Part 1 focuses on Canada’s need to break out of election-cycle thinking and transform our approach to national governance and public finances.
To engage Canadians, we must take the Senate-reform debate to the people, and away from the day-to-day operations of Parliament.
If our national life is reduced to simply managing the economy and federal-provincial relations, not rocking the boat; if the provinces and courts become the default focal point of all serious moral debate; if we come together only in celebration at sporting events, and in grief over the casualties of war and environmental catastrophes, then we are losing the soul of our nation.
Our national government no longer governs for all Canadians as citizens of one great country, and refuses to address matters of national interest.
The future of Canada depends more than ever on new bold and visionary national leadership that understands both the poetry and practice of politics. We need inspiration to revive our collective imagination once again, and pursue national initiatives for the benefit of all Canadians.
The 1995 inter-provincial Agreement on Internal Trade – intended to reduce barriers to goods, services, and people – is so weak that we are now more disconnected and dysfunctional than the European Union.
With the federal election now finally underway, Canadians must demand civil, constructive political discourse on how to meet the serious challenges that lie on the horizon.
The immigration system needs an overhaul. But what it doesn’t need is poorly conceived, divisive tinkering by an election-hungry prime minister, slipped stealthily into his budget.