Senator Hugh Segal chief of staff Prime Minister Brian Mulroney

A provocative case for the special balance and uniquely Canadian nature of the Tory imperative throughout our history In a manner that reflects his long-time academic and practitioner’s association with conservative politics and ideas in Canada, Hugh Segal traces the deep historical roots of Canadian conservatism and the themes that unite its pre- and post-confederation reality with today’s challenges and issues. The Right Balance connects the historical roots and exclusive intellectual principles of Canadian conservatism to the fundamental idea of Canada with a new and insightful perspective.Provocative and timely, this book puts the present Stephen Harper–led Conservatives into a dynamic historical context and gives readers fresh insights into how Canadian Conservatism is different and why, providing depth and texture to today’s headlines. The Right Balance will appeal to both adults and students who are interested in the economics, ideas and DNA of our present political debates.

Harry Swain Deputy Minister of Indian & Northern Affairs during the Oka Crisis

On July 11, 1990, tension between white and Mohawk people at Oka, just west of Montreal, took a violent turn. At issue was the town’s plan to turn a piece of disputed land in the community of Kanesatake into a golf course. Media footage of rock-throwing white residents and armed, masked Mohawk Warriors facing police across barricades shocked Canadians and galvanized Aboriginal people from coast to coast. In August, Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa called for the Canadian army to step in.

Harry Swain was deputy minister of Indian Affairs throughout the 78 -day standoff, and his recreation of events is dramatic and opinionated. Swain writes frankly about his own role and offers fascinating profiles of the high-level players on the government’s side—Quebec Native Affairs Minister John Ciaccia, federal Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon, Chief of the Defence Staff General John de Chastelain, Premier Robert Bourassa and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Swain offers rare insight into the workings of government in a time of crisis, but he also traces what he calls the 200-year tail of history and shows how the Mohawk experience reflects the collision between European and Aboriginal cultures.

Twenty years on, health, social and economic indicators for Aboriginal Canadians are still shameful. The well-funded “Indian industry” is a national disgrace, Swain says, and the Indian Act is in urgent need of replacement. Identifying current flashpoints for Aboriginal land rights across the country, he argues that true reconciliation will not be possible until government commits to meaningful reform.

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Prime Minister Paul Martin

Canada must embrace all of us together, for we are all Canada and if one of us is missing then we are all lost.guest: Prime Minister Paul Martin: The PMO; same sex marriage, Aboriginal rights, The Charter & Brownies

Canada is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, water, agriculture, minerals, forestry, talk show hosts (well, maybe not that last one. We want for nothing. Truly. But we almost always overlook our most important resource and that is us: the Canadian people. Each person that makes up this mosaic we call Canada offers a uniqueness that no one else can bring to the table. But when there are those amongst who do not have the same rights as us, we all suffer and Canada is less than it could be.

Canada should not be a patch work or quilt of opportunities only for some and not others; purple people over here, short chunky guys over there (guess what line up I'd be in?), those that wear a Hijab way over there. That's nuts. One Canada; One People; One law.

Same sex marriage. Who the hell are we or anyone to tell someone who to love. Who dares to proclaim that right amongst us. Yet this was the case, embarrassingly, for Canada up until July 20, 2005. Finally, this issue was put to bed and people were free to fall in love with whomever they wanted and have the same benefits and respect accorded to their neighbours.

But this just didn't happen with the wave of a wand. It took a man with the vision of great statesmen. Like John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Dr. King before him, all whom had championed civil rights for African Americans in the sixties, Canada's own Prime Minister Paul Martin rose and championed this cause. This wasn't a cause that was going to win him any favours, trust me. As a world leader it would challenge his Catholicism from the Vatican, those around the globe who declare homosexuality an abomination, those who believe the only way to rid the world of this abomination was through the punishment of death (Iran and so many other thugocricies and Islamic theocracies as well). So why did he risk it when he could have just sat back and coasted during his Prime Ministership? He did it because in that true Canadian fashion: it was simply the right thing to do. Prime Minister Paul Martin was the right man at the right time with the right cause. Today Canada and indeed the world is a better place because of his fortitude. Canada again displayed its leadership role amongst the nations. Now they to look to us to see how people can live together, but not only live to together, prosper and laugh as one.

There are times in all our lives when standing up against the tide and doing the right thing taxes every fiber of our makeup. But stand we must. For even a single voice of truth from legions of naysayers, it still remains the truth. And the truth will indeed set us free.

Join me as we go through those tumultuous times with Prime Minister Paul Martin. Living history in his own words

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