The dawning of the “Age of Atlantica” reprint from The Bruce Report
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009The dawning of the “Age of Atlantica”
May 19th, 2009 by Alec Bruce
reprinted from the The Bruce Report
http://www.thebrucereport.com/
Some will undoubtedly argue that the Atlantica Party’s new policy book is the work of right-wing fanatics.
Others will insist that it evinces all the hallmarks of left-wing lunacy.
Of course, it’s neither.
Nevertheless, most who peruse this slim manifesto – released to the public only last week will inevitably come away with more questions than answers, more doubt than certitude.
The peripatetic leader of the party is one Jonathan Dean, whose official biography describes his life-journey this way: “Like many Atlantic Canadians, [he] had to leave the region to pursue his chosen career in investment research. He lived in Toronto for ten years working for various investment companies including Canada’s largest pension plan and a prominent hedge fund. He moved back home a few years ago to be closer to his family and because he missed Atlantic Canada. Soon after, he joined a local political debating group made up of private citizens, which evolved into The Atlantica Party. Jonathan has been the leader of The Atlantica Party since November 17, 2006 and has been tasked with the party’s development.”
Judging from the policy book, it’s a task he seems to relish.
“For far too long, Nova Scotia has not been an equal partner in Canada,” he writes. “A once proud and thriving region, we have been losing ground since Confederation and are now looked upon as a have-not province. The old methods have been tried. The business-as-usual approach proposed by the other tired-out parties is not working. . .Do not look to the other parties. Real change only ever comes from those with vision.”
Those, perhaps, like Jonathan Dean?
Certainly, the “vision” seems clear enough, and not just for Nova Scotia. Regionally, the party wants to create a commission to study the efficacy of uniting the four Atlantic Provinces. And it will be a “vocal advocate” of a referendum on the subject. It also wants a region-wide “Atlantic Canada free trade zone”; more regional agencies like Atlantic Lottery Corporation; and open discussions with “stakeholders” leading to a plan in the event of Quebec’s separation from the country.
As for taxes, it wants to flatten and lower them. As for law and order, it wants to hire more police officers; impose much stiffer penalties on chronic bad guys; introduce the nation’s first electronic monitoring system on offenders; and expand reward programs that lead to arrests and convictions. At the same time (and somewhat counter-intuitively) it also wants to legalize and regulate both cannibis and prostitution.
To be sure, it’s fascinating stuff: The emergence of a party that purports to discard the old ideological silos of blue, red, orange and green in favour of a multi-hued grassland where every citizen votes his or her own conscience without fear of marginalization, party politics or government manipulation.
It’s a sort of common-sense revolution, a poltical athiest’s paradise.
The question, of course: Is it workable?
Not since Joseph Howe has such a radical conflation of strictly utilitarian principles been espoused. Not since the early 19th Century has anyone from this part of the world seriously contemplated a political system that’s not controlled by power bases and cultural sects, special interests and moneyed mandarins.
That’s because what works for everyone doesn’t always, or even necessarily, work for. . .well, anyone.
Independents are independents precisely because they’re not joiners. They don’t belong to clubs for fear of losing that which they cherish most: Their liberty to say and do what they please within the basic constraints proscribed by decency and legality.
But politics is, if nothing else, a team sport brimming with strategies, tactics, and compromise. For better or worse, it’s how things actually get done in our democracy. In this context, no individual man or woman is a party unto himself or herself.
Still, there is something about this particular Atlantica movement that warms the cockles of my independent heart. There is something brave about it, something noble. It could easily shake up our tired, hobbled system of government – our system that loves its certitudes and seems to have all the answers.
After all, if the past few months in the world’s troubled economy has taught us anything it is that we need more doubt in our lives. We must ask more questions.