www.policymagazine.ca January—February 2021 Canadian Politics and Public Policy 2021—The Year Ahead $6.95 Volume 9 – Issue 1 CN_Policy_ad_04_17.indd 1 2020-10-14 13:39 Clean energy, off the grid. Made by bold research. A sustainable way to transport clean energy across Canada and the world One big barrier to a low carbon economy? The lack of a safe, affordable way to transport clean energy. McGill researchers are developing new ways of storing and generating clean energy with reusable metal powders. This technology can help us power remote communities, electrify the transport sector, and trade clean energy across the world. Jeffrey Bergthorson and Keena Trowell CanadianIn ThisPolitics Issue and Pu2b lic FromPoli cythe Editor / L. Ian MacDonald 2021—The Year Ahead Canadian Politics and 3 Kevin Lynch and Paul Deegan Public Policy Brace Yourselves: The Tests of 2021 Jeremy Kinsman EDITOR AND PUBLISHER 6 L. Ian MacDonald Global 2021: A Saner, Less Fragmented World [email protected] 9 Dan Woynillowicz and Eric St. Pierre ASSOCIATE EDITOR How a New Bilateral Bromance Could Enhance Climate Action Lisa Van Dusen Kevin Page [email protected] 12 Fiscal Policy and the Post-COVID Recovery CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Thomas S. Axworthy, 15 Dr. Tim Evans Andrew Balfour, Yaroslav Baran, Can the Delivery of COVID-19 Vaccines Match the Speed of James Baxter, Derek H. Burney, their Discovery? Catherine Cano, Stéphanie Chouinard, Margaret Clarke, Rachel Curran, 17 John Delacourt Paul Deegan, John Delacourt, An End to the Annus Horribilis? Team Trudeau’s Year Ahead Susan Delacourt, Graham Fraser, Dan Gagnier, Helaina Gaspard, Geoff Norquay and Yaroslav Baran 20 Martin Goldfarb, Sarah Goldfeder, Erin O’Toole’s 2021 To-Do List: Broaden the Base Patrick Gossage, Frank Graves, Robin V. Sears Jeremy Kinsman, Shachi Kurl, 23 Brad Lavigne, Kevin Lynch, Canada’s 2021 Political Forecast: Less Trump Noise, Leslie MacKinnon, Peter Mansbridge, More Sabre Rattling Carissima Mathen, Elizabeth May, Elizabeth May Velma McColl, David McLaughlin, 25 David Mitchell, Don Newman, The Greens’ Annamie Paul—Ready to Make History, Again Geoff Norquay, Fen Osler-Hampson, Kevin Page, Robin V. Sears, America 2021 Vianne Timmons, Brian Topp, Lori Turnbull, Jaime Watt, 27 Sarah Goldfeder Anthony Wilson-Smith In Between What Was and What Could Be America WEB DESIGN on the World Stage Nicolas Landry Lisa Van Dusen [email protected] 29 Joe Biden’s New Role: Humanist-in-Chief SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR John Weekes Grace MacDonald 31 [email protected] Canada’s Goal: Re-engaging the World on Trade GRAPHIC DESIGN & PRODUCTION Canada and the World Monica Thomas [email protected] 33 Stéphanie Chouinard Policy Revising the Official Languages Act: Will History Repeat Itself? Policy is published six times annually 36 Lori Turnbull by LPAC Ltd. The contents are Maintaining Confidence in the Convention of Confidence copyrighted, but may be reproduced with permission and attribution in 38 Michael Chong print, and viewed free of charge at the Canada as a Sentinel of Freedom, Then and Now Policy home page at policymagazine.ca. Column / Don Newman Price: $6.95 per issue 40 Annual Subscription: $39.95 Playing the Prediction Game: An Election in 2021 PRINTED AND DISTRIBUTED BY St. Joseph Communications, Book Reviews 1165 Kenaston Street, Review by Anthony Wilson-Smith Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 1A4 41 War: How Conflict Shaped Us Available in Air Canada Maple Leaf Margaret MacMillan Lounges across Canada, as well as VIA Rail Lounges in Montreal, Ottawa 42 Review by Derek H. Burney and Toronto. The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III Now available on PressReader. Peter Baker and Susan Glasse Cover photos: Justin Trudeau, Adam Scotti photo. Joe Biden, Gage Skidmore Flickr photo Special thanks to our sponsors and advertisers who are solely responsible for the content of their ads. Connect with us: @policy_mag facebook.com/policymagazine Everyone has the right to live free from harm and discrimination. That’s why the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is so important. It’s time to move forward—together. Assembly of Learn more at First Nations SupportUNDRIP.ca #SupportUNDRIP 2 From the Editor / L. Ian MacDonald 2021—The Year Ahead elcome to our special issue, our capacity for creative, collaborative da. Our own Associate Editor Lisa Van 2021—The Year Ahead. For longer-term thinking.” Dusen, herself an experienced Wash- W openers, and to state the Foreign affairs writer Jeremy Kinsman ington hand, looks at the challenges obvious, it’s impossible to look at the was at the table in an era when Cana- facing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris year just beginning without looking da’s voice as a middle power mattered as they step into “the metaphorical- at the one we’ve recently completed: in the world. He pointedly asks: “Do ly ransacked Oval Office.” And John 2020—The Year of the Pandemic. we still have the stuff, the will and Weekes, Canada’s chief negotiator on the first NAFTA, points out that much The year that changed everything. ability to be a key player again?” of the Canada-US bilateral comes The year of the virus that swept ashore Pandemic or post-pandemic, climate down to trade, trade, trade. worldwide and killed over a million change remains an even larger threat Back home, noted fiscal authority and a half people before Christmas. to the world’s health, economy and Kevin Page looks at the federal spend- The year that changed the way we environment. Dan Woynillowicz and ing envelope going into Budget 2021. live and the way we work. The year of Eric St. Pierre look at environmental And McGill’s Dr. Tim Evans, Execu- the mask and social distancing, The issues between Canada and the US as tive Director of the federal health task year we discovered the difference be- well as the global conversation. force, weighs the challenges of getting tween working from home and hav- With 2021 considered a likely election vaccines into the arms of Canadians. ing to work from home. The year of year in Canada, we offer a package on In Canada and the World, Stépha- the Zoom call. The year of the virtu- the positioning and prospects of four nie Chouinard writes of the Trudeau al school class. The year of postponed parties, not from the perspective of government’s promise in its throne weddings, cancelled funerals and fore- pundits but from the vantage point of speech to update the 1969 Official gone grad dances. The year of ex- some of the most experienced opera- Languages Act, noting it’s not clear hausted health care workers and se- tives. John Delacourt looks back at the what that means for minority French niors abandoned in long-term care pandemic and the events of 2020 as a and English-speaking communities. residences. The year, as it ended, with formative experience for the Liberals, vaccines on the horizon. who “can take stock and be hopeful.” Lori Turnbull writes of the game of And the year of government, present For the Conservatives, longtime strat- parliamentary chicken going on be- in our lives with emergency relief pro- egists Geoff Norquay and Yaroslav Ba- tween the Liberals and the opposi- tion over the government falling on a grams to help workers without work, ran write of Erin O’Toole’s need to non-confidence vote and contends it businesses suddenly out of business, lead a united party by sidelining some endangers the constitutional conven- and families with no means of keep- of the “SoCon” voices of intolerance, tion that the government either has ing a roof over their heads. The year and making a home for moderate Pro- the confidence of the House, or not. fiscal frameworks became redundant, gressive Conservatives. with record deficits and debts as a per- On the NDP, onetime national direc- And Conservative foreign affairs critic centage of output. tor Robin Sears notes that for a fresh- Michael Chong looks back at his par- ents, post-war immigrants to Cana- And the year of the defeat of Donald man leader, Jagmeet Singh been an ef- da from Hong Kong and the Nether- Trump and his replacement by a nor- fective presence in a minority House. lands, as an example of Canada as a mal person, Joe Biden. How he plays the balance of power card is a big question going into the beacon of hope and freedom. hatever the new normal budget. For the Greens, former lead- And columnist Don Newman looks may be, the year ahead er Elizabeth May writes that the par- ahead to a Canadian election and pre- W may result in a different ty made the right call in choosing An- dicts who’s going to win and why. normal. And we’ve brought together namie Paul as her successor. Finally, in Book Reviews, Anthony a group of outstanding writers to help Looking at America 2021, former Wilson-Smith reviews Margaret Mac- us think about it. State Department officer Sarah Gold- Millan’s War: How Conflict Shaped To begin, Kevin Lynch and Paul Dee- feder writes that Team Biden will be- Us. And Derek Burney looks at Peter gan enumerate policy and social chal- gin from a well-formed institutional Baker and Susan Glasser’s The Man lenges confronting Canadians in outlook on the US global leadership Who Ran Washington a bio of James 2021. As they write: “These will test role, and its relationship with Cana- A. Baker. Policy 3 Then Vice President Joe Biden, weeks before leaving office in 2016, with Justin Trudeau in the PM’s former Centre Block office. Biden takes office as President in January 2021 with the US, Canada and the world in a very different place with the pandemic and a new post-Trump political era.