On an Econ tech point: because the export economy of my home and native land is so tied to natural resources, so does the value of the 🇨🇦 dollar fluctuate a lot - it is the (very efficient!) adjustment mechanism. A single currency would mean adjustments have to happen elsewhere, and it would be *very* disruptive (think countries that joined the Euro that really should have thought twice).
Great post. Lots of lessons to be learned from Canada, it deserves more attention theoretically than it gets. But like the Nordic Model, many of its solutions to problems might not be portable or scalable…
I actually closed my intro IR class with a picture of the cannons in Parc Montmorency in Quebec City—tourist attractions mutely guarding the entrance to the St. Lawrence—as an example of end-of-history-in-one-image. For such perennially difficult and contested territory, more people there are living longer, healthier, freer, more inclusive lives than ever before…
The scalability point is also a great one. What HAVE we learned is transpositional? It’s not a null set—many elements of, uh, traffic design and other technical features—but the big stuff seems very, very costly to implement. Cultures seem sticky! What’s the line—everything changes in Russia every ten years, nothing changes every 200? Something similar could be said for many countries, which is unhappy news for policy tinkerers.
This was @Michael Rushton bait!
Hook, line and sinker.
That Canada’s constitution does not have a disestablishment clause would certainly set the cat amongst the pigeons.
But if I might now turn to the advantages of the Westminster parliamentary system…
A reverse takeover would certainly be a worthwhile Canadian initiative!
On an Econ tech point: because the export economy of my home and native land is so tied to natural resources, so does the value of the 🇨🇦 dollar fluctuate a lot - it is the (very efficient!) adjustment mechanism. A single currency would mean adjustments have to happen elsewhere, and it would be *very* disruptive (think countries that joined the Euro that really should have thought twice).
I almost had a discussion about this but I am so bad at currency stuff that I cut it! Yes it would be awful.
Great post. Lots of lessons to be learned from Canada, it deserves more attention theoretically than it gets. But like the Nordic Model, many of its solutions to problems might not be portable or scalable…
I actually closed my intro IR class with a picture of the cannons in Parc Montmorency in Quebec City—tourist attractions mutely guarding the entrance to the St. Lawrence—as an example of end-of-history-in-one-image. For such perennially difficult and contested territory, more people there are living longer, healthier, freer, more inclusive lives than ever before…
The scalability point is also a great one. What HAVE we learned is transpositional? It’s not a null set—many elements of, uh, traffic design and other technical features—but the big stuff seems very, very costly to implement. Cultures seem sticky! What’s the line—everything changes in Russia every ten years, nothing changes every 200? Something similar could be said for many countries, which is unhappy news for policy tinkerers.
Now that’s a beautiful closing image!