Adam Chapnick's Newsletter March 2024
Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter. I hope to use it to update you on what I’ve been thinking and speaking about, where I’m speaking next, and people and issues that have caught my attention.
Although the last three months haven't been particularly easy at home, they have been quite rewarding professionally. My courses on strategic decision-making and Canadian foreign policy both seemed to end positively and I managed to finish a review essay on foreign policy in Canadian elections that I have been writing, on and off, for about a year. It's now under review and I'm looking forward to my (anonymous) colleagues' feedback. The textbook on the history of Canadian foreign policy that Asa McKercher and I have written is now officially in production and I am hopeful that it will be released in time for start of the 2024-25 academic year in September. I have written some other little things, and will report on them once I know more about if and when they will appear. Apart from teaching, I think what I most enjoyed professionally over the last few months was a long conversation about Canada and its place in the world I had with a member of the British High Commission. Any opportunity to share what I study and think about with folks from the real world is an absolute pleasure.
Blog
Although I have not produced any formally published academic writing over the last three months, I did release three blogs. The first was about what I take to be the qualities of a good defence minister in contemporary Canada. I also wrote about my frustration with the current government's lack of transparency when it comes to its thinking about national security, as well as my concerns with the federal leader of the opposition's proposal to increase funding for defence by cutting the international assistance budget.
In the Media
Back in January, I spoke with Neil Moss of The Hill Times about a petition sponsored by a Conservative MP urging the government to withdraw Canada from the United Nations. As readers of this newsletter might have guessed, I do not think it's a good idea.
Presentations and Speeches in the Community
I have been active on the public speaking circuit. I spoke about Canadian defence policy twice as part of the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies lecture series (Markham and Oakville campuses). I spoke about Canadian history to the University of the Third Age, Cambridge, UK (via Zoom) and the University Women’s Club of North York, and about multiculturalism to the Probus Club of East York. I was also flattered to have been asked to record a podcast on Canada and Ukraine for the executive cadre at Global Affairs Canada. If you, or your organization, is looking for a speaker, you can contact me here. You can find a list of the topics I speak about most often here.
Upcoming Talks
In March, I am scheduled to give a Zoom lecture on Canadian foreign policy to the Esso Annuitant Club and I'm making a day-trip to Ottawa to reflect on one of the first articles I ever published at a conference on the future of middle powers. In April, I'll be speaking about Canadian defence policy at the Probus Men's Club of Brampton and I'll be part of a celebration of the career of historian Robert Bothwell, my PhD supervisor. In June, the Probus Club of Credit River has invited me to speak about Canada and its place in the world.
What I've been Reading
I really enjoyed Andrew Leach's Between Doom & Denial: Facing Facts about Climate Change. Leach is an environmental economist with a law degree. The book is a series of lectures he gave at McGill that challenge hard-right and hard-left views of the policy implications of climate change. Leach is scary-smart, humble, and convincing, and the book is a quick read and an excellent introduction to the climate debate in Canada. Woo-Kyoung Ahn's Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better is another one of those books that I have picked up to see how it might help me in the classroom. I enjoyed it - Ahn writes extremely well - but I'm not sure that I took away anything new for my classes.
The book that has made the greatest impression on me recently is the former British cabinet minister Rory Stewart's How Not to be a Politician: A Memoir. Not only is it an extraordinary in-the-weeds examination of contemporary British politics, it is also a reminder that inasmuch as folks question the competence of Canadian governments (federal, provincial, municipal), when you compare the state of our politics to that of other Western countries, it quickly becomes clear that things aren't quite as awful they sometimes seem. Sure, politics is frustrating, and the actions of our leaders are often hard to understand. But 21st century governance is extremely difficult. It can take years for elected officials to learn how to really get things done. And while they are learning, they are immersed in a system of power that can't help but corrupt. The longer they stay in, the harder it gets to stay true to their principles. As a result, we are often left with a combination of inexperienced but well-intentioned folks and skilled but also jaded and compromised ones. There is almost certainly a sweet spot, but it couldn't be easy to recognize it when you're in it and it must be even harder to accept when it's passed you by.
Scattered Thoughts
I spend a fair bit of time listening to podcasts these days, including The Curse of Politics: The Herle Berle Political Panel, hosted by (Liberal) David Herle, with regular guests Jordan Leichnitz (NDP), Scott Reid (Liberal), and Kory Teneycke (Conservative). I find Herle particularly sharp, but these days I pay the most attention to Tenycke. With Conservatives up in the polls federally and provincially (across much of the country), it's worth understanding how one of the most prominent Conservative advisors in the country is thinking.
We don't talk enough about the impact of poor polling numbers on a government's ability to recruit good political staff eighteen months before an election. It is hard to imagine that most of the best partisan Liberal minds - I can think of only a couple of exceptions - are lining up right now to work in Ottawa. Unfortunately for the government, without these folks, it's really hard to rescue what often feels like a sinking ship.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather made an observation in The National Post recently that has stuck with me. Housefather was writing about why so many MPs seem to repeat party lines rather than speaking from the heart. He concluded as follows: "If MPs knew that they would win or lose elections based on what they themselves said and did, and didn’t just anticipate everyone would vote for or against them based on what party they are in or who their leader is, they would be far more likely to be responsive to the needs of their constituency." I think he's right. If we all took our MP's performance into greater consideration when we voted, we would end up with better representation. You can read the entire article here.
I wonder how much the upcoming US election - and specifically the prospect of a return of Donald Trump to the White House - is shaping Ottawa's approach to defence spending. My sense is that an increase will eventually come, but I can understand why any Canadian government would want to say very little about it right now. If the Americans choose Trump on November 5th, it would be in our national interest to frame any increase as a result of his pressure.