the price of socio- tioned nor skilled at such a task. been substantively good or bad is the stuff economic advancement (which is still Moreover, the debate over whether of ideological parlour games—Hunter and questionable when looked at in other courts can or should invade the political RJR-Macdonald on corporate rights, the than mean or median terms) is at the domain misses the whole point. It is now Alberta Trilogy on (lack of) union rights, cost of democratic involvement. And the surely accepted that courts cannot exer- Dolphin Delivery on private rights, An- Charter is part of that setup. cise their powers and responsibilities drews on equality, and the list goes on. While there has never been a golden without reference to contested values age for Canadian democracy, what now and principles of governance. The real CHARTER ACTIVISM passes for “democracy” is an elite and and neglected issue is not the politiciza- AND A RIGHTS CULTURE stilted conversation between the judicial tion of the judiciary, but the democratic The cumulative force of the court’s juris- and executive branches of government failure of the executive and legislative in prudence is significant and compelling. over what is best for the country. In this fulfilling their constitutional responsibili- Ye t, it is the shift in the balance of con- exchange, the voices of ordinary Cana- ties and mandate. This is the true and stitutional power between courts and leg- dians play no real or substantive role. ironic measure of the popularist islatures over the last 20 years that is more Whatever ideological course is to be fol- Chrétien’s legacy. telling. For all the hype and ballyhoo, Ca- lowed, the democratic choice should not nadian democracy is in trouble. Chrétien be only between rule by a judicial elite REDRAWING THE LINE leaves the country in worse democratic or a governmental elite, but by a politi- BETWEEN LAW AND SOCIETY health than he found it. Notwithstanding cal process that is more responsive to If governments and legislatures were increases in many economic and social broader democratic concerns. constituted properly and doing what they indicators, Canadians are less involved were supposed to being doing, the ques- in governing themselves. JUDICIAL ELITES tion of what judges do would be less Despite the regular rounds of self-con- AND DEMOCRACY pressing and more incidental. If there is gratulation about Canada’s ranking as Of course, a robust judiciary has a defi- Courting democracy? page 27

24 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 Turning the page: Deterrence against legitimacy

“Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than three important moments of recent Ca- nadian constitutional history. The first the knowledge that we have prevailed in Quebec. moment was the of the Cana- That we have earned the respect of the people of Quebec. dian constitution in 1982, in which the That we have turned the page and are working Charter of Rights and Freedoms was on real solutions to real problems.” entrenched. This event has profoundly transformed both French and English — Jean Chrétien, Liberal Convention, November 13, 2003 Canada. The Charter came as the out- come of a cultural and social dynamic that redefined Canada from the tradi- s Jean Chrétien right when he asserts BY JULES DUCHASTEL tional opposition between two founding Ithat the Quebec question has finally peoples to the much more complex rep- Jules Duchastel is Canada research been resolved under his reign? Is he jus- resentation of a multicultural society tified in saying that he has gained respect chair on globalization, citizenship and democracy and professor of sociology where citizenship is based on a multi- from the people of Quebec for his role at the University of Quebec at . plicity of rights. But the vision was Pierre in clarifying the stakes concerning the Elliot Trudeau’s, not Chrétien’s. future of Quebec within Canada? As chief negotiator, Chrétien played In his Toronto farewell speech to Lib- If there was a vision a more instrumental role in rallying the eral Party members, Chrétien justified English provinces against Quebec, with great emphasis and emotion the on the part of around the project of patriating the con- efforts he deployed to reconstruct Cana- stitution. A confidence from Claude dian unity, once jeopardized by what he Chrétien, it was a Charron, at the time an important min- calls “the myths that had been created ister in the PQ government, convinced by those who wanted to break up very simplistic view him that Quebec manifested no good- Canada.” Canadian unity was restored will in the negotiation process and that with the 2000 Clarity Act, which, in his about the greatness it would never agree to any form of com- own words, “secured the future of of Canada and a promise. With his allies from Ontario Canada.” One thing is for sure, Chrétien and , Chrétien suc- can be proud of the fact that he paddled profound insensitivity ceeded in breaking up the alliance against the current, first bringing formed against Trudeau’s project by the Stephane Dion to the forefront of the to Quebec’s own eight remaining provinces. Quebec was constitutional debate and then imposing kept out of the final decision. If there the idea of the Clarity Act, thereby going identity. For the rest, was a vision on the part of Chrétien, it against most political pundits and media he was a brave was a very simplistic view about the elites in Canada. greatness of Canada and a profound It can easily be said that English soldier, faithfully insensitivity to Quebec’s own identity. Canada rallied around his strategy but it For the rest, he was a brave soldier, faith- is not at all clear whether Quebeckers, and effectively fully and effectively accompanying his politicians as well as a majority of the commander Trudeau. population, have agreed upon what has accompanying his been interpreted there as a “coup de commander Trudeau. FOLLOWING force.” There is a difference between TRUDEAU’S FOOTSTEPS passive acceptance and active agree- Chrétien’s second opportunity to reaf- ment. We must remember that Quebec firm his vision of Canada came in 1990 has not yet signed the Canadian consti- when he became leader of the Liberal tution and that its Parliament, under a CHRÉTIEN’S Party. From the beginning of the Meech federalist government, recently voted CONSTITUTIONAL LEGACY Lake campaign, he had been hesitating unanimously on a motion recognizing Nevertheless, we have to recognize that Quebec as a nation. Chrétien has been a major player at Deterrence against legitimacy, page 26

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 25 Deterrence against legitimacy continued from page 25 on the position he should take. At first, by the former sovereignist Guy he approved of the Bertrand, who had challenged the right clause, but his statements introduced Like Trudeau, to secession for a province, the federal many innuendos. In his view, the Ac- he was allergic, government went to the Supreme Court cord was to be seen as a basis for fu- with two additional questions on the ture negotiations. Furthermore, the man from the beginning right to secede in both Canadian and who had secretly negotiated the patria- international contexts. “The decision tion of the constitution introduced the to the end, to any allowed each side to claim victory” and idea that any Accord should give way in turn opened the way for the introduc- to a referendum. form of national tion of the Clarity Act, which stated that By the end of the campaign, under political identity the question should be clear and the constant pressure from Paul Martin and majority significant. Sheila Copps to take a clear position on for Quebec. the Accord, he finally stated that “If the THE CONSTITUTIONAL Charter of Rights is not protected, it’s STANDOFF no.” Chrétien showed no courage on this The Clarity Act was condemned by all occasion. Again, he appeared as strategy of 1980 by promising changes parties in Quebec, and at the same time Trudeau’s follower. Pierre Elliot Trudeau after a No victory. He promised that Que- celebrated in the rest of Canada. Nev- spent much energy in sinking the Accord bec would be “if possible, constitution- ertheless, contrary to expectations, the with the complicity of, among others, ally” recognized as a distinct society, he Act did not spark political turmoil in Clyde Wells, who was seen “hugging reintroduced the idea of Quebec’s veto, Quebec. Its practical effect has been to [Jean Chrétien] in front of the nation” and he promised new arrangements deter any future referendum project. At on the night of his election as Liberal concerning labour training programs. the same time, the legitimacy of the Party leader, just one day after the col- The victory for the No side was ex- Clarity Act was not accepted in Quebec, lapse of the Meech Lake Accord. tremely close with less than 51 percent no more than the patriation of the con- of votes. stitution had been. THE CLARITY ACT: Chrétien met his obligations: first with What is there to conclude? Chrétien A TEST OF VISION the adoption in Parliament of a motion is not a man of vision, unless we con- The Clarity Act represents the third mo- that recognized Quebec as a distinct so- sider his basic attachment to Canada ment in the constitutional epic of Jean ciety without any legal binds; second to be a vision. More than a man of vi- Chrétien. Once again, there are ques- with the obligation of consulting all re- sion, he is a fighter, a scrapper. Al- tions surrounding Chrétien’s political vi- gions of Canada before any change in though he suffered from his engage- sion. It seems that he was devoid of any their constitutional jurisdictions could be ments against the nationalist move- vision at the time of the 1995 Quebec adopted, a far cry from the traditional ment in Quebec, he has fought to the referendum, except to maintain the sta- demand for a Quebec veto; and third, by end against what he always considered tus quo. All testimonies concur that up making the proper arrangements with an evil. His actions, the means to to nearly the end of the referendum pe- the provinces in the labour training pro- Trudeau’s ends, contributed to rein- riod, Chrétien was paralyzed. He re- grams. At that point, after a mission dur- forcing a new Canada. Like Trudeau, mained backstage and refused to coop- ing which he met with many world lead- he was allergic, from the beginning to erate with the provincial committee for ers, he was convinced that no further the end, to any form of national politi- the No side. referendum should constitute a menace cal identity for Quebec. Their common The declaration of Verdun on the 24th to Canadian unity. work has contributed to a new form of of October 1995, a few days before the It is probably more accurate to speak national representation, which has had referendum, was a last minute initiative of instinct rather than vision to charac- some influence in the evolution of to try to reverse the momentum that was terize Chrétien’s actions. The best ex- Quebec’s own representation. going the way of the Yes camp. Chrétien’s ample is the recruitment of Stephane But the limit of that vision is the im- speech illustrates two things. He had no Dion who became his closest counsel- possibility of recognizing any form of problem with the complexity of the ques- lor on the Quebec front. From that point distinctiveness for the historical situation tion and made it very clear to Quebeck- on, the federal government became of Quebec. In that sense, Chrétien has ers that a Yes vote would be a vote for much more aggressive toward the de- not succeeded in turning the page and separation from the rest of Canada. Sec- mands of Quebec. Taking advantage of his view has certainly not prevailed in ond, Chrétien re-employed Trudeau’s a legal victory in Quebec Superior Court Quebec.

26 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 The biggest deficit of all? continued from page 19 cerned by the degree to which the CRTC franchise, TVA, as well as a bevy of maga- to foreign interests. Moreover, current had displaced the government as the zines. Laws strictly limiting cross-media provisions allow foreign companies to chief policy maker in broadcasting. They ownership have been introduced in invest relatively heavily in Canadian en- wanted to see greater transparency and France and in the UK. Even in the United terprises if they wish, but they have in- accountability and indeed checks and States, the Senate recently passed for vested relatively little so far. balances in the system including the ap- only the second time in history a resolu- pointment of a media monitor who tion of “disapproval” to overturn the Fed- A VAGUE RESPONSE would report annually to Parliament on eral Communications Commission’s The Chrétien government’s response to the health of the Broadcasting Act. In decision to increase the reach of media the Lincoln report is filled with vague addition, they called for the creation of companies from 35 to 45 percent of TV promises to do better on some issues a single communications act and indeed viewers. Yet the Chrétien government has and abject silence on others. Indeed the a single department (merging Industry failed to address the issue at all. Given response is to some degree a symbol of and Heritage) because in an age of me- that the right of citizens to have access the attitudes that seemed to prevail dur- dia convergence, telecommunications to a diversity of viewpoints is the basic ing Mr. Chrétien’s tenure as prime min- and broadcasting could no longer be linchpin of a healthy and educated de- ister. Key decisions are avoided, en- seen as separate universes. mocracy and society, the silence is trenched bureaucratic and corporate in- The report also had a great deal to haunting. terests prevail, small steps are preferable say about cross-media and foreign own- The Lincoln report recommended to bold moves, and the government com- ership. Under the Chrétien government, that there be a moratorium on the grant- pliments itself on doing such a good job. conglomerates have gained strangle- ing of any new licences involving cross- Jean Chrétien, adept politician and holds in several Canadian media mar- media ownership until the government political battler, seemed to take little in- kets. In the /Victoria market, formulates a clear policy. MPs also drew terest in Canadian broadcast policy. for instance, CanWest Global owns all a line in the sand on foreign ownership. From his vantage point, there were few three major newspapers and the two The argument was that Canada had political fires that had to be put out. The most-watched TV stations. In Montreal, enough talent, imagination, and capital irony is that he may have missed the Quebecor owns Le Journal de Montreal, to be able to harness its own cultural in- larger fires that were blazing all around cable giant Videotron, the largest TV dustries without needing to sell the farm him.

Courting democracy? continued from page 24 a crisis in Canadian democracy, it is to resentatives are living up to their con- be found in the fact that politicians and If there is a crisis in stitutional and democratic responsibili- legislators are simply not “democrats” in ties. At present, they are palpably not. the full sense of the term. “Democracy” Canadian democracy, But simply construing the democratic is used more as a rhetorical cloak for challenge as being one about whether elitist practice than a measure and guide it is to be found in the the judges stay out of or stray onto the for popular politics. After all, a drop in political terrain is to misrepresent the turn out in federal elections from 76 per- fact that politicians and problem and, therefore, to hamper any cent in 1979 to 61 percent in 2000 is genuine solutions. The Charter is here hardly reassuring. legislators are simply to stay, but the elitist mentality that en- There are no easy solutions to the not “democrats” in the crusts it need not be. present undemocratic trends. But im- Whatever else it means, democracy provement will not come from increased full sense of the term. demands more power to the people and interventions by judges in the microman- less to the elites. Aristocratic rule is no agement of governmental policies. Chré- less palatable because judges and po- tien midwifed and parented a constitu- litical leaders are the new dukes and tional change with limited democratic considered positive only under the most barons. And, it is certainly no more ac- value. Indeed, judicial prominence is a warped sense of democracy. ceptable when such elites wrap them- short-term crutch that actually harms a selves in the trappings of democracy. limping polity in the medium and long POWER TO THE PEOPLE Chrétien’s Charter has turned out to be term. The replacement of one elite rule So, if we want to reign in the judges, we more about elite power than about (executive) by another (judicial) can be need to ensure that politicians and rep- genuine democracy.

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 27 Liberalizing Canada: A political calculation, not a question of principle

MARIJUANA AND BY JAMIE CAMERON court, they concluded these unions are THE PM’S PRINCIPLES legal in Canada.” iberalizing Canada’s marijuana laws Jamie Cameron is a professor of law at Last fall, Jean Chrétien urged angry Land legalizing same-sex marriage Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. and divided Liberal MPs to vote against a were two of the Chrétien government’s motion that attempted last, unfinished initiatives. In answer to to re-introduce a heterosexual definition the controversy that accompanied each Contrary to what of marriage and require Parliament to proposal, Jean Chrétien said: “I am a take “all necessary steps” to protect that public person in a very diverse society, Jean Chrétien claims, definition. The problem for the prime and I don’t think I can impose every limit the protection of minister was that if the Alliance motion of my morality on others, because I don’t passed, Parliament could be asked to use want others to impose their morality on rights under his s. 33 of the Charter to override the courts’ me.” That account of the relationship decisions on same-sex marriage. In pres- between freedom and morality states a administration was suring Liberal MPs not to betray the principled position on rights: no person, government’s position, Jean Chrétien including the prime minister, can claim a matter of political argued that the override was unaccept- a right or freedom for himself that he able, because “[i]t is something what we, would deny others. calculation, and not a promoters of the Charter of Rights and That attitude could explain the Chré- question of principle. Freedoms, never use, the notwithstand- tien government’s plan to decriminalize ing clause.” the simple possession of marijuana, and impose a fine on offenders instead. PROTECTING AND Though reforms of this kind have been clusion of all others, in test cases that DEFENDING THE CHARTER? under discussion for years, and mari- arose under the Charter. A different strat- It bears noting, in passing, that as the late juana laws have successfully been chal- egy emerged, however, when the On- Prime Minister Trudeau’s minister of jus- lenged under the Charter of Rights and tario Court of Appeal held that same-sex tice, Jean Chrétien played a central role Freedoms, it is unclear what prompted marriage is guaranteed by the Charter. in Canada’s decision to adopt the Char- the federal government to take the initia- Rather than appeal the decision to the ter. Yet in November of 1981, it was clear tive at this point in time. On that, Chré- , the govern- that there would be no constitutional tien simply stated that decriminalizing ment prepared draft legislation and re- rights for Canada unless the federal gov- marijuana use would be “making normal ferred three questions as to its constitu- ernment agreed to include s. 33, the pro- what is the practice”; he noted that “it is tionality to the Supreme Court. vision that allows legislatures to override still illegal, but they will pay a fine. It is in There is no way to understate the some—though not all—of the rights and synch with the times.” Either to prove the volatility of debate on this transforma- freedoms that are protected by the Char- point or indulge a moment of mischief, tive issue that continued throughout the ter. It made him extremely uncomfort- the prime minister added: “[p]erhaps I summer and fall of 2003. A variety of able, Chrétien later said, to see Charter will try it when it will no longer be crimi- constituencies were offended, either by rights being bargained against more nal.” “I will have my money for my fine,” the perception that the courts had been power for the provinces. he joked, “and a joint in the other hand.” high-handed or by the fear that Parlia- The evidence is selective, but it does ment would acquiesce in a Charter sta- support the claim that Jean Chrétien is a MORALITY AND tus quo of gay marriage. The prime min- defender and promoter of the Charter of SAME-SEX MARRIAGE ister responded that “[o]n . . . equality Rights and Freedoms. It is no doubt the The same approach to morality could of rights the courts spoke,” and added way the prime minister would like to be also explain Jean Chrétien’s decision to that “I am a great defender of the Char- remembered. Though a laissez-faire con- introduce draft legislation that would le- ter of Rights.” To those who insisted that ception of morality might describe his galize same-sex marriage. The compli- Parliament should be deciding these is- position on marijuana use or the right to cation there is that his government de- sues, not the courts, he stated that marry, it hardly describes his govern- fended the definition of “marriage” as the “[t]here is an evolution in society” and ment’s attitude on other rights issues. union of a man and a woman, to the ex- “[a]ccording to the interpretation of the Liberalizing Canada, page 37

28 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 Chrétien and the Aboriginals

efore becoming prime minister in BY ANDRÉE LAJOIE already asking for their constitutionali- B1993, Jean Chrétien had already AND ÉRIC GELINEAU zation as early as 1969. But walking in held no less than 10 portfolios, not Andrée Lajoie is professor at the the centre as usual, the Liberal govern- counting his vice-premiership. But who Centre de recherche en droit public, ment, led by Chrétien personally, re- remembers that he was head of Trea- University of Montreal, where fused to go along, deeming such con- sury Board or Secretary of State for So- Eric Gélineau is a PhD candidate. stitutionalization an error, because the cial Development? Or that he spent constitution must protect all citizens three months in External Affairs in 1984 equally, and should not provide a spe- or even six in National Revenue in Given the underlying cial status for anyone, nor attribute to 1968? Yet his name certainly comes to Aboriginals any other status than full mind when one thinks of aboriginal af- assimilation policy Canadian citizenship. fairs, where he definitely left his mark, for better or, rather, for worse. Ap- that was very much 1982 AND ABORIGINAL RIGHTS pointed there by Pierre Trudeau in July The next 30 years were spent by the Lib- 1968, despite protesting he knew noth- the Chrétien legacy, eral Party in an effort not to define those ing about the field, he stayed in that aboriginal rights, even after they were department a full six years until August it was not surprising recognized in the Constitution Act, 1982. 1974—his longest tenure except as that the specific and They tried to achieve this first by creat- prime minister. ing the Royal Commission on Aboriginal collective character People and not implementing its recom- A TURNING POINT? mendations. They then tried to sign However, it is less for the years he spent of aboriginal rights agreements with with, as a there that he is remembered than for precondition for signature, having them the white paper produced under his did not receive extinguish those rights unmentioned in leadership the year following his ap- enthusiastic support the text. Mostly, they passed the buck to pointment. The Statement of the Gov- the courts. This last policy was explicitly ernment of Canada on Indian Policy, from Liberal MPs. based on the premise that if the consti- 1969, the third reform on aboriginal af- tution, from 1982 on, protected aborigi- fairs that federal authorities initiated in nal rights, it did not define them, and the 20th century, and the first since since unresolved claims have hampered 1951, had far-reaching effects. In line • the legislative and constitutional economic development, the courts with these previous reforms—in 1951 bases of discrimination be re- should perform their interpretative duty. assimilation was still perceived as an moved, We have extracted the meaning that instrument for educating Aboriginals in • positive recognition be given to the the Liberals gave to these rights from the the art of democracy, even though it unique contribution of Indian cul- House of Commons debates. Our find- was no longer politically correct to ture to Canadian life, ings refer both to the specific and col- mention it by name, and the term was • services be provided through the lective character of these rights, and to replaced by “special status” involving same channels for all Canadians, the content of political and economic the same rights as other Canadian citi- • the neediest be helped most, rights. zens—the white paper still promoted •lawful obligations be recognized, assimilation, but brought aboriginal and THE LIBERAL RECORD rights to the fore of the debate. It stated • control of Indian lands be trans- UNDER THE MICROSCOPE as its “new policy”: ferred to Indian people, the dis- Specific and collective True equality presupposes that course and practices derived from character of aboriginal rights the Indian people have the right this policy would favour plain as- Given the underlying assimilation to full and equal participation in similation. policy that was very much the Chrétien the cultural, social, economic Admittedly, the white paper was the legacy, it was not surprising that the and political life of Canada... watershed after which members of Par- specific and collective character of But even though this full participation liament began to take aboriginal rights aboriginal rights did not receive en- required that into account. The New Democrats were Chrétien and the Aboriginals, page 38

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 29 Take a green poultice and call the next prime minister: Mr. Chrétien’s remedy in federal health policy

THE THREE PHASES BY DR. TERRENCE SULLIVAN enormous toll on provincial govern- OF POLICY AND DR. COLLEEN FLOOD ments and, consequently, hospital and hrétien’s legacy to Medicare can be Dr. Terrence Sullivan is provincial community agencies. It also took an Cviewed through the lens of his three vice-president, research and cancer enormous toll on Canadian confidence terms in office—the first a period of re- control at Cancer Care Ontario. in Medicare and support for publicly trenchment and study, the second, an Dr. Colleen Flood is associate professor, funded Medicare—always historically effort to buy off provincial discontent health law at the University of Toronto. very high in Canada—started to decline. with federal money; and the third and In the fall of 2000, Chrétien convened final period, characterized by further the first meeting of the first ministers to study, further money, and a paralysis in The ghost of regional announce a major federal investment in leadership. transfers related to health, and provided In the early 1990s, the entire effort of succession threats close to 23 billion dollars in new invest- the was focused ments related to health, including— on constraining the growth of the fed- has stalked a fearful among other things—large investment in eral deficit. However, as promised in the health infrastructure. These funds were Red Book, in October 1994, the National and tentative federal delivered to the provinces on the eve of Forum on Health was created to advise an election call, virtually without condi- the federal government on innovative government during tions. Some of the funds were later dis- ways to improve the health system and Chrétien’s tenure. covered to have been spent on the health of Canadians. The forum con- lawnmowers and other surprise areas by sisted of 24 volunteer members, includ- the provinces. This manoeuvring on the ing the federal minister of health, and part of the prime minister and the fed- the prime minister. Being largely a cre- capita public spending declined by 2.3 eral government was blatant and the ation of the federal government, it was percent. Slamming on the brakes of fis- whole effort was seen for what it was— perhaps not surprising that while the cal constraint had effects throughout an unsuccessful attempt to buy back forum’s ideas were well received by the system and inflicted lasting dam- moral authority by the federal govern- academics and did to a limited extent age on federal–provincial relations in ment in the health sector. penetrate provincial policy circles, the health care. forum’s recommendations were largely THE ROMANOW COMMISSION unimplemented. THE HEALTH TRANSITION FUND On April 4, 2001 (a mere seven months While the forum was doing its work, The National Forum on Health sketched since the last giveaway of federal funds), the federal government was busy folding out a number of areas for reform and Chrétien, now in his last term in office, the Canada Assistance Plan with Estab- called for both a national home care and appointed Roy Romanow to head the lished Program Financing, and creating national pharmacare effort. In addition, National Commission on Medicare. And one consolidated and much smaller the forum called for primary care reform during the period 2001 to 2003, the na- Canadian Health and Social Transfer re- and greater investment in research. The tional psyche was seized with matters of gime. The passing on of enormous fis- federal government then began a new Canadian values and vision related to cal pressure to the provinces gave rise effort to steer some provincial reform health reform, precipitated in large mea- to a whole set of cost-reduction strate- efforts, not through direct transfers, but sure by Mr. Romanow’s commission and gies arising from this tricky transfer, and by creating the “Health Transition Fund,” Michael Kirby’s parallel Senate investi- the pressures to cut services were shifted to promote primary care reform and im- gations into health reform. In February from the federal to provincial levels of proved wait list management in Canada. 2003, Chrétien convened a second first government. The result of this was that While the work of the National Health ministers meeting related to health care between 1990 and 1996, total real per Forum created a sense of optimism and to deal with recommendations arising capita spending on health in Canada direction for the health care system, the from the Romanow commission. rose by 3.6 percent, but total real per fiscal squeeze of the early ’90s took an Take a green poultice, page 39

30 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 Federal social policy, the provinces, and the rise of cities

ADDRESSING URBAN ISSUES BY FRANCIS LANKIN cial matching funds came from munici- he most dramatic socioeconomic palities or other third parties. Even more Ttransformation in Canadian society Francis Lankin is the president and CEO of important, the province of Ontario was during the Chrétien years was the grow- the United Way of Greater Toronto. committed to building rental units at ing distinctiveness of large urban regions. market rents, not affordable rents. At the The most prominent, unaddressed issue same time, many municipalities were in social policy remains the particular The greatest divide indicating their reluctance to participate social challenges facing large urban re- in any housing program in which provin- gions, and the capacity of municipalities in Canada today is cial matching funds included municipal to develop social policy innovations. between the country’s dollars. When the war of words between The Chrétien government’s first years Ottawa and Ontario heated up, the fed- in office were influenced primarily by fis- large urban regions eral government issued this warning to cal restraint and the near-death experi- the provinces: if provinces like Ontario ence of the Quebec referendum. Neither and the rest of drag their feet, the federal government of these influences was conducive to was prepared to deal directly with the bold social policy initiatives. In the sec- the country. municipalities (“the SCPI model”). ond half of the prime minister’s tenure, with the deficit conquered, there was CHILD CARE renewed appetite for social policy inter- advocates, it was significant. In Ontario Child care is a very different issue, but ventions. The primary restraint in this it was particularly significant because, as the script is remarkably similar. The period was the transformed federal–pro- the federal government re-asserted its 1993 Liberal Red Book contained a com- vincial dynamic, as demonstrated by the role in areas such as housing, early child- mitment to a $720 million national child Social Union Framework Agreement hood development and child care, the care strategy. Fiscal restraint and inter- (SUFA). This restraint was particularly ability of the provincial government to provincial paralysis conspired to scuttle strong in Ontario, whose government influence (and—according to some ad- the plan. Later in the decade, the fed- during this period was reducing social vocates—undermine) federal initiatives eral government once again had an services expenditures, and implement- was a serious challenge. appetite to address early childhood de- ing private sector solutions to social velopment. But in the post-SUFA envi- policy challenges. AFFORDABLE HOUSING ronment, this required the participation The United Way of Greater Toronto’s In the early 1990s, the federal govern- of the provinces. most intensive work with the federal gov- ment withdrew from funding new afford- In Toronto, where the municipality is ernment was in the area of homeless- able housing. This project was initiated the leader in children’s services, the city ness. At the centre of Ottawa’s National by the Mulroney government, and com- and the province had radically different Homelessness Initiative is a program pleted by the Chrétien government. A concepts of the role of child care. To the called Supporting Communities Partner- few years later, the federal government dismay of child care activists, the prov- ships Initiative (SCPI, pronounced was persuaded to get back into the busi- ince was withdrawing support from regu- “skippy”). The theory behind SCPI is that ness of providing affordable housing. lated, high-quality child care; it devel- responses to homelessness should be The 2002 and 2003 federal budgets con- oped a separate plan for early childhood developed and implemented locally; the tained separate federal multi-year com- development. The city’s view was that federal government—through commu- mitments totalling over $550 million. But the distinction between early childhood nity entities—supports these local plans. both of these commitments depend on development and high-quality child care In Toronto—and in many other commu- provincial participation, and matching is—in the words of a city-appointed task nities—the federal government discov- funds. force—“meaningless and misplaced.” ered that the local entity with the great- This set the stage for considerable The task force was established in re- est expertise in serving homeless popu- argument between Ottawa and Ontario. sponse to the city’s frustration that no lations and developing prevention strat- The two governments signed an agree- federal funds under the Early Childhood egies was the municipality. ment to implement the first of the fed- Development Initiative were invested in This is not a radical step. But to mu- eral government’s commitments. As it child care. nicipalities, and to many social policy turned out, the vast majority of provin- Federal social policy, page 39

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 31 The Chrétien legacy and women’s equality

rom the perspective of women’s eco- BY BARBARA CAMERON subsistence for single mothers. Along Fnomic equality, the Chrétien era with cutting the social transfer to the prov- amounted to 10 lost years. The momen- Barbara Cameron is a professor with the inces, the 1995 federal Liberal budget tum begun with the 1970 Royal Commis- School of Women’s Studies and School of eliminated the Canada Assistance Plan Social Studies, Atkinson Faculty of Liberal sion on the Status of Women slowed and with it the federal conditions, includ- and Professional Studies, York University. during the second Mulroney mandate ing the right to social assistance based and came to an almost complete halt on need that constituted basic social during the Chrétien years. rights for the poor. The elimination of the Along with cutting conditions signalled federal support for THE LIBERAL MODEL the workfare strategies of provinces, OF EMPLOYABILITY the social transfer which as Jamie Peck points out, are di- Taken as a whole, the changes contrib- to the provinces, the rected not at creating jobs for workers uted to the construction of a new model who need them but at “creating workers of the welfare state, which political sci- 1995 federal Liberal for jobs nobody wants.” entist Ann Porter has characterized as When the Liberals came into office, the “employability model.” This model budget eliminated the the Conservative policy of targeting is premised on a polarized labour mar- funding for labour market training to ket for both men and women with state Canada Assistance equity groups was still in place, although policies for income support and services Plan and with it the the shift to “employability” training for reinforcing the precariousness of those social assistance recipients had begun. at the bottom end. It assumes the labour federal conditions, The offloading of federal training ex- market participation of the overwhelm- penditures onto the EI fund was also al- ing majority of women but on terms of including the right ready underway. The Liberals acceler- inequality for all but a small stratum of ated the pace of change in the same di- the professionally trained or highly to social assistance rection, eliminating spending on train- skilled. In the absence of services to re- ing out of general revenue in the name place the domestic labour of women in based on need that of devolving responsibility to the prov- the home, improved opportunity for constituted basic inces and entering into bilateral agree- women at the upper end of the labour ments to allow provinces to use EI funds market is subsidized by the low wages social rights for to train social assistance recipients. In of women employed in caring services the process, funding for training pro- in commercial establishments or in pri- the poor. grams targeted to women disappeared vate homes. and the infrastructure of women’s com- Policies of the Liberal government munity-based training organizations was have contributed to the construction of gap in coverage. In 1994, there was a four undermined. this new model in a number of areas, point difference between the coverage including unemployment insurance, so- rates of men and women; by 2001 this CHILD CARE AND CUTBACKS cial assistance, training policy, and had grown to 11 points. The gender gap The 1993 Liberal Red Book promised a children’s benefits and services. reached 15 points in the childbearing and significant expansion of funding for child By the time the Liberals assumed of- early child rearing age groups. Married care through cost-sharing arrangements fice, changes by the previous govern- women were further disadvantaged by with the provinces. If fully taken up by ment to Employment Insurance had re- the 1997 shift from individual to house- the provinces, the promised $720 million duced the percentage of the unem- hold income testing for the family in cost-shared money over three years ployed actually receiving EI benefits to supplement. would have resulted in an infusion of over 57 percent, down from 74 percent in 1987. $1.4 billion of government money into Under Liberal government changes, the BROKEN PROMISES the child care system and 150,000 new coverage rate declined to 39 percent by Adequate levels of social assistance are regulated spaces. The promise, along 2001. The change to basing eligibility on a cornerstone of autonomy for many with the cost-shared Canada Assistance hours worked rather than on weeks women with children, providing an exit Plan, fell victim to Paul Martin’s 1995 worked hit women particularly hard and option for those in abusive or otherwise budget. Child care came back on the resulted in a steadily increasing gender unsatisfactory relationships and basic Women’s equality, page 40

32 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 Women, work, and social policy reform: The Chrétien legacy

THIRD WAY REFORMERS BY SYLVIA BASHEVKIN tional social welfare programs. The “post-conservative” approach to benefits hen they ran for the highest po- Sylvia Bashevkin is director, was thus increasingly taxified or litical positions in their respective W Canadian Studies Program, and fiscalized, in contrast to the usual social countries, Bill Clinton, Jean Chrétien, professor, Department of Political Science program expenditure route that had been and Tony Blair seemed like balanced, at the University of Toronto. followed in older schemes. compassionate campaigners who might fulfill at least some progressive, pro-femi- ATTACKING THE SOCIAL BOND nist, pro-welfare state expectations. As Chrétien era welfare Chrétien’s use of tax-based vehicles to politicians who claimed to borrow the target work-tested benefits to parents best from a variety of ideological tradi- reform directions in who were employed for pay contributed tions, these leaders presented the pub- to an erosion of social citizenship norms. lic face of what became known as the Canada, when closely Rather than building a more robust re- “” approach to politics. gime of universal social engagement and At one level, they offered a compel- compared with rights, as campaigners on the left had ling critique of conservative political ex- conservative hoped, Third Way efforts tended to de- ecutives then in office. George Bush, fine in more narrow terms the paid em- Brian Mulroney, John Major and their precedents in this ployment of parents as the sine qua non fellow partisans were portrayed as too of post-industrial belonging. In so doing, harsh, too extreme, too immoderate in country and Chrétien and others effectively de- their handling of the delicate mix of meaned the unpaid caring work of many state and market forces that shape elsewhere, often adults, overwhelmingly mothers, at the people’s lives. Rather than dismissing same time as they diminished the citi- the idea that society exists as an organic reflected more zenship status of people without children unit beyond the realm of individuals and similarities than and conveniently ignored the erosion of families, as Margaret Thatcher had fa- wages and permanent work in the Cana- mously done, new leaders were anx- differences. dian economy. ious to talk about how they would bring In this respect, Chrétien’s approach communities closer together so as to obscured the profoundly unequal out- renew a frayed social fabric. to temper the rising clout of interna- comes produced by the economy that At the level of rhetoric, proponents tional market forces. social benefits recipients were supposed of the Third Way emphasized modera- to join. As British social scientist Ruth tion and centrism as antidotes to the BROKEN PROMISES Lister observed, Third Way strategies at- rough, tough “market fundamentalism” Just how balanced and moderate would tempted the impossible—namely, “to di- of Reagan, Thatcher, and company. Yet these new leaders turn out to be, particu- vorce the rights and responsibilities on another plane, they also suggested larly with reference to single mothers and which are supposed to unite citizens it was time to displace the unwieldy, stat- social assistance policy? Three consecu- from the inequalities of power and re- ist and rights-based preoccupations of tive Chrétien majority governments in sources that divide them.” They glossed left-of-centre interests. For example, important respects produced policies over fundamental social divisions involv- Third Way leaders promised to respect that were more punitive, more restrictive ing gender, class, and race using a seem- traditional values including individual and more obsessed with paid work than ingly balanced discourse about cohesion responsibility and local community au- those of Conservative leaders. After 1993, and inclusion, which in turn eclipsed any tonomy. The initial electoral platforms Canadian Liberals introduced a layer of basis for exclusion other than failure to of Bill Clinton, Jean Chrétien, and Tony what were effectively work-tested social pursue paid work. Blair differed in their specific details, but benefits in most provinces, notably the The very significant withdrawal of fed- all were shaped by a common thread National Child Benefit. These work- eral funds from social programs that was that spoke to renewed social cohesion tested benefits were largely developed announced in Paul Martin’s 1995 budget and, in particular, to a judicious rather and administered as part of tax or fiscal than heavy-handed use of state levers policy, rather than in the context of tradi- Women, work, and social policy reform, page 44

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 33 The non-legacy: Health care in the Chrétien decade

hile health care reform has been BY GERARD W. BOYCHUK The first Red Book also committed the Wa major plank in each of the three government to studying the issue of election campaigns of the Chrétien Lib- Gerard W. Boychuk is assistant professor, health care through the establishment of erals, substantive reforms have been Department of Political Science at the National Forum on Health (NFH). In the University of Waterloo. less in evidence and, overall, the Chré- its 1997 report, the NFH made a number tien government appears likely to leave of recommendations for substantive re- little in terms of a significant enduring forms including reforms to federal trans- legacy in this area. Overall, the Chrétien fers (to make them more stable and pre- government appears dictable), a number of reforms to pri- THE BIG STORY: mary care, and the extension of univer- A LOT OF BAD NEWS likely to leave little sal coverage to homecare and prescrip- The first Red Book of 1993 outlined the tion drugs. Gearing up for the 1997 elec- “unwavering” Liberal commitment to the in terms of a tion, the second Liberal Red Book com- five principles enshrined in the Canada mitted the government, among other Health Act (CHA) and a commitment not significant enduring things, to working toward universal to withdraw from the federal role in the pharmacare. However, after the election, health care field. Little more than a year legacy in this area. federal initiatives were largely limited to later, the federal government an- re-injecting cash in exchange for provin- nounced, without prior consultation with cial commitments to respect the prin- the provinces, that federal transfers (in- , they are not scheduled to reach ciples of the CHA. In the Social Union cluding those for health care) would be the real per capita levels of 1993 until mid Framework Agreement (SUFA) of Feb- shifted from their existing basis to a new to late 2004—much less make up for the ruary 1999, the federal government (as Canada Health and Social Transfer cumulative federal shortfall over time in part of a much larger package) enriched (CHST) regime and, concomitantly, re- cash transfers for health, which, by the the cash component of the CHST by $11.5 duced by $2.5 billion in 1996-97 and $4.5 end of 2002, were $26 billion less than billion that was earmarked for health. billion in 1997-98. While federal transfers they would have been if simply main- Provincial governments, in turn, pro- for health grew in the late 1990s and early tained at 1993 levels. vided assurances that they would respect the five principles of the CHA and spend FEDERAL CASH TRANSFERS FOR HEALTH, 1993-2007 the increased transfers on health care. 600 However, the agreement provided little in the way of substantive reform.

500 PEDALLING BACKWARD After a hastily abandoned federal plan 400 to “save health care” in early 2000 and

tant $ 2003) with the spectre of an election looming, 300 the federal Liberals were increasingly pressed to do something. In September 2000, the federal and provincial govern- 200 ments reached an agreement on fund-

$ per capita (cons ing—again largely a simple enrichment 100 of the CHST. The Health Accord 2000 included a 0 statement of support for the principles 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 of the CHA as well as a commitment on the part of both levels of government to Sources and notes: Federal cash transfers for health from 1993 to 2003-04 are calculated as work together collaboratively—sharing 62 percent of actual CHST cash transfers (using the Department of Finance estimate of the proportion of GST going to health.) Federal cash transfers for health after 2004 comprise the information, reporting to Canadians, in- cash component of the (CHT). Health care , page 45

34 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 The Canadian contribution to international security under Jean Chrétien: The good, the bad, and the ugly

uring Jean Chrétien’s tenure as BY KYLE GRAYSON curity policy beyond states toward a new D prime minister the international se- AND DAVID DEWITT referent object, the individual human curity environment was more complex, Kyle Grayson is the associate director being. Second, “freedom from fear” is- ambiguous, and multidimensional than and David Dewitt is the director of sues missed by traditional national secu- those experienced by his predecessors. the Centre for International and rity doctrines including human rights, the Over the Chrétien years, Canada faced Security Studies, York University. targeting of civilians, child soldiers, good the Rwandan genocide, ethnic cleansing governance, and transnational crime in the Balkans, warlordism in Africa, cri- have been granted a priority status. Thus, ses in the Middle East, massive human the Ottawa process to ban landmines, rights violations, the proliferation of Canada’s overall the International Court of Justice, the weapons of mass destruction, NATO’s record in confronting International Commission on Interven- expansion and new role, regional fam- tion and State Sovereignty, and the ines, the Asian financial crisis, mount- the challenges of Kimberley Process to ban conflict dia- ing environmental degradation, Russia’s monds are evidence not only of signifi- ongoing transition and Cold War weap- an international cant Canadian diplomatic accomplish- ons legacy, the global AIDS epidemic, ments in the area of international human resurgent irredentism, transnational security environment security but of Canada’s continuing com- crime, growing tensions in South Asia, composed by a vast mitment under the Chrétien government the rise of “rogue” states, massive migra- to multilateralism and the strengthening tion and refugee flows, terrorism, re- array of vulnerabilities of international norms and laws. newed American unilateralism, and Gulf The prime minister’s G8 Kananaskis War II. While this list is by no means com- and opportunities was commitment of one billion dollars in prehensive, it does give an indication of support of the global partnership efforts the range of dynamics that shaped the often fraught with to address the security and environmen- international security environment and internal contradictions tal challenges posed by the deteriorating provides a compelling backdrop for de- former Soviet nuclear stockpile is a sig- termining and analyzing Chrétien’s se- and the lack of a nificant indicator of Canada’s continued curity policy legacy. Moreover, it speaks involvement in longer-term global secu- to the global recognition of an expanded comprehensible rity problems. With Canada’s military notion of security beyond the military and police force contributions to Kosovo, affairs of state actors, a redefinition in unifying vision. East Timor, and Afghanistan, in spite of which Canada played an integral role. a severely constrained force capacity, Although there were significant ac- and in a few other circumstances, the complishments under Chrétien’s lead- THE GOOD government chose to act responsibly ership, Canada’s overall record in con- By far, contribu- and in the best traditions of Canadian lib- fronting the challenges of an interna- tion to international security has been in eral internationalism. tional security environment composed its promotion of a human security by a vast array of vulnerabilities and op- agenda under Jean Chrétien’s leader- THE BAD portunities was often fraught with inter- ship. Although the concept was initially Although the public rhetoric of the Chré- nal contradictions and the lack of a put forward by the United Nations De- tien government claimed that Canadian comprehensible unifying vision. Thus velopment Programme, Canada’s cham- security policy was being guided borrowing from the title of Sergio pioning of human security has both by the human security agenda, in prac- Leone’s epic spaghetti western, broadened and deepened global under- tice, there were several competing Canada’s international security policy standings of what it means to be secure sources providing security policy frame- during the Chrétien years was a mix of in two interrelated ways. First, human works, some of which were demarcated the good, the bad, and the ugly. security has expanded the focus of se- The good, the bad, and the ugly, page 46

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 35 Chrétien, NAFTA, and the United States

or Canada’s economic nationalists, BY EARL H. FRY the major western nations, second only FChrétien has been a bitter disap- to Italy. It now has one of the healthiest pointment. During the 1993 national elec- Earl H. Fry is professor of balance sheets among the 30 members tion campaign, which would catapult him political science and endowed of the Organisation for Economic Co- professor of Canadian studies at to the premiership, he was quite critical operation and Development (OECD). In , Utah. of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement addition, Canada has had the best-per- (FTA) and expressed serious doubts forming economy among the G8 na- about the proposed North American tions over the past half decade and Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which His gamble on stands at the top of the OECD grouping had originally been negotiated by Brian along with Australia and Norway. Mulroney, George H.W. Bush, and Carlos NAFTA has already Salinas in 1992. With the landslide vic- paid big and NAFTA AND tory of the Liberals in October 1993 (178 CANADIAN PROSPERITY out of 295 seats) and the utter decima- tangible benefits In the process, Canada has continued to tion of the Progressive Conservative place most of its economic eggs in one Party, champions of North American for most Canadians foreign basket, with almost 85 percent of economic integration, the new prime all exports going to the United States. minister could have easily scuttled the and that Canadian When one adds into the equation the NAFTA pact, which had been approved “distinctiveness” presence of numerous US companies in by Parliament a few months earlier and, Canada, which provide over one million likewise, he could have begun the pro- today is as apparent jobs for Canadian workers, and the influx cess of dismantling the FTA, which had of Americans who account for over 90 been in effect since 1989. as anytime in percent of all foreign visitors to Canada, a staggering 40 percent of Canada’s GDP BREAKING HIS modern history. is now linked to having open access to ELECTORAL PROMISE the United States, a nation with a popu- Instead, Chrétien asked for some cos- lation base 9 times higher and a GDP 13 metic changes linked to protection of also had his resident pit bull, Sheila times larger than Canada’s. Canadian culture and trilateral discus- Copps, sequestered over at the Heritage The economic nationalists would ar- sions on revising subsidy rules, and then Ministry where she could periodically gue that this dependency is utterly dan- he pushed ahead with NAFTA’s imple- castigate the United States for its preda- gerous and that Canada will eventually mentation. His new counterpart to the tory cultural industries and work in tan- be absorbed economically and then po- south, Bill Clinton, was also in a great dem with France to forge a new interna- litically by its neighbouring superpower. position to end NAFTA before it was ever tional regime promoting cultural protec- Chrétien, however, has taken full advan- ratified, but chose to push forward vig- tionism. Nevertheless, Chrétien’s core tage of the opportunities available and orously with approval in Congress, even policies always favoured NAFTA, and he Canada has prospered while still keep- though a majority of the members of his even permitted groups within the Cabi- ing its distance in so many important own party would vote against the pact in net to meet informally and ruminate on ways from the United States. Canada has both the House of Representatives and how North American economic integra- racked up huge merchandise surpluses the Senate. tion could be further strengthened with the United States—Cdn$92 billion in During his tenure as prime minister through the establishment of a customs 2000, Cdn$97 billion in 2001, and Cdn$92 from 1993 until December 2003, Chrétien union, a common currency, the free billion in 2002. Its economy is more would be a stalwart champion of NAFTA movement of labour, or some other in- competitive than ever before in a world and perhaps the chief cheerleader for tegrative mechanisms. that is becoming increasingly interdepen- the proposed Free Trade Area of the Chrétien’s strategy was eminently dent in a period of globalization and the Americas (FTAA), which would involve successful in terms of the well-being of information technology revolution. all of the nations of the western hemi- Canadians. During the NAFTA years, Through the WTO and the proposed sphere except for Castro’s Cuba. He Canada has enjoyed one of its most FTAA, Chrétien envisioned diversifying would periodically criticize aspects of prosperous periods in history. It once Canada’s international economic link- NAFTA and chastise Washington for not had one of the highest government debt ages by expanding the overall economic living up to the spirit of the accord. He burdens as a percentage of GDP among pie, rather than decreasing the absolute

36 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 amount of goods and services shipped BAD BODY LANGUAGE Canada’s rightful objection to US uni- to the United States. In sharp contrast to his warm ties with lateralism in the Persian Gulf earned Clinton, Chrétien’s relationship with Chrétien the personal enmity of Bush, MORE ECONOMIC INTEGRATION George W. Bush was abysmal. Bush but he was in good company with Chrétien has also kept his nation at would never make an official Chirac, Schroeder, and many other arm’s length from the United States to Ottawa during Chrétien’s term in of- eminent leaders scattered around the while still pushing for greater continen- fice, and Chrétien never received an in- world. tal and hemispheric economic coopera- vitation to visit the ranch in Crawford, tion and integration. He and most Ca- Texas. Canada’s prime minister should CHRÉTIEN POLITICAL SMARTS nadians looked disapprovingly on the be justly criticized for not fully explain- In conclusion, Jean Chrétien’s policy chummy relationship between Mulro- ing his remarks after 9/11, when he ex- toward NAFTA has had a significant im- ney and Ronald Reagan, which was ex- claimed that Washington was at least pact upon contemporary Canadian so- emplified by the Shamrock Summit. He partially responsible for the dastardly ciety, and, within a decade or two, Ca- insisted that Canada was sovereign and attack on New York and Washington by nadians will probably have strong opin- independent and that its point of view the 19 fanatics. He was also too slow to ions on whether the dire warnings ut- should be respected by Washington. respond diplomatically to the “moron” tered by the economic nationalists over This stance would not keep him from remark by his director of communica- NAFTA membership were justified or developing a good working relationship tions, the “failed statesman” remark by vacuous. My perspective is that his with Bill Clinton and he would even his minister of natural resources, and the gamble on NAFTA has already paid big sneak away from time to time to play a “Damn Americans, I hate the bastards” and tangible benefits for most Canadi- round of golf with Clinton south of the utterance by a Liberal backbencher from ans and that Canadian “distinctiveness” border. He was also able to call on Toronto. today is as apparent as anytime in mod- Clinton and Secretary of State Warren On the other hand, Chrétien was fully ern history. Christopher when things were going justified in opposing US pre-emption Paul Martin has been handed a pow- badly for the federalists during the 1995 policy and unilateralism vis-à-vis Iraq. erful economic hand to play, and he will Quebec referendum campaign. Both His invitation to piece together a con- be able to use the change in leadership Clinton and Christopher were encour- sensus among the Security Council and his more refined interpersonal aged to issue veiled warnings to Que- members for some form of multilateral skills to smooth the ruffled relationship beckers that a vote in favour of separa- intervention in Iraq, if only the United with the White House and move for- tion might result in Quebec’s exclusion States would delay by a few days its in- ward with FTAA negotiations and with from NAFTA, adding to the sense of cursion into Iraq, was an excellent sug- new plans for North American eco- economic uncertainly if Quebec voters gestion which should have been nomic cooperation once NAFTA is fully opted for the Yes option. heeded by the Bush administration. implemented in 2008.

Liberalizing Canada continued from page 28 Jean Chrétien may have been reluctant banners that could not conceivably be whether the police acted under direct to impose his morality on others, but did regarded as a threat to security but were orders from the Prime Minister’s Office. not flinch from asserting his political banned, anyway, because they were of- There was an inquiry, which was consti- authority. fensive and politically embarrassing to tuted under the RCMP Public Complaints the prime minister’s summit guests. Not Commission, but it was plagued by res- APEC AND THE DISREGARD only that, the RCMP arrested some par- ignations and disputes about the fund- FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS ticipants and threatened others. Most ing of legal fees. When Prime Minister Whatever the above examples show, the controversial and offensive was the Chrétien refused to testify, key complain- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation RCMP’s decision to use pepper spray on ants withdrew from the proceedings. In (APEC) summit of 1997 is an unforget- a crowd that was engaged in activities the circumstances, it is difficult to con- table example of the Chrétien govern- that should be, and are, protected by the clude that either the RCMP or the Prime ment’s disregard for the democratic constitution. Minister’s Office was held fully account- rights of Canadians. There, the RCMP The APEC summit’s implications for able for the assault on democratic val- cracked down on students and others Canadian democracy are troubling at ues that occurred at the APEC summit. who had gathered to protest the pres- many levels. It was worrying enough that Even so, Jean Chrétien’s response to ence—on Canadian soil and at Canada’s the RCMP’s crowd control tactics dem- what had gone wrong at the summit may invitation—of Indonesia’s President onstrated an abuse of authority; the fur- be the most shocking element of the Suharto. The police seized signs and ther question that arose, however, was Liberalizing Canada, page 38

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 37 Liberalizing Canada continued from page 37 story. When asked about the RCMP’s use of pepper spray, the prime minister In breaking ranks with the party to vote quipped, “[p]epper,” I put it on my plate.” The excuse he then gave for this cava- in favour of the Alliance’s marriage motion lier and dismissive reaction to the viola- last fall, a Liberal MP defiantly stated: tion of rights was that “I made a joke. You know me. I tried to get you to laugh. Re- “You can no longer bully the caucus.” lax a bit in the nation, I say.” Nor did it improve matters when he later defended the use of pepper spray on grounds that “[r]ather than taking a baseball bat to do sues. As prime minister and leader of the against individuals and organizations something, they’re trying to use civilized government, he brooked no dissent in that are suspected of engaging in terror- measures.” It is as if he thought Canadi- Cabinet or caucus but ruled, instead, with ist activities. In operation, much of Bill ans should be grateful that pepper spray an iron hand. Nor did he hesitate to re- C-36 is shrouded in secrecy, with as yet was the RCMP’s weapon of choice. ward his friends and punish or isolate unknown consequences for the fairness those he viewed as enemies or rivals. and transparency of proceedings under CHRÉTIEN’S Significantly, in breaking ranks with the the Act. AUTOCRATIC LEGACY party to vote in favour of the Alliance’s Other examples could be cited of the The APEC summit may have been cata- marriage motion last fall, a Liberal MP government’s willingness to subordinate clysmic for rights, but what took place defiantly stated: “You can no longer bully the rights of Canadians to the demands there was not uncharacteristic of Prime the caucus.” of expedience. For the purpose of this Minister Chrétien’s attitude toward free- Bill C-36, the Anti-Terrorism Act, is brief article the point is that, contrary to dom in the political domain. Far from also part of the Chrétien government’s what Jean Chrétien claims, the protec- being laissez-faire or libertarian, Chrétien legacy. This legislation grants authori- tion of rights under his administration can more accurately be described as ties a variety of investigative and preven- was a matter of political calculation, and autocratic or authoritarian on these is- tive powers, which can be exercised not a question of principle.

Chrétien and the Aboriginals continued from page 29 thusiastic support from Liberal MPs. grounded varied over time for the Lib- lationship; during the crisis, as a right to Since the white paper, the only rights erals. Until 1990, they were deemed to a specific territory; and later, as a moral mentioned as specifically aboriginal have existed as inherent rights since right on land. Until more recently, it was in the House of Commons by Liberal before contact between Aboriginals mentioned only in connection with land MPs were undefined linguistic and cul- and Europeans. But, after the Oka cri- and resources management. It is not sur- tural rights—rights to special medical sis, the Liberals wavered on that ques- prising then that when in power, the Lib- facilities, to police services adapted tion and Chrétien himself declared that erals offloaded responsibility for that defi- to aboriginal culture, to housing, and they derived from the multicultural pro- nition to the courts. to vote. visions of the constitution. It was only after Charlottetown that mainstream A TARNISHED RECORD Political rights Liberal MPs came back to their party’s From this analysis of the Commons de- Political rights fare somewhat better former position, and qualified aborigi- bates, we can see the influence of with Liberals, as self-government was nal rights, including self-government, Chrétien’s assimilative policy toward the indeed included in aboriginal rights as as inherent. Aboriginals on his Liberal colleagues an essential requirement of economic (with the exceptions of the two Aborigi- and community development. Borrow- Economic rights nals among them), even before he could ing from the Royal Commission on Ab- While in opposition, the Liberals gave control them as prime minister. But his original People, one aboriginal MP three definitions of the meaning and ideology has influenced actions even came forward with a suggestion for scope of the most important native eco- more than words, be it the treaty prac- implementing this right in the form of nomic right—aboriginal title. Before the tices, or recent legislation. It is not pos- a third chamber of government where Oka crisis, they defined aboriginal title sible to analyze those tools of neo-colo- First Nations would sit. However, the as the right of Aboriginals to have their nialism in the context of this symposium basis on which these rights were to be lands protected through the fiduciary re- or the space allocated in Canada Watch,

38 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 but suffice it to say that they are just as ers on land and governance on the pre- while Chrétien was either minister for restrictive as the discourse analyzed condition that the bands to whom these Indian Affairs, or influential on his col- above would suggest. limited powers are recognized adopt leagues even before he became prime The treaty practices first required ex- codes regulating behaviour and dealing minister and was able to appoint Robert plicit and, now, implicit extinguishment with prescribed topics, including alien- Nault to finish his job for him, we can of rights not mentioned in the agree- ation of lands, which was unacceptable only conclude that if he leaves politics ments, as the Dogrib formula for “cer- in traditional aboriginal law. with a reputation for open mindedness tainty” has been described. Legislation Given the assimilative and restrictive or even enlightened self-interest, he will recently both adopted and tabled was no policies that were defended in the Com- have earned it elsewhere than in the field better—it grants only administrative pow- mons and implemented in government of aboriginal affairs.

Take a green poultice continued from page 30 Once again the feds “negotiated” an to Canadian values in identifying a ment during Chrétien’s tenure. No- agreement in which $27 billion new dol- leader of immediate credibility and in- where is this truer than in the health lars were transferred, but little was re- tegrity for the Canadian public. care sector, where the federal govern- turned. With almost a year passed since In contrast, Chrétien has failed to se- ment has had a strong and forceful the February 2003 accord, governments cure a solid footing for the future of mandate to act arising from the in Canada have shown little interest in Medicare and in particular to provide Romanow commission, and has been acting on the major recommendations any significant improvement in the unable to expand coverage in a fash- arising from Mr. Romanow, nor have scope of coverage challenges that have ion anticipated by the National Forum they shown much appetite for living up plagued Medicare for the last 20 years, and Romanow reports. to their end of the February 2003 bar- as care has shifted out of the hospital Chrétien has protected Medicare gain—that being, the establishment of a and into the community. In addition, from the worst—wholesale privatiza- National Health Council, the definition with pharmaceuticals rising faster than tion—but the triumph of the politics of of base elements in a national home other expenditures in the health care pragmatism over the politics of principle care program, and the national estab- sector, there is no national formulary has allowed creeping privatization, par- lishment of a common, catastrophic or national catastrophic drug program ticularly in the financing of community drug insurance program. on the horizon to pick up from the calls care and pharmaceuticals. And this is So how has Chrétien fared? Notwith- of the National Forum or Mr. Romanow. slowly and surely eating away at the standing the major fiscal squeeze aris- heart of Medicare—national coverage ing from the recession of the early 1990s THE HEALTH CARE LEGACY for medically necessary services. With- and the downward transfer of fiscal ob- In many respects, Chrétien appears to out strong federal leadership, the prog- ligations to the provinces, Chrétien has have acted as a leader spooked by the nosis for Medicare is poor. Ironically, quietly stood behind Canadian values extremely narrow victory of the feder- perhaps it will fall to his successor, Mr. in health reform. In the creation of the alist forces in the Quebec sovereignty Martin, to finally announce the creation National Health Forum he advanced a vote of October 1995. He never quite of a National Health Council for Canada, moderate Canadian vision of reform recovered political stability on federal– and take a more vigorous set of steps to with a wide consensus of policy elites provincial relations. The ghost of re- re-establish a federal presence and ex- in the country. In appointing Mr. gional succession threats has stalked tended federal base of coverage for Romanow, he stood once again close a fearful and tentative federal govern- health in Canada.

Federal social policy continued from page 31 The city’s task force recommended hood development. And in cases where years, and invited the provinces to the that the federal government get tough the provinces fail to comply, the federal table. This set the stage for another Ot- with the province. In its view, the federal government should enter into direct tawa–Ontario confrontation; the federal government was not enforcing the ac- funding agreements with municipalities government’s funds were to be spent on countability provisions of SUFA. The task (the SCPI model). regulated child care, but the province of force argued that the federal government In the 2003 budget, the federal gov- Ontario favoured the inclusion of infor- should provide additional support to ernment made a tangible and dedicated mal child care arrangements. In the end, those provinces that have integrated commitment to child care. The govern- the governments agreed that the pro- child care into their plans for early child- ment committed $900 million over five Federal social policy, page 40

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 39 Federal social policy continued from page 39 gram would benefit the regulated sector, government’s social policy initiatives senior levels of government, which have but left the province responsible for de- have largely ignored the most remark- historically expended more energy on fining “regulated.” This left child care able social change in Canada in the past providing services equally across juris- advocates nervous. few years. As The Economist and many dictions; these governments have diffi- The constraints of space do not per- others have pointed out, the greatest di- culty with what calls the mit me to describe in any detail all the vide in Canada today is between the “particularity” of large urban areas. social policy initiatives of the Chrétien country’s large urban regions and the Interestingly, it was a speech on this government. Most notably, the National rest of the country. This is a product of issue that triggered the political stand-off Child Benefit (NCB) was an important globalization. Large urban regions are that began with Paul Martin’s resignation innovation and—as it grows—it be- fully connected to the global economy, as finance minister and ended with the comes more significant. But it is worth particularly through immigration. Be- announcement of Jean Chrétien’s retire- noting that the NCB set the stage for tween 1996 and 2001, 62 percent of ment in August 2002. Paul Martin deliv- another federal–provincial wrinkle; to Canada’s population growth occurred in ered a speech to the Federation of Ca- the dismay of most child poverty advo- four cities—Toronto, Montreal, Vancou- nadian Municipalities that described a cates, Ontario decided to “clawback” this ver, and Ottawa. Non-urban areas as a different relationship between the federal benefit from social assistance recipients whole lost 25,000 people. government and municipalities. As part by reducing welfare rates by an identi- Large urban areas are characterized of his campaign for the Liberal leader- cal amount. This is permitted by the fed- by extremes of wealth, and the increas- ship, he confirmed his commitment to eral government, provided the province ing concentration of urban poverty. As sharing a portion of the federal gas tax can demonstrate that the savings have Judith Maxwell has argued, poverty in with municipalities. been invested in child care or other in- Canadian cities has become more con- It is not yet clear whether a Paul Mar- kind services for low-income children centrated in discrete neighbourhoods. At tin government will have the fiscal or and their families. In Ontario, many ac- the same time, the capacity of munici- policy flexibility to work with municipali- tivists disputed Ontario’s contention pal governments to undertake significant ties on an innovative social policy that that it was honouring the agreement, social policy innovation is diminished by reflects the rise of city-regions. Neverthe- and that equivalent services were being a combination of property tax depen- less, there are important signals that the supported. dence, and downloading. There is a treatment of municipalities—and big cit- growing need to focus more energy on ies, in particular—will be one policy area GETTING BACK TO THE CITIES the livability and vitality of our urban ar- where he hopes his government can dis- Finally, it is worth noting that the federal eas. This does not come easily to the tinguish itself from its predecessor.

Women’s equality continued from page 32 political agenda in 2003 when Finance that goes to social assistance recipients all lack of progress on women’s equal- Minister ’s budget commit- in order to encourage labour market at- ity measures under the Chrétien Liber- ted $25 million for early childhood de- tachment. Structured as a negative in- als. It is a gain that will be difficult for velopment services in 2003-04 with the come tax benefit, the child tax benefit any subsequent government to reverse. promise of an additional $875 million might well play a role within a coherent The absence of a coherent Liberal fam- over the following four years. With set of family and labour market policies. ily policy is, however, evident in the fact, Manley out of politics and Jane Stewart, In the absence of child care services and noted above, that other changes to EI the main proponent of the 2003 initiative, in the context of federal and provincial resulted in women of childbearing/rear- out of the Cabinet, there is reason for policies directed at creating greater com- ing ages losing their entitlement to EI skepticism about the renewed child care petition at the bottom end of the labour benefits and therefore to maternity and promise. market, the measure operates primarily parental benefits. Rather than direct resources to ser- as a subsidy to low-wage employers. The employability model of the wel- vices, the Chrétien Liberals chose to fare state was constructed primarily frame support for working parents in THE ONE BRIGHT SPOT through measures introduced in budgets terms of an employability agenda. They The extension of marital/parental leave during Paul Martin’s term as finance min- significantly enhanced the Conserva- under the Employment Insurance Pro- ister. The 10 lost years for women’s tive’s child tax benefit and offered prov- gram to a total of 50 weeks stands out equality should therefore be seen as a inces the option of reducing the amount as an important exception to the over- joint Chrétien /Martin legacy.

40 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 The Chrétien record on environment and sustainability CANADA AS Martin presided over the program re- ENVIRONMENTAL BY DAVID V.J. BELL view exercise in 1994, which resulted in LEADER: 1993 huge cuts to many departments, espe- ean Chrétien was elected prime min- David V.J. Bell is founding director of cially Environment Canada. Speaking in the York Centre for Applied Sustainability ister in 1993, one year after the United 1997, Jim MacNeill described the Liberal J (now the Institute for Research and Nations Conference on Environment and environment record as “perhaps the Innovation on Sustainability). Development (the “Earth Summit”) was worst in recent memory.” But how bad held in Rio de Janeiro. Many observers was it? What happened to the Red Book regard that event as the zenith of global promises? concern about the environment. It was Governance for Several of the key commitments con- certainly the culmination of growing tained in the Red Book focused on popular awareness and extensive en- sustainability... changes to the structures and processes gagement of decision makers in the pub- involves of environmental decision making. In lic sector around the world. It also cata- 1994, NRTEE was given a firmer institu- lyzed the global involvement in sustain- two challenges: tional basis by an Act of Parliament es- able development of businesses, NGOs, tablishing it as an agent Crown corpora- and aboriginal peoples. making better tion. In 1995, a federal Guide to Green Canada’s reputation as an interna- Government was signed by every mem- tional environmental leader was also at decisions and making ber of the Cabinet. As promised, the its zenith. The driving figure behind Rio, decisions better. Chrétien government established both and the secretary general of the Earth the House of Commons Standing Com- Summit, was Canadian . mittee on the Environment and Sustain- But Canada’s leadership had been evi- able Development and the Commis- dent for a number of years leading up to given to rising stars in the Mulroney cabi- sioner of the Environment and Sustain- Rio. Canada had hosted the 1987 Toronto net, including Lucien Bouchard and later able Development (CESD). Air Conference, which first identified cli- . In 1992 Canadian Elizabeth The 1995 amendment of the Auditor mate change as a major global issue. Dowdeswell was appointed executive General Act, which introduced the That same year, the Montreal Protocol director of the United Nations Environ- CESD requires each federal department brought international action on ozone ment Program. and key agency to produce a sustain- depletion, an issue Canadian scientists No one in 1992 could have antici- able development strategy (SDS), re- had helped bring to light. The secretary pated the utter collapse of the Progres- newed every three years and reported general of the Brundtland Commission, sive Conservative Party in the election on annually to Parliament by the com- and principal author of its 1987 report the following year. Few expected that missioner. A 1999 Cabinet directive re- Our Common Future, which led the UN the environment would soon fall off the quires all major federal proposals to to organize the Earth Summit, was also public agenda in Canada and interna- undergo an environmental assessment. a Canadian, Jim MacNeill. tionally. The shift from zenith to nadir These governance changes may ulti- Canada had hosted six public meet- was abrupt and surprising. mately prove to be the most significant ings of the Brundtland Commission, and The environment was certainly a key environmental legacy of the Chrétien as a result, set up the National Task Force element of Liberal Party strategy going government, but more on that later. on the Environment and Economy. into the 1993 election, and featured What about the substance of Canada’s Among its recommendations that prominently in the Red Book whose environmental policy? Canada implemented was the establish- principal architect, Paul Martin, was en- ment of the National Round Table on vironment critic in Chrétien’s shadow THE SUBSTANCE OF Environment and Economy (NRTEE). cabinet. Martin was well familiar with ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY Canada introduced the Green Plan in the portfolio, and was fortunate to have Here the record is mixed. Canada took 1990, which entailed a multibillion dol- Maurice Strong as his friend and men- years to pass the Species at Risk Act, lar commitment to better resource man- tor. But the Chrétien government soon which was finally proclaimed in June agement and environmental protection. became pre-occupied with the deficit 2003. A revised version of the Canadian The environment portfolio was a prize and national unity. As finance minister, Environment and sustainability, page 47

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 41 Income inequality and poverty: The Liberal record

he Liberals had the good fortune to BY ANDREW JACKSON working poor who move between low- Ttake over as the Canadian economy wage jobs and social assistance. was starting to recover from the severe Andrew Jackson is a senior economist On the other side of the balance downturn of the late 1980s and early with the Canadian Labour Congress. sheet, the introduction of the National 1990s. By the measure of growth of GDP Child Benefit resulted in higher benefits per person over the past decade, Canada for some low-income working families put in just about the strongest economic Despite job growth, with children but, by design, did not pro- performance of any major industrialized vide an income supplement for the many country, including the United States. it is striking that, low-income families with children on However, GDP is a very incomplete mea- on average, there provincial social welfare programs. sure of well-being, telling us little about Under the Liberals, the national un- economic security or the distribution of were no real wage employment rate fell and the employ- income, not to mention the quality of life ment rate rose. Between 1993 and 2002, in communities and the state of the en- gains whatsoever the economy created some 2.5 million vironment. new jobs. However, unemployment of for workers over young adults remained high, as did un- THE ATTACK ON der employment of adult women in in- THE SOCIAL WAGE the past decade. voluntary part-time jobs, and the propor- The Liberal record is flawed when tion of the total workforce in “own ac- viewed from the perspective of distribu- count” self-employment rose. The mod- tional outcomes. Income inequality and est tilt toward more precarious and inse- poverty have both increased when ac- of unemployed had fallen to 1.3 million, cure forms of work had disproportional count is taken of the state of the business but just 38 percent of the unemployed impacts on women workers and recent cycle. And, redistributive economic now qualified for benefits. The dollar immigrants. transfers, economic security, and access saving was much greater than that justi- to public and social services were all fied by the fall in unemployment, and the WAGE GAINS MODEST undermined by Liberal spending cuts, cost was borne mainly by lower- and Despite job growth, it is striking that, particularly cuts to the Employment In- middle-income households. on average, there were no real wage surance program and transfers to the gains whatsoever for workers over the provinces. This short paper considers SHARING THE BLAME past decade. Increases in average changes in market and transfer income, The Liberals cannot, perhaps, be directly weekly and average hourly earnings for though cuts to the “social wage” of pub- blamed for deep welfare cuts in the two all workers just about matched the in- lic and social services also greatly af- richest provinces of Alberta and Ontario, crease in prices, while even private fected living standards. especially since provincial governments sector unionized workers saw a very From 1993 to 2002, government trans- here chose to deliver tax cuts. But, cuts modest real wage gain of just 3.4 per- fers to persons fell sharply, from 13.5 per- to provincial transfers and the elimina- cent in total over the whole nine years. cent of GDP to 10.5 percent of GDP—the tion of 50–50 federal cost-sharing of wel- Real median annual earnings did in- equivalent of $35 billion in 2002. Seniors’ fare under the Canada Assistance Plan crease—by 10 percent—between 1993 benefits were largely unaffected by policy certainly pushed the costs of social as- and 2001 (from $23,028 to $25,387), but changes, and rose due to population sistance (and related social programs this was due to working more hours in ageing. But, transfers to working-age such as child care) onto the provinces, the week and weeks in the year, rather households—mainly EI and social assis- including provinces that had little fiscal than because of higher wages per hour tance benefits—fell, partly because of fall- room to manoeuvre. No province in- or week. ing unemployment, which is a good creased welfare rates at anything near The boom in job creation had no thing, and partly because of reduced eli- the rate of inflation after the mid-1990s, impact at all on the incidence of low gibility and benefits. In 1993, there were resulting in deep income cuts to pay. In 2002, 25.3 percent of workers— 1.6 million unemployed workers on av- Canada’s poorest households. Welfare 19.4 percent of men and 31.5 percent erage, 57 percent of whom collected cuts fell not just on persons and families of women—were low paid, defined as regular EI benefits. By 2002, the number outside the workforce, but also on the earning less than two-thirds the me-

42 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 dian (mid-point) hourly wage, the of strong economic recovery, which usu- only very slightly from 42.0 to 42.4 per- same level as in 1997. International data ally provides strong benefits to lower- cent. Increasing inequality reflects two show that the incidence of low pay in and middle-income groups because of broad forces pushing in the same direc- Canada is, among the advanced indus- falling unemployment. In the economic tion. As noted, the increase in market in- trial countries, second only to the recovery of the 1980s (1982 to 1989), the come went mainly to the top, and the United States. after-tax income share of the top 20 per- cuts in government transfers to non- cent of families remained the same, and elderly families fell disproportionately on INCOME INEQUALITY their share of market income increased Income inequality and poverty, page 44 ON THE RISE The Liberal years were marked by a ma- jor increase in income inequality, as the gains of the economic recovery went FAMILY INCOME TRENDS IN THE 1990s mainly to higher-income families. The table provides data on income trends in % Change % Change the 1990s for economic families of two 1989 1993 2001 1989-2001 1993-2001 persons or more. The data are in con- stant (inflation-adjusted) dollars. Data Market income are shown for 1989, 1993, and 2001 (the Bottom quintile $ 8,969 $ 5,307 $ 8,362 6.8% 57.6% most recent available) to show the - Second quintile 33,729 29,896 32,362 - 4.1% 8.2% changes under the Liberals as well as the Middle quintile 53,144 47,235 54,127 1.8% 14.6% longer-term structural trend. (The years Fourth quintile 73,844 68,720 78,389 6.2% 14.1% 1989 and 2001 are comparable in terms Top quintile 124,953 118,241 145,580 16.5% 23.1% of the level of unemployment.) The first part of the table shows trends Shares of market income in market income—that is, wages and Bottom quintile 3.0% 2.0% 2.6% salaries, plus small business and invest- Second quintile 11.5% 10.1% 10.2% ment income—but not including income Middle quintile 18.0% 17.7% 17.0% from government transfers. Fourth quintile 25.1% 25.8% 24.6% It is clear that the market income gains Top quintile 42.4% 44.4% 45.6% from 1993 went disproportionately to the high end. The top 20 percent of families, After-tax/after-transfer income with average market incomes of $145,580 Bottom quintile $ 20,258 $ 18,891 $ 20,721 2.3% 9.7% in 2001, took 45.6 percent of all market Second quintile 35,979 32,717 36,830 2.4% 12.6% income in that year, up from 44.4 per- Middle quintile 48,064 44,738 51,074 6.3% 14.2% cent in 1993, and up from 42.4 percent Fourth quintile 62,247 58,886 67,878 9.0% 15.3% in 1989. In inflation-adjusted dollar terms Top quintile 97,242 91,683 113,615 16.8% 23.9% (measured in 2001 dollars), the market After-tax/after-transfer income shares incomes of the top one-fifth rose by 23.1 Bottom quintile 7.7% 7.7% 7.1% percent under the Liberals, much more Next quintile 13.6% 13.3% 12.7% than the other income groups with the Middle quintile 18.2% 18.1% 17.6% exception of the bottom 20 percent. Next quintile 23.6% 23.9% 23.4% However, the bottom 20 percent, which Top quintile 36.9% 37.1% 39.2% is disproportionately made up of elderly families and recipients of social assis- (Data are for economic families of two persons or more. Constant $ 2001.) tance, receives very little market income, Statistics Canada. Income in Canada CD-Rom 2001. and is mainly reliant on government transfers. Poverty (Post-tax LICO) As also shown in the table, the top 20 All persons 10.0% 12.9% 10.4% percent of families also increased their Children 11.5% 15.7% 11.4% share of after-tax/after-transfer income 18-64 9.3% 12.3% 10.6% between 1993 and 2001, from 37.1 to 39.2 65+ 10.9% 10.8% 7.3% percent of the total. The share of all other income groups, including the bottom 20 Source: Statistics Canada. Income in Canada CD-ROM. Table T802. percent, fell. This is unusual in a period

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 43 Income inequality and poverty continued from page 43 lower-income groups. Tax changes also has been a major disconnect between the same level. The fact that the child contributed to greater inequality. the statistics of overall economic recov- poverty rate was about the same in 2001 ery, and the incomes of ordinary work- as in 1989 is no reason for great celebra- A SKEWED INCOME ing families, explained in significant part tion given that this was the decade for DISTRIBUTION AND by the very unequal distribution of in- the elimination of child poverty. CHILD POVERTY come gains. The clear bottom line is that income Note that a family in the middle of the The picture is slightly different when inequality increased significantly in the income distribution saw only a 14.6 per- it comes to poverty rates, as measured Liberal years, mainly because the in- cent increase in real market income over by the after-tax low income cut-off line. creasingly unequal distribution of mar- the eight years from 1993 to 2001, and a Under the Liberals, poverty fell signifi- ket income was not offset to the same 14.1 percent increase in real after-tax/ cantly for all age groups, reflecting the extent as in the recent past by govern- after-transfer income. A real income gain fact that the jobs recovery did give a ment transfers to lower-income families. of only about 1.5 percent per year looks boost to the incomes of those at the bot- And, poverty rates remained disturb- very small in comparison to the average tom, even if their share of the overall in- ingly high. real GDP growth rate of over 3.5 percent come gain was not large and was offset A note on sources: Except as otherwise per year over the same period. The bot- by cuts to transfers. However, poverty indicated, data are taken or calculated tom 40 percent of families fared even rates for the working age population in from the standard sources as reported in the 2002-03 issue of Statistics Canada’s worse in terms of growth of after-tax/ 2001 were still well above the level of Canadian Economic Observer after-transfer incomes. In short, there 1989, when unemployment was at about Historical Statistical Supplement.

Women, work, and social policy reform continued from page 33 coincided with a loss of the national of their policies included narrowed so- work mattered. Yet it was precisely lone policy guidelines or principles that had cial assistance eligibility, a glorification mothers at the bottom of the income prevailed for three decades. The sup- of paid work as the single unambiguous scale who were singled out under the ports for job training and child care that answer to welfare “dependency,” and the terms of the emergent duty state to find Liberals promised in their 1993 Red Book growth of invasive social regulation in the paid work, or a husband, in order to con- platform failed to materialize, leaving lives of single mothers. form to moralistic norms about “self- poor women in Canada to face less gen- Austerity arguments as framed by sufficiency,” “self-reliance,” or “family erous, more punitive, and often more pa- Chrétien, Martin, and others suggested values.” Just as older social rights-based ternalistic welfare regimes at provincial it was time to narrowly target scarce claims or entitlements were giving way and local levels. Since significant cuts to public funds toward selected “work- to a nascent regime grounded in ideas federal social transfers, reductions in fed- ready” recipients, in this way eliminat- about duties owed, women who thought eral spending controls and weakened ing what were described as the waste- they were fulfilling their obligations were protections for poor citizens character- ful universalist solutions of a “failed” assigned yet more responsibilities, and ized the Canada Health and Social Trans- welfare state. The combined upshot of stripped of the rights they might have fer regime introduced in 1996, it was not their claims was the emergent Anglo- used to contest those additional bur- surprising that subsequent years saw the American duty state, under which indi- dens. arrival of US-style workfare programs in vidual obligations trumped social rights In short, Chrétien era welfare reform Ontario and time-limited social assis- and administrative discretion rewarded directions in Canada, when closely com- tance benefits in . “responsible behaviour.” pared with conservative precedents in For poor women, the crucial irony this country and elsewhere, often re- CHRÉTIEN’S ATTACK within the scenario of a fading residual flected more similarities than differ- ON SOCIAL POLICY or liberal welfare state and emerging ences. From the perspective of late 2003, So what? Of what larger significance were duty state was stark and sharp. Surely it seemed likely that a Paul Martin Lib- these patterns? Chrétien and other Third among society’s most dutiful members eral government would continue in the Way leaders tipped an already precari- were mothers who cared for their chil- same directions as its predecessor—par- ous and uneasy weighting of social rights dren in the absence of a spouse or part- ticularly given that Martin as finance min- and individual obligations toward a ner, in the absence of measurable finan- ister had mapped out so many of those seemingly inexorable stress on duties cial assets, and in the absence of sup- directions in his crucial budgets of the owed. Over time, the combined effects portive social norms that said caring early Chrétien era.

44 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 Health care continued from page 34 vesting in home care and community care. However, these initiatives fell well Despite being armed with both short of such second Red Book prom- ises as universal pharmacare—an initia- an “action plan” (even if somewhat limited tive on which the federal government in scope) and what could be interpreted appeared to have expended little effort. The third Red Book committed the as an electoral mandate to proceed, Liberal government to implementing the Health Accord, guarding against the de- the Chrétien government announced an velopment of two-tier health care, as well as more specific promises such as a com- 18-month hiatus in health care reform mitment to form a citizen’s council on with the striking of the Romanow commission health care (appointed jointly with the provinces) to help design appropriate less than five months after the election. quality measures and performance benchmarks. Despite being armed with both an “action plan” (even if some- what limited in scope) and what could Both recommended that these initia- portion of CHST will be renamed as the be interpreted as an electoral mandate tives include catastrophic drug coverage Canada Health Transfers (CHT) creat- to proceed, the Chrétien government an- and coverage of some categories of ing a nominally dedicated health care nounced an 18-month hiatus in health home care. Both reports also recom- transfer, the new transfer will not be sig- care reform with the striking of the mended shoring up federal transfers—the nificantly different in structure (as sug- Romanow commission less than five Kirby committee recommended shifting gested by Kirby), will continue to include months after the election. the basis for existing federal health fund- both cash and tax point transfers (a ma- To some, this announcement was sur- ing under the CHST to an earmarked tax jor point of federal–provincial tension), prising considering that the Senate com- comprising a fixed proportion of GST; the and does not include a fixed escalator. mittee chaired by Michael Kirby had al- Romanow commission recommended The achievement of other main ele- ready been studying the health care sys- converting the health portion of the ments of the accord seems doubtful. For tem at the behest of the Liberal govern- CHST to a dedicated cash-only transfer, example, while the accord mandated ment for over a year. The government enriching it, and requiring a negotiated that a national health council be struck argued that the release of both final re- escalator be established for five-year pe- within three months, prospects for this ports in the fall of 2002 would mark the riods. Both recommended a new na- have dimmed because the first and then point at which health care reform would tional oversight body in the form of a a second deadline have passed. be undertaken in earnest. national health care council, which, in The Chrétien government has, of Kirby’s version, would include a national course, had a number of important ROMANOW AND KIRBY health care commissioner. achievements over its tenure. There have As the final reports of the Kirby com- been a number of important initiatives mittee and Romanow commission were THE SPIN OF HEALTH POLITICS especially in the area of health informa- in overall general agreement, together In response, the first ministers an- tion and research, as well as the agree- they provided a strong basis for federal nounced the Health Care Renewal Ac- ment on a CHA dispute resolution action. Both recommended that the cord (HCRA) in February 2003, which mechanism in early 2002 that seemed federal government use federal funding included a large injection of new fed- to herald a turn toward more construc- to leverage specific models of health eral cash. However, the results fall well tive federal–provincial relations in this care delivery in areas primarily falling short of the recommendations of both area. The recently announced Health under provincial responsibility (for ex- Kirby and Romanow. The HCRA estab- Reform Fund may prove to have impor- ample, hospital remuneration, organi- lishes a Health Reform Fund (block tant effects on the delivery of health care. zation of health authorities, and primary transfers to the provinces for health re- However, judged against the oft-repeated health care delivery) using a set of new form in any of the three priority areas— promises of the Chrétien Liberals regard- federal–provincial programs targeted to primary health care, home care, and cata- ing major reform in health care, these specific issue areas (limited to a two- strophic drug coverage) that, after five modest achievements are likely to be year transition period in the case of years, will be integrated into the general seen, in the broader historical context, Romanow). transfer for health. Although the health as no legacy at all.

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 45 The good, the bad, and the ugly continued from page 35 along institutional lines and interests. In All three of these problematics could Canada’s dismal ODA record under particular, the Canadian military estab- have been avoided with the development Chrétien represents a serious derelic- lishment remained extremely reticent to of a comprehensive security policy docu- tion of duty in terms of failing to meet revise national security doctrines and ment that outlined Canadian positions on our international stated commitment of abandon preparations for advanced key security issues. Unfortunately, the earmarking 0.7 percent of GDP to these state-to-state warfare, even in the ab- 1994 defence white paper and Canada human security investments. More im- sence of any foreseeable credible state- and the World (1995) were quickly dated portant, even though increased ODA based threat to Canada or its allies, while and unsuitable for providing guidance in might not have prevented any of the cur- Foreign Affairs itself remained highly di- the new security environment. Thus, the rent security problems facing the inter- vided. Thus, inter (and intra) departmen- need for such a policy document was national community, it may have re- tal divisions on security issues often led highlighted in the aftermath of 9/11, when duced their intensity and scope; in the to three kinds of problematics. Canada had neither a clearly articulated very least it would have contributed to The first was the tendency for Canada view of changing international security increasing the global capacity to mange to hold incongruent positions across the dynamics nor a reasoned strategy for them in an effective and responsible spectrum of security policy. For example, managing relations with a highly reac- manner. Furthermore, at a time when the rhetoric of Canada’s proclaimed se- tionary American administration. economic development has been rel- curity policy was often secondary to the egated in global discussions to an an- desire to expand international trade THE UGLY ticipated (but elusive) side effect of agreements, which meant that ensuring Given that human security emphasizes trade agreements, a robust ODA pro- the presence in these agreements of key that prevention is both the preferred and gram would have provided tangible evi- human security protections including most effective method of responding to dence that Canada is concerned with human rights provisions was neither a security concerns, economic develop- the entire spectrum of human security priority nor pursued. ment and good governance become cen- vulnerabilities including poverty and The second was the emergence of tral aspects of security policy. This “free- destitution. credibility gaps between what Canada dom from want” is the other aspect of claimed needed to be done to promote the human security equation, intimately THE LEGACY international security and what it would linked to the dynamics of creating the The strengths of Canada’s international actually contribute. For example, conditions for “freedom from fear.” security policy during the Chrétien years Canada’s UN peacekeeping commit- Thus, the marked degeneration of Cana- can be located as continuations of the ments fell steadily throughout the Chré- dian Official Development Assistance Canadian foreign policy tradition, which tien years to the point where, currently, (ODA) under Chrétien was both disturb- has promoted liberal internationalism, Canada ranks 8th in the world in terms ing and extremely counterproductive to multilateralism, humanitarian interven- of resources donated to UN peacekeep- constructing a safer international secu- tion, functionalism, and middle-power ing missions and 33rd in the level of ac- rity environment. Canada ranked 6th out politics. Weaknesses arose primarily tual peacekeepers contributed to these of 22 industrialized countries in terms of from failing to rapidly adapt this tradition missions. Furthermore, Canada’s inabil- the level of ODA donated as a percent- to transformations in the international ity to catalyze a more substantial UN age of GDP when the Liberal government security environment, particularly in re- mission to the People’s Democratic Re- took office in 1993. Canada currently sponse to post-9/11security dynamics public of the Congo after assuming the ranks 16th out of 22 and below the ma- both in terms of new vulnerabilities and lead was also indicative of this credibil- jority of G8 countries (save for Italy and the reactions of our key allies. This was ity gap. the United States). Over this time period, further compounded by a growing gap The third was the growth of Cana- the total amount spent on ODA annually between rhetoric and resources. Thus, dian “policy paralysis,” which reached has fallen from $3.1 billion to $2.3 bil- while Jean Chrétien may be remem- fruition in the aftermath of 9/11, due to lion. Although recent Canadian federal bered by the public as the man who said a lack of a comprehensive direction and budgets have attempted to resurrect ODA “no” to the United States, his legacy vision to guide its international security programs even with the latest $400 mil- could be best described as one that failed policy in a dramatically transformed lion increase, this total expenditure rep- to domestically institutionalize its own political environment. In particular, resents only 0.25 percent of total GDP. prescriptions for a safer international important questions about the future Moreover, an overwhelming majority (75 security environment. structure of the percent) of Canadian bilateral aid con- With the transference of leadership to and defence procurement were left un- tinues to be tied, one of the highest per- Paul Martin, we will likely see both a for- addressed. centages in the industrialized world. eign policy and defence policy review,

46 CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 potentially very good news for creating The touchstone for a Martin foreign How Canada responds will determine a more unified Canadian security policy. policy is likely to be the need both to not only our place multilaterally but es- However, it is quite probable that the re- better manage Canada’s complex rela- pecially our signature relationship with sults will be less than satisfactory from a tionship with the United States and to the United States. Martin will have to human security perspective with Canada be better able to protect those Canadian juggle both the growing intrusiveness of becoming more inward looking, drawing interests at home and abroad that may an American administration fixated on into a closer security relationship with be compromised in the wake of Ameri- Homeland Security and peripheral de- the United States, stressing defence of can policies and actions. Challenges to fence and a global community crying Canadian territory over humanitarian international peace and security, out for effective multilateral institutions intervention, and continuing to neglect whether from state or non-state actors capable of addressing the most basic ODA as a crucial aspect of Canadian se- or structural inequalities, will continue problems of human development and curity policy. to require responsible Canadian action. human security.

Environment and sustainability continued from page 41

Environmental Protection Act, 1999 was David Boyd’s study “Canada vs the 1. Emissions reduction targets for watered down after the committee stage OECD: An Environmental Comparison” large industrial emitters estab- following a coordinated assault from the puts Canada near the bottom of the list, lished through covenants with a business community. Meanwhile, the 28th out of 29. Only the United States regulatory or financial backstop cuts to Environment Canada had greatly scored lower on the series of environ- that would create an incentive for weakened its capacity for scientific re- mental indicators (which include waste, shifting to lower-emissions tech- search and policy development. Not sur- pollution, air quality, transportation, cli- nologies and energy sources, prisingly, the overall impact has been mate change, agriculture, etc.). while providing flexibility for these negative. As David Runnalls and Fran- emitters through emissions trading coise Bregha concluded in “The Cana- CLIMATE CHANGE and access to domestic offsets and dian Record Since Rio”: Responding to climate change is argu- international permits; ably the most significant environmental 2.A partnership fund that will cost- Biodiversity is still declining; the governance challenge of this century. share emissions reductions in col- number of threatened species is Canada signed the Kyoto Accord in 1997 laboration with provincial and ter- growing, wetlands continue to be (against the strong objections of several ritorial governments, as well as drained, and the freshwater habi- provincial premiers, particularly Ralph municipalities, aboriginal commu- tats of the Fraser River, St Klein), but then gave ambivalent signals nities, non-governmental organiza- Lawrence River and the Great about whether it would ultimately ratify tions, and the private sector to in- Lakes are still negatively affected the agreement. The next five years in- crease energy efficiency and re- by commercial fishing, toxic volved a series of discussions and nego- duce emissions in the most effec- wastes, agricultural run-off and tiations but little action to reduce emis- tive way; municipal sewage. sions, which on the contrary continued 3. Strategic infrastructure investments On the positive side of the ledger, to increase. To his great credit, Prime in innovative climate change pro- many new national parks were created Minister Chrétien pledged Canada to the posals such as urban transit and large tracts of land were set aside as Kyoto convention at the World Summit projects, intermodal transportation protected areas. Though some observ- on Sustainable Development held in facilities, and a CO2 pipeline; ers have condemned Canada’s environ- Johannesburg in August 2002. Formal 4. A coordinated innovation strategy mental performance, others have been ratification by the Canadian Parliament that allows Canada to benefit fully much more positive. For example, a 2001 followed a few months later. from the innovation possibilities of Columbia and Yale universities study of In November 2002, the federal gov- our climate change agenda and 122 countries ranked Canada third over- ernment unveiled Canada’s “Climate builds on programs such as Tech- all behind Finland and Norway. The Change Plan,” which proposed a “na- nology Partnerships Canada, the rankings were based on the Environmen- tional goal—for Canadians to become the Industrial Research Assistance Pro- tal Sustainability Index (ESI), which iden- most sophisticated and efficient consum- gram (IRAP), Sustainable Develop- tifies 22 major factors that contribute to ers and producers of energy in the world ment Technology Canada, and the environmental sustainability, including and leaders in the development of new, Technology Early Action Measures air quality, overall public health, and en- cleaner technologies.” Five key instru- (TEAM); and vironmental regulation. In contrast, ments are proposed to achieve the goal: Environment and sustainability, page 48

CANADA WATCH • FEBRUARY 2004 • VOLUME 9 • NUMBERS 3-4 47 Environment and sustainability continued from page 47 5. Targeted measures including information, incentives, regulations, and tax measures that will help achieve our climate change objec- tives in specific sectors and program areas. Clearly, this plan embraces a wide range of policy instruments, but it leaves in doubt how the total Kyoto commitment of 2.3mt of GHG (green house gas) reduction will be achieved. In this as in several other key areas, the Canadian government has promised much without develop- ing mechanisms and processes to deliver on the promise. The resulting “implementation gap” has been duly noted in nearly every report of the CESD. In his December 1999 opening statement to the House of Com- mons Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Devel- opment, Commissioner Brian Emmett lamented that “there continues FORTHCOMING FROM FERNWOOD PUBLISHING to be a substantial gap between talk and action on the federal government’s environmental and sustainable development agenda. As a result, we are paying the price in terms of our health, environment, standard of living BORDERS and legacy to our children and grandchildren.”

GOVERNANCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY? This brings us back to the effectiveness of the SDSs. Governance for MATTER sustainability, which of course requires integrated decision making that HOMELAND SECURITY AND THE connects environmental, social, and economic components, involves SEARCH FOR NORTH AMERICA two challenges: making better decisions and making decisions better. Ultimately, the changes in governance will prove the most important ele- BY DANIEL DRACHE ments of Chrétien’s legacy. His substantive accomplishments are mod- Daniel Drache is an Editor-in-Chief of Canada Watch, est. The boldest decision—ratifying Kyoto—was preceded by such tem- the Associate Director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, a Professor of Political Economy porizing and ambivalence that we are still without a plan that will bring at York University, and Senior Resident together the coalition of commitments needed to achieve the targets. at Massey College, University of Toronto, 2003-04. The numerous efforts at transforming how decisions are made in 128 pages/Paperback/ISBN 1-55266-123-7/ Ottawa are, however, an important step in the right direction. Many of $17.95/Fernwood Publishing/April 2004 the building blocks of sustainability-based governance are now in place. But, to date, they have not been assembled into a coherent edifice. We The great North American border has always been will not move very far from the status quo until strong leadership is exer- a blend of the porous and the “impermeable.” If cised from the centre of decision making, by central agencies (Privy the border, in all its aspects, is working well, Cana- Council Office, Finance, Treasury Board) led by the prime minister and dian sovereignty will be effective and focused; when the fundamentals are neglected, sovereignty supported by key ministers and deputy ministers. This in turn will re- becomes threatened, and economic integration be- quire the articulation of an overall government of Canada SDS (some- comes the focus of debate. thing that until now has been lacking), absent which “the challenge faced Borders Matter examines the importance of the by each department is like helping to assemble a large jigsaw puzzle US–Canada border against the background of the without the picture box.” new pressures of increased security practices and the continuing need to have a sufficiently porous The torch has been passed to a new leader. Paul Martin has all the border for the purpose of trade. Canadians have skills required to push further a transformation toward sustainability gov- never been very good at defining or defending their ernance. He understands the issues; he has an excellent mentor and strategic self-interest. Instead, Canadians carefully adviser in Maurice Strong; and he enjoys taking on big policy challenges. negotiate between competing nationalisms, region- He has already announced the creation of a new Cabinet Committee on alisms, and localisms and the reality of being a Domestic Affairs, which he has charged to take a sustainability approach small economy dependent on and vulnerable to US pressures. to domestic policy, highlighting the interconnection of environmental, In Borders Matter, Drache points to a need for economic, and social dimensions. a policy model and social theory that would grasp Whether Martin possesses the courage and political will to push the the complex, multi-dimensional, and dramatic needed changes through a largely reluctant bureaucracy will soon be changes to the border and ultimately help to shape evident. Only then can we take the true measure of the Chrétien legacy, the political economy and future of this country. for it is now incomplete and dependent on what happens next.

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