Overview
Some say the environment will be this century's health-care conundrum. Canadians are waking up from our Liberal hegemony mirage and finding out that we're not the progressive country they told us we were. And now, a country that stayed out of Iraq and embraced equal marriage has a neoconservative PM-and a Liberal emissions record that's worse than that of George W. Bush.WHY?
- Why does Trudeau represent the Liberal Party? Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, but his Republican Party's no ally of African-Americans today.
- Sovereignty is globalizing, and Andre Boisclair represents its new face.
- Parliament rendered cold judgment on Liberals who chose their date. And braced for execution: the day the 2006 election began.
- Not since Wayne Gretzky's rookie season have Liberals beaten a united Right.
- Elizabeth May congratulated Liberals for refusing to follow California's lead on emissions standards.
- The NDP's a lot like Lego and every now and then another block is added.
Read about these insights-and many more-in a book that sets its sights Dead Centre.
Synopsis
Dead Centre is a provocative, timely and insightful book about changing the political landscape in Canada. If Canada is a progressive country and a beacon to the world, why haven't promises to move on the environment, health care and social values been realized? Jamey Heath, with keen insight and analysis and often caustic wit, debunks a few myths and gets his hands dirty in the political mire called Ottawa.
Heath digs away at the Liberal Party of Canada—the aprty of the "meaningless middle"—which has written politics' rules for too long. Now is the time to ask if the Liberal line on how things should work is the right line. With right-wingers running Ottawa and the national unity quesiton back on the agenda in Quebec, Dead Centre wonders aloud whether progressives don't have more options than the Liberals—and new leader Stephane Dion—let on. With the climate changing along with Canada's political dynamic, maybe the tired, old Liberal rules should be thrown out. As the spectre of a united Right hangs over the Peace Tower, something had to be done.
As former research and communications director for the NDP caucus, Jamey Heath saw Liberals fall from hegemony to the opposition benches in three years. In the environmental and labour movements, he saw new approaches flourish, only to to be throttled in the corridors of power. He suggests it's time for a rethink about ideas, policies and initiatives, and hence truly uniting progressives under a new banner.
If progressive Americans can start to turn the tide against Republicans, Heath asks why progressive Canadians can't turn our tide. In the context of recent minority governments and elections, he argues that multi-party democracy brings possibility—and hope for victory.