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Оглавление“I often say the fundamental problem with our bilateral relationship is one of assumptions: Canadians think they know everything about the United States, and Americans think they know enough about Canada. And of course, we all could do a whole lot better learning a whole lot more about one another.
The Canadian Century offers the perfect tutorial for folks on both sides of the border.
Thoughtful, clear-eyed and provocative, The Canadian Century explains why the US ignores our dynamic neighbors to the north at our own peril. Canada has been building a safe and stable fiscal house for decades, proving itself a powerhouse on the global stage and a most vital economic, energy and military partner to the United States.
The authors provide a compelling—and optimistic—analysis of both the challenges and the triumphs the future offers our two dynamic democracies and make the case why the US–Canada partnership is so worthy of our leaders’ time and attention.”
—DAVID H. WILKINS, former US Ambassador to Canada, 2005–2009
“The Canadian Century reminds us that the temptation for governments to solve all our problems with higher spending always ends in grief—a lesson the US will soon learn. It’s a reminder that prosperity can be ours if we remember Wilfrid Laurier’s legacy of liberty, lower taxes and smaller government.”
—PATRICK LUCIANI, author of Economic Myths
“Crowley, Clemens and Veldhuis draw an intriguing link between the nineteenth century convictions of Wilfrid Laurier—individual liberty and responsibility, minimal taxes and rules, maintenance of an open, competitive edge vis-à-vis the US—and the policy prescriptions needed to ensure a brighter twenty-first century for Canada. Their thoroughly documented analysis of the Redemptive Decade that ushered in Free Trade, the GST and deficit control, demonstrates how Canada has acted in its own best interest. Moreover, they show that if we establish a real advantage vis-à-vis the US on tax and other policies it will increase both our attraction with emerging powers and our leverage with the US. The question the authors pose is whether we have the wherewithal to finish the job.”
—DEREK BURNEY, former Canadian Ambassador to the US, 1989–1993
“As the US and other nations struggle to defuse some potentially disastrous fiscal time bombs, The Canadian Century makes a compelling argument that the world should be looking to Canada for lessons on how to get reform right.”
—ROBERT KELLY, Chairman and CEO, BNY Mellon
“Crowley, Clemens and Veldhuis tell a compelling tale of Canada’s economic policy history over the past one hundred years from the perspective of Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s vision. Many Canadians will be familiar with Laurier’s boast that ‘the twentieth century would be filled by Canada.’ There will be less familiarity with his policy prescriptions and hence perhaps skepticism that the authors’ approach can work. But it works exceedingly well. First because Laurier’s ideas, once highly controversial, now seem so sound. Who now doesn’t believe in individual freedom and responsibility; competitive taxes with fiscal balance and; self-confident engagement with the United States? Second, because the authors strike exactly the right balance with enough detail to keep the most ardent policy wonk captivated while writing in a breezy style that will engage non-economists. And as with a good novel the authors leave us in suspense.
The policy successes of the Redemptive Decade, highlighted by the federal and provincial governments slaying their deficits, have put Laurier’s vision of Canadian world prominence back into our grasp. But some serious challenges, including the return to deficits and Canada’s ailing productivity performance, make that grasp a bit shaky. I urge people to read this compelling tale and then like me, anxiously wait for a sequel to see how the story ends.”
—DON DRUMMOND, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, TD Bank Financial Group
“Sir Wilfrid Laurier proclaimed it would be ‘Canada’s century.’ He put in place policies of open immigration, free trade and investment and a self-confidence attitude to our southern neighbour, that set in motion a half century of progress. Crowley, Clemens and Veldhuis, the authors of The Canadian Century, an engaging and informative romp through our last hundred years, convincingly demonstrate that prosperity does grow from liberty’s soil.
The book is also an endorsement of the too often maligned Canadian federalism. Our founding fathers got it right. The provinces have come into their own as incubators of change, innovation and experimentation with application to the national level.
Entrepreneurship, hard work and self-reliance are deeply ingrained in our psyche. During the Redemptive Decade of the nineties these virtues were resurrected. In tandem with concerted actions by the different levels of government, we put right the debt and despair created by a couple of dark decades when we wobbled toward what the Wall Street Journal described as ‘third-world status.’ Limited government, light taxes and fiscal discipline, argue the authors, are the ingredients that bring gold in the Olympiad of nations.”
—COLIN ROBERTSON, first Head of the Advocacy Secretariat at Canada’s Washington Embassy
“This timely and provocative book will remind Canadians that the smart fiscal and trade policies pursued by governments of all stripes in the past two decades have made Canada a star at the beginning of this century. But history should not repeat itself. What we have achieved recently is what Wilfrid Laurier understood to be the right path forward for the last century. Instead, wars and economic depression led to inefficient government spending, high taxes and deficits, and protectionism. Canada should avoid this poisonous policy recipe in the coming years to fulfil Laurier’s dream of a truly great nation of the North, which we should rightly be.”
—JACK MINTZ, Palmer Chair in Public Policy, University of Calgary
“This wonderful book is an urgent wake-up call for Canada’s current leaders—of all political stripes—and raises crucial economic issues that should be top-of-mind in coming federal elections. Crowley, Clemens and Veldhuis remind us of Sir Wilfred Laurier’s ambitious vision for Canada in the twentieth century, founded on freedom, small but sensible government, and confident engagement with the world. After thirty years of expanding questionable social programs with borrowed money, they argue that Canada’s Redemptive Decade of the 1990s saw us return solidly back toward Laurier’s vision. But the danger now lies in the back-sliding that has occurred in the past decade, with rapidly growing government spending and a return to complacency about public debt. Now is the time to reaffirm the power of Laurier’s vision, to make some courageous policy decisions, and to thereby ensure that the twenty-first century belongs to Canada in the way Sir Wilfrid intended a hundred years ago. Will Canada’s political leaders pay attention.”
—CHRISTOPHER RAGAN, Clifford Clark Visiting Economist, Finance Canada, Department of Economics, McGill University
“A generous helping of economic history, served up in a very appetizing way! Hopefully our public policy decision-makers will pay heed to this book and realize that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
—CATHERINE SWIFT, Chairwomen, President and CEO, Canadian Federation of Independent Business
“Canada’s remarkable journey from economic laggard to one of the developed world’s best performing economies is the subject of this well-timed book. It is a story of sweeping Canadian policy reforms touching on fiscal management, taxation, pensions and social assistance—reforms that helped to position the country to manage its way through the recent global economic downturn. The authors have done a great service by summarizing the highlights and distilling the lessons of what they refer to as Canada’s Redemptive Decade. They show how the achievements of that decade vindicate the vision of Canadian leadership associated with the prime ministership of Sir Wilfrid Laurier.”
—JOCK FINLAYSON, Excecutive Vice-President, Business Council of British Columbia
THE
CANADIAN
CENTURY
moving out of america’s shadow
BRIAN LEE CROWLEY | JASON CLEMENS | NIELS VELDHUIS
Copyright 2011 Brian Lee Crowley, Jason Clemens, and Niels Veldhuis
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0246-8
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems—without the prior written permission of the publisher, or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright, the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, One Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario, M6B 3A9.
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Crowley, Brian Lee
The Canadian century: moving out of America’s shadow / Brian Lee Crowley, Jason Clemens, Niels Veldhuis.
1. Canada—Politics and government—21st century. 2. United States—Politics and government—21st century. 3. Canada—Economic conditions—21st century. 4. United States—Economic conditions—21st century. 5. Canada—Economic policy—1971–1991. 6. Canada—Economic policy—1991–. I. Clemens, Jason II. Veldhuis, Niels, 1977– III. Title.
FC640.C769 2010
971.07
C2009-906878-8
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The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for its publishing program. We acknowledge the support of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Pub- lishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities.
Text design and electronic formatting: Marijke Friesen
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