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.