Machiavelli: Tutoring Canadian Politicians. Photo Credit: Din Merican

“Great men are almost always bad men.”
- Lord Acton

Fortune is a woman, and if you wish to conquer her, you must beat and coerce her. And she always smiles upon the
young man, because he commands her with the greatest audacity.

The Prince
By Niccolo Machiavelli

Because the great English historian had written extensively about liberty and federalism, it should not be surprising that Prime Minister Trudeau had read Lord Acton’s work. And because Machiavelli had written his political books in the early part of the 16th century, it should not be surprising that his work contained sexist and offensive passages such as the foregoing one. What might surprise some readers is the fact that Pierre Trudeau and other prominent political and military leaders have consulted Machiavelli’s books throughout the centuries for their sage advice.
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Photo Credit: media.canada.com

I read with some interest in the Globe and Mail recently of the quashing of a grassroots challenge to a sitting Conservative MP. As reported by Steven Chase, the governing body of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) took over control of Calgary West riding association a few days ago in order to do damage control. What was the damage you ask? The riding association was going to ask its members if it wanted to challenge sitting MP Rob Anders’ appointment as a candidate for the next election. Back in the spring of 2009 the national body of the CPC ruled that they would not allow any challenges to be put forth against any of its sitting MPs, stifling any dissent in the process. Upset by this tacit betrayal of classic Reform dogma, the Calgary West riding was on a path to potentially run a candidate nomination process against Mr Anders. No sooner it seems was this considered than the high ups in the CPC swooped down from their headquarters and stopped the riding association dead in its tracks.  When asked about what appears to be internal strife within the party, national council president John Walsh commented “I am not interested in commenting on internal party matters.” Case closed.
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Photo Credit: The Canadian Cave of Coolness

Recent elections and polling indicate that two great Canadian federal parties, the Liberals and the NDP, are in real trouble and could continue to face irrelevance or even extinction in future elections. These are the parties of titans like Laurier, J.S. Woodsworth, Tommy Douglas, Pearson, and Trudeau, whose names reverberate throughout Canadian history.

Is it now time for an old and little known political idea to be revisited? Should the Liberals and the NDP consider some form of partnership? Having endured numerous unsuccessful election results, the Progressive Conservatives and various conservative splinter groups successfully entertained the thought of union, creating the Conservative Party at the federal level. Would the same type of marriage work for Liberals and the NDP?

The marriage between the Progressive Conservative and the Reform political parties was like a marriage between a wolf and a domesticated dog. They share a common evolutionary history, although there has been recent branching off from the evolutionary tree. Whatever differences that do exist, they are still genetically similar enough that they can produce progeny and get along reasonably well. Thus, the marriage of the two parties could and did occur. This union, which resulted in the Conservative Party, required a lot of compromise and effort, but a relatively happy marriage ensued.
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Photo Credit: Canadian Fermentation

As I’ve arrived home from my Christmas holiday, I like many other Canadians, am feeling the wave of depression at the prospect of going back to work. It is that time, and it is a painful time. Unfortunately, I have a full-time job like so many of you, I get paid every two weeks like so many of you, and like so many of you, I have to actually show up to work to receive my paycheque. But I can dream, and that dream is to work for the Canadian government. If I did, I wouldn’t be returning to work until March with the blessings of my boss and my paycheques still in hand. What a generous guy that Stephen Harper is when it comes to our tax dollars paying his MP’s salaries. Call me a slave driver, but I would expect my employees to actually earn their wage, particularly if the Canadian public is paying their salaries. I mean a four month holiday from Parliament seems a little excessive, doesn’t it?
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"We wish nothing more, but we will accept nothing less. Masters in our own house we must be, but our house is the whole of Canada."
Photo Credit: Warren Kinsella

As the first decade of the 21st century passes into its final year, most Canadians will continue to have much to be thankful for.

Our country is a nation rich in history, security, freedom and resources and remains one of the most culturally diverse on the face of the Earth.

For those of us who became politically conscious during the early 1970’s, few can refute the claim that a great deal of our current Canadian identity was forged by the indomitable figure of Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

For all his many critics, it is hard to deny that Trudeau left an indelible stamp on the rest of the world as to what it is to be Canadian.

He envisioned a country that was proud of its dual heritage, one that welcomed immigrants to become a part of the tapestry of this land, one that saw itself not as a global conqueror but rather as a global partner in the stewardship of this nation, our planet and all humankind.
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Promoting Politics: Quentin Durgens, MP
Photo Credit: CBC

This article was sparked by an earlier posting from Jason Darby and deals with the elephant in the room or I guess more precisely the digital elephant in the blog. How do we encourage more political participation and an informed vote among Canadians?

There is no doubt that political apathy and political cynicism has increased significantly around the world over the past four decades. The reasons for this are numerous. People have significantly less free time these days. Moreover, there is now a lot of what has been referred to as “ Data Smog”. Whether one is a politician, a businessperson or an entertainer, you have a lot more competition these days and you have to compete for attention in a glut of information in the news media and internet.
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Agnes Macphail - First Canadian woman elected to the House of Commons. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

In a recent CBC online article Audrey McLaughlin, former leader of the NDP, mused that Canadians may not be ready to be led by a woman. The article itself received little attention from readers, drawing only 24 comments and no play in the print or television media. The article and the muted response to it raise a number of interesting questions. Do people see another article about women and inequality and just tune out? Do they feel that the playing field has been leveled and there are no longer barriers to women’s equal participation in Canadian society? Is it true that Canadians are not prepared to be led by a woman?

Although women make up more than 50% of Canada’s population, they hold only 22% of the seats in the House of Commons. According to the United Nations the benchmark number for a “critical mass” of elected females is 30%. It has been less than a century since Canadian women were given the right to vote and run for elected office. In the first election for which they were eligible to run, held in 1921, four women ran as candidates and one, Agnes Macphail, was elected. Figure 1 below shows our progress from 1921 to 2008. Between 1921 and 1979, the number of women elected held steady at fewer than ten per election. The mid to late seventies marked the beginning of a significant growth trend: the number of women elected climbed to 62 by 1997. The less encouraging part of the graph is between 1997 and 2008, which shows a definite flattening of the strong growth experienced in preceding decades.
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"You Can't Sink A Howe"

Martin Seligman is a leader in the positive psychology movement. Basically, this movement holds that optimism and other positive emotions help people lead healthier and better lives. Dr. Seligman has used these ideas to forecast the success of medical patients’ recovery, job candidates in the workplace, teams in sporting events, and the success of candidates in political elections.

C.D. Howe was a top political leader in Canada during the 1940s and 1950s and was known as the “Minister of Everything”. During the early part of the Second World War, his ship was sunk by a submarine, but he managed to climb aboard a lifeboat. When rescued by a passing boat, he told his rescuers, “You can’t sink a Howe”.

C.D. Howe’s comment when rescued is interesting. In those days during World War Two, it was usually too dangerous to rescue victims of a ship sunk by a U-boat. In fact, the discovery of the lifeboat in the choppy waters was only by chance, and the tramp steamer that rescued him had disobeyed a direct order not to try to retrieve survivors. Given that the policy of non-rescue was well known, and given that he still had the presence of mind to take command of the lifeboat and express bold macho comments when rescued unexpectedly, this suggests he was a person possessing extreme self-confidence. Does this mean that Martin Seligman’s theories are accurate? After all, C.D. Howe was a successful businessman and politician who sometimes succeeded against all odds.
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Once upon a time, many years ago, Canada was a leader when it came to human rights. We helped create the UN, the Geneva Accords, and even adapted many of those accords into our own legislation. We took pride in being the protector, the one who stood up for the little guy, damning the consequences. However, this recent torture debacle involving our military has my recent suspicions that Canada is in a bit of an image crisis confirmed. Like a teenager that has emerged from puberty a little different, Canada is not the peace-loving, torture-hating nation we all thought it was. Between the adjusting of our voice and the ridding of our pimples, we changed.

Torture has always been a no-no. But we all know it happens. It happens in Guantanamo, it happens in Iraq and it sure as hell happens in Afghanistan. At the very least, our job is to not take part in it, and certainly not solicit and most definitely not condone it. Handing over a detainee when one knows he/she will be tortured is not doing our job correctly. Now I know that in the atrocities of war, worse things have happened. However, this begs the question: is this the only time something like this has happened? Because chances are, it isn’t. War makes many people do things they would not do under normal circumstances, no one is questioning or berating that. We have been putting our military on such a pedestal from past peacekeeping accomplishments we thought our soldiers were immune to such cruel behavioural traits, but clearly they are not. They are after all, only human.
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Literacy is critical to the transmission of the ideas that shape our world.

Some people might wonder what an article about literacy is doing on a political blog, but a literate population is crucial to a fully-functioning, informed democracy. According to ABC Canada, “Greater understanding of social and political issues means a more informed opinion at the ballot box, better understanding of issues, and greater confidence in discussing them. This, in turn, encourages leadership and engagement in public debate.” Poor literacy is a huge challenge for those who wish to keep the public informed on prominent issues and what their politicians are up to. Although many of us find power and information in the written word, others may find only confusion.
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