18 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting insight into a strange movement, December 4, 2004
This review is from: The Vanishing Country: Is It Too Late to Save Canada? (Paperback)
Free Trade with the United States was approved by Canadian voters in 1988, and has now been in effect for over a decade. Though they were once bitterly divided on the issue, today every major Canadian political party heartily supports the FTA and its NAFTA successor. Opposing free trade, and economic integration with the United States is now essentially a dead issue in Canadian politics.
Yet despite the overwhelming odds, some have not given up the battle. There remains a segment of the Canadian population that is so left-wing and so filled with hatred of the United States that they continue to devote considerable amount of time and money to opposing free trade, even now.
These people have their own little subculture, and their cottage industry produces books like these. Mel Hurtig is himself the founder of the "Council of Canadians" which today remains the leading institution of the modern anti-free trade subculture. This book is an interesting read in that it is essentially the "manifesto" of this fringe political movement. It's a lengthy book that covers a wide range of material, but basically all of Hurtig's arguments stem from a few key thesis points:
- The United States is a horrible country with tons of poverty, gun violence, bad TV, etc etc
- The United States government is evil, imperialistic, and is controlled by corporations who more or less guide and promote the evilness and imperialism.
- Canada, by contrast, is a FUNDAMENTALLY left-wing country. Canadian values can be described as left-wing values of collectivism, state-run healthcare, pacifism, support for the CBC, etc
- Anyone who opposes these left-wing values (businesspeople, Stephen Harper, Thomas d'Aquino, the National Post, the Liberal Party, etc) is a horrible traitor to Canada, implicit in the "Americanization" of the country, and thus laying the groundwork for the eventual conquest of Canada by the United States.
- American corporations are by far the most deadly threat facing Canada today. They form the keystone in the sinister alliance between Canadian conservatives (who are traitors) and the US government (who wants to conquor Canada).
- We must therefore keep all Americans, all American products, and most of all, all American businesses out of Canada before they permanently ruin the country.
Now personally, I love the United States, and have no problem with Canada embracing closer economic- and even political- ties with our superpower neighbor. To me, Hurtig's arguments smack of xenophobia, hatred, and most of all insecurity. The Canadian national identity has always been weak, but I think at the present it may be at its weakest point in history. Though figures on the left will deny it to their grave and beyond, Americans and Canadians are growing more alike with each passing year. Economic integration has certainly helped that, but in many ways it was inevitable. As globalization changes the world we live in, Hurting, and the rest of the anti-free trade subculture are making pained screams. They feel increasingly week and frustrated by the new reality. They long for the socialism of the Trudeau era and don't understand why the rest of the country seems to be moving in the opposite direction.
I'm tempted to give this book three stars just because I think it is a very useful book for anyone who wants to understand the mindset of the modern leftist, anti-American Canadian nationalist. This movement has a populist appeal, and it is easy to understand why. It's natural to want to feel patriotic, but in a country with a crisis of identity as complex as Canada's, it's hard to know exactly what to feel patriotic about. People like Hurtig manufacture their own form of patriotism according to their own narrow political beliefs, and then use rhetoric of fear and anger to sell it. Politicians like Sheila Copps and David Orchard have built their entire careers around these principles.
It's hard to tell what the future of Canada will be. It's likewise hard to tell what the future of the crazed anti-integration movement will be. This book at least provides an interesting snapshot in time, and offers a very interesting insight into the strange and frustrated world of this particular subculture of modern Canadian politics.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An American who loved The Vanishing Country, March 30, 2003
I just had the pleasure of finishing Mel Hurtig's book The Vanishing Country: Is it too late to save Canada? As an American, I feel that everyone in this country should be required to read this book. Not only will our people see what our country does to our closest neighbor country, but also what a wide discrepancy we have between the two countries. Also, you will learn in deed how simmilar our two countries are. In Canada, most college students can graduate without taking a Canadian history class. Sadly, where I graduated from, you are also not required to take an American history class.
Every American should read this book. It will open your eyes to how our country really deals with the international world, and how we rate amongst other countries.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
