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Writers in Whistler

Whistler’s 7th annual lit-fest, the Whistler Readers & Writers Festival, is set to take place Sept. 12-13, 2008.

Whistler’s 7th annual lit-fest, the Whistler Readers & Writers Festival, is set to take place Sept. 12-13, 2008. With 15 different seminars, sessions, workshops and readings available to select from, the biggest challenge for aspiring, emerging, devoted or lapsed writers is choosing which sessions to take. Streams on fiction writing, non-fiction and magazine writing, as well as memoir and writing from life are programmed, with guest writers including Wayne Grady, William Deverell, Nancy Warren, Shaena Lambert, Leslie Anthony, Susan Reifer, Candas Jane Dorsey, Mel Hurtig and Rebecca Wood Barrett. For more information, visit www.theviciouscircle.ca and download the festival program. Tickets are available online at www.theviciouscircle.ca, and start from $20.

This week, local writer and community activist Pina Belperio profiles Festival guest Mel Hurtig. Belperio, a founding member of the Whistler Writers Group, will moderate two lively panels at this year's Fest: the Friday, Sept 12 Opening Night Forum, taking place at the Whistler Library, and Saturday, Sept 13 Writing from Life panel on How to Interview People for Their Stories, featuring a multi-disciplinary panel of experts including psychologist Mary Macdonald, award-winning non-fiction writer Wayne Grady, and local journalist Jennifer Miller.  

 

Mel Hurtig uncovers the ‘Truth About Canada’

 

By Pina Belperio, The Vicious Circle Love him or hate him, Canada’s tireless patriot continues to defend the survival of this country. Mel Hurtig has released his new book, The Truth About Canada: Some astonishing, and some truly appalling things all Canadians should know about our country.

He refers to his latest work as “one of the most anti-establishment books ever published in my lifetime.” If he appears pessimistic, he’s not. He’s simply frustrated with Canada’s failure on the world stage and with our “inept politicians who have allowed a small and wealthy plutocracy to sell out our country.”

The book describes how Canada has changed for the worse under the governments of Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper. Hurtig hopes that readers will be angry after reading his book — very angry.

“As a result of these profound changes, we are no longer the country we think we are, and no longer the people we think we are,” said Hurtig. “We’ve departed from the principles and ideas that helped Canada become on of the most admired countries in the world.”

Hurtig blames Canada’s demise on the unparalleled sellout of our country, the dissemination of print media, and “integration by stealth” with the United States.

Seventy-five-year-old Hurtig is the legendary publisher and author, who operated one of Canada’s largest book retailers. He created The Canadian Encyclopedia — a classic reference now found in most classrooms. He’s one of Canada’s best-known economic nationalists and founder of the now defunct National Party. He’s the recipient of six honorary university degrees, the Lester B. Pearson Man of the Year Award, and the Order of Canada.

In his book, Hurtig uses damning stats to compare Canada against other OECD developed nations, instead of the U.S. Many Canadians will be shocked to learn that out of 170 UN member nations, Canada ranks 54 th for number of doctors per 100,000 citizens, 90 th when it comes to public expenditure on education, and an inexcusable 109 th in voter turnout.

While Canadian right-wing institutions promote that Canadian corporations should not be encumbered by nationalist regulations, Hurtig believes the opposite to be true.

“How can Canada be competitive and be expected to succeed when our powerful corporate leaders haven’t used their record profits to adequately invest in new plants and conduct new research and development?” said Hurtig.

He would like to see an increase in the dismal 3.8 per cent of Canadian industrial revenue currently spent on research and development, and increase taxes on large corporations.

In an unprecedented move in March 2008, the federal government blocked the $1.3-billion sale of Vancouver-based aerospace giant, MacDonald Dettwiler,   to U.S. defence contractor, ATK, but only after intense pressure from MPs and the public over national security. A single success story amongst thousands of takeovers.

In 2007, the Harper government formed the Competition Policy Review Panel led by Lynton (Red) Wilson to review Canada’s competition and foreign investment policies. When the results of the Compete to Win   report were released this June, the panel called on the government to reduce or eliminate legal and regulatory barriers to vigorous competition within Canada, and to harmonize our competition laws with those of the U.S.

Hurtig doesn’t hide his disappointment. “After urging the Canadian government to review foreign takeovers, the committee’s conclusion that more takeovers are needed was a total shock,” said Hurtig. “We’ll continue to see more Canadian firms sold abroad, until the process becomes irreversible.”

When it comes to NAFTA, Hurtig struggles to understand how Canada could have signed such an agreement. He calls NAFTA “the most colossal con job in the world.” If it were up to him, he would have scrapped NAFTA long ago.

Like the weather, everyone complains about the media. Hurtig saves his harshest words for Canadian newspapers. In his research, Hurtig found it “truly appalling the number of times that print media in Canada totally ignores or distorts information that doesn’t fit with their own philosophical/editorial positions.” While he praises Canada’s first-class journalists, he has little respect for media owners.

“The media has failed Canadians by doing a poor job and not reporting on what’s been happening in our country,” he said. “Canada’s high concentration of media corporate ownership would never be permitted by other Western democracies.”

Hurtig is a great believer that things can and must change. The answer lies in reforming the way we elect members of parliament and curtailing the foreign takeover of Canadian companies, while raising corporate taxes and social spending.

“You cannot expect to accomplish anything important without bringing criticism from the entrenched forces that this book describes, criticizes and blames for what has gone wrong in our country,” said Hurtig. “There is one important thing we have on our side: democracy.”

He wants to see the issues that have defined this country’s unique identity be maintained and protected. For changes to occur, Canadians must wake up and play an active role in their country’s future and independence by first recognizing the “truth about Canada.”

 

Mel Hurtig is the keynote speaker at the opening night of the 7 th Annual Whistler Readers and Writers Festival on Friday, Sept. 12 at the Whistler Public Library. Tickets are $25 and available at www.theviciouscircle.com. The talk will be preceded by a public forum, “Can Words Make the World a Better Place?” featuring local wordsmiths, G.D. Maxwell, Councillor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden and Pastor Paul Cumin.



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