Canada and the World Backgrounder articles from January 2004

Canada and the World Backgrounder archives from January 2004

Ethics 101: operations such as Democracy Watch make it their business to try and keep governments and politicians, as well as business institutions, straight.(Introduction)
January 1, 2004... If you look up "ethics" on the Internet, you'll find that just about every profession, business, and association, as well as government, has a Code of Ethics. And, like the Seven Principles of Public Life outlined in the accompanying sidebar,...

Breeding cynics: increasingly, voters feel the primary motivation of most politicians is gaining or keeping power, and many are so fed up with the process, and the excesses of government, that they don't even bother going to the polls on election day.(Disengagement)
January 1, 2004... In 1974, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau won an election by promising not to introduce wage and price controls to check inflation. Once elected, he promptly introduced wage and price controls. A decade ago, then-candidate Jean Chretien promised...

So, you want to be a politician? Life in politics is not easy; its many negative aspects make it tough to find high-quality candidates.(Make A Difference)
January 1, 2004... Lynda Haverstock knows all about the rough and tumble of politics. And, what she knows she learned the hard way. Ms. Haverstock had a very poor start in life. Married at 15, she and her baby daughter were abandoned by her husband at 16. A...

Friends in high places: all around the world, the group with the most access and influence in politics is business. Does this access affect policy? You bet it does.(Influence)
January 1, 2004... Mara Faccio, an economist at Vanderbilt University, has just completed a massive study of connections between business and government. She cites Russia as an extreme example of government policy favouring politically connected companies, but a...

Spotlighting the dark side; are politicians more likely to misbehave than people in other walks of life? Probably not, but that doesn't make it okay, and it's usually front-page news.(Scandal)
January 1, 2004... There are plenty of scoundrels in the business world. There are liars and cheats in the media. In academia, professors have been known to falsify research numbers, or extort favours from students in return for good marks. Religious...

Looking on the bright side.(Spin)
January 1, 2004... There have always been people whose job it was to put the most positive light on political statements and to minimize the damage following a screw-up. But, in politics today the talents of spin-doctors have been raised to new levels. They have...

P.M. the PM: Paul Martin says he wants to be our prime minister for ten years, and, if he succeeds, he'll be 75 when he leaves power.(Politics--Paul Martin)
January 1, 2004... When he was sworn in as Canada's 21st Prime Minister in December 2003, Paul Martin ended a very long journey. As James Travers has written in the Toronto Star, Mr. Martin "has waited much of his adult life to be prime minister." The...

Pulling it all together: creating a single party out of the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance Party has left some members of both parties wondering where to turn.(Unity)
January 1, 2004... Just to the fight of the centre of the political spectrum are those who call themselves small "c" conservatives. In Canada, we have called these people "Red Tories." They extol the virtues of capitalism but also believe in the necessity of...

Quote ... Unqoute.
January 1, 2004... "Unless the gap between public expectation and government performance can be narrowed, and quickly, democratically elected governments risk becoming illegitimate in the eyes of the public." Columnist John Ibbitson, Globe and Mail, October 2002...

Ancient roots.(Indroduction)
January 1, 2004... Myths dealing in left and right have origins that disappear into a time before recorded history. These ancient stories have similar themes. A person dies and meets a judge who examines the content of their lives. Those whose lives are judged to...

Change agents.(The Left)
January 1, 2004... At the heart of leftist politics is the belief that humans can be improved. This idea goes all the way back to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who died in 347 BC, and his student Aristotle. People on the left of politics tend to believe...

The moderate middle.(The Centre)
January 1, 2004... If there is a left wing and a right wing, there must be a centre between them--and there is. It's where the majority of people find an ideology they can live with. The centre takes bits from the left and other bits from the right, mixes them...

"State of nature".(The Right)
January 1, 2004... The Irish-born writer and politician Edmund Burke (1729-97) is said by many to be the prophet of the modern ideology of the right. In 1790, Burke wrote Reflections on the Revolution in France. It was a scathing criticism of "mob rule," and a...

Which end of the political spectrum are you?(A Left/Center/Right Quiz)
January 1, 2004... Want to know where you fit on the ideological spectrum? Try this quiz. It's not scientific but it will give you an idea of where you fit. On a separate sheet of paper, write the numbers 1 to 20 in a column. Then read the statements below...

Quotes.
January 1, 2004... "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries." Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister (1874-1965) "Political action is the highest responsibility...