By happy circumstance, I grabbed the latest issue of the Literary Review of Canada to stuff in my knapsack as I left my home pre-dawn this morning to spend a final couple of days with the Harper campaign. I say it was a happy circumstance because Harper headed east — we were in Saint John and Edmundston today and will be in Yarmouth, NS and Moncton tomorrow — and the theme of the latest LRC issue is, as it turns out, eastern Canada. So far, as I've had time to read a few pieces as we travel between events on buses and planes, it's been a good tonic for a political reporter assigned to watch the man who would be king tell New Brunswickers, by and large, that things are better than ever right now.
Margaret Conrad, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada studies at UNB, leads off the issue with a relatively impassioned assessment of Atlantic Canada's place in the world. If, in his 2006 campaign, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives asked for a mandate to “Stand Up for Canada”, Conrad, on behalf of opponents of the “prevailing neo-liberal orthodoxy” seems to be asking it might be time to “Stand Up For Atlantic Canada”
…had we rejected Confederation—or if we did so now—would we be in the enviable position of Iceland, with its high standard of living and even its own airline that actually gets people where they need to go? If the experience of Scandinavia, Great Britain and Japan is any indication, lack of primary resources, an aging demographic, even a small population living in a cold climate are not impediments to creating cooperative, caring and sustainable communities . . . If anything gets my dander up, it is the view, implied in many national debates and policies, that sustaining healthy, vibrant communities in Atlantic Canada is less important than it is in Quebec, Ontario or Alberta.
Now I liked Conrad's essay not because it had all the answers but becuase it was pregnant with a lot of questions. “The truth is that most Canadians know little about Atlantic Canada.” She cites a 2003 Pollara survey to back up that claim but heaven knows how many beers I was forced, positively forced, to have with Conservative MPs from Alberta prior to the 2006 election who were ready to lead Alberta out of Confederation if the Liberals had won in 2006, for precisely the same reason: “Canadians don't understand us.” Full disclosure: Je suis né a Montreál. Je suis un Québecois. It's been a given that Canadians don't understand us for nearly 50 years now.
Here's my favourite quote:
“Atlantic Canadians remained the foot soldiers of capitalism, roaming the North American continent in search of jobs.” Now, I've got relatives in northern Ontario, where plenty of pulp mills have shut down and forestry jobs have evaporated. With nothing to do on Lake Superior's north shore, many of the men in communities like Nipigon and Terrace Bay have joined the army of “soldiers of capitalism” and taken their labour west to Fort McMurray so that they can send cheques back east.
One other clip from the piece:
one of the main issues facing Atlantic Canada today is how the region’s 17 universities, built to impressive stature in more generous times, will keep up with their counterparts elsewhere in the world. If current trends are any indication, we may well look back in horror when we see how these tiny, perfect knowledge industries—they attract high-quality personnel, are usually environmentally friendly, prepare their charges to cope with change and do most of the research related to regional development—were allowed to fall through the cracks as we pursued what seemed like more worthy goals. At the very least, we should insist that the region’s universities are sufficiently funded to bring the matching money required to participate in federal programs such as those sponsored by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, which are more accessible to universities in wealthier provinces.
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universities, Atlantic Canada, regional development
I think you meant “Montréal”, not “Montreál”.