Culture

Introducing Inroads 57

Keeping up with the barrage of events, Issue 57 of Inroads looks across the Atlantic to Europe and back on Justin Trudeau’s decade in office

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Issue 57

Flood the zone. Muzzle velocity. The metaphors that accompanied Donald Trump’s return to the presidency of the United States promised a rapid-fire succession of events. And as Henry Milner’s editorial in this issue (Rule by the Ignorant and the Venal) makes clear, the promise was fulfilled. As I write, Americans in their millions have just marched in “No Kings” protests all across the country to express their disapproval of the Trump regime.

Meanwhile, in Canada, Justin Trudeau, languishing in the polls after nearly ten years as Prime Minister, yielded to pressure to bow out. In the ensuing election, Canadians decided that Trudeau’s replacement as Liberal leader, the sober banker Mark Carney, was a better choice for the Trump era than the populist attack dog Pierre Poilievre and, in an extraordinary turnaround, gave the Liberals a near-majority.

How was a twice-yearly journal like Inroads to keep up with all this?

It turned out there were a number of ways. One was to look beyond North America and the relentless media attention on Trump’s assault on U.S. institutions and – here in Canada – on the ever-changing tariffs and Trump’s annexationist vision. How is Europe coping with Trump’s disruption of the international order?

Focusing on France, Thibaud Marcesse highlights the opportunities for European security cooperation presented by Trump’s dismissive attitude toward his European allies (Can Macron Keep Trump Focused on the Fate of Europe?). Jacob Christensen looks at Denmark, whose territory of Greenland is in Trump’s sights, and finds that Greenland is far from the only point of contention in Denmark-U.S. relations; indeed, Much is Unsettled in the State of Denmark. John Erik Fossum concludes that Trump’s Wrecking Job Highlights Norway’s Vulnerability in his examination of a country that historically has had close economic and human ties with the United States. In Desperate Diplomacy, Nicholas Aylott explains why Sweden and the U.K. find themselves obliged to adopt an accommodating position toward a U.S. administration they find deeply unsettling.

Another focus of this issue is an assessment of the Trudeau decade. Canadians were more than ready to see Trudeau go, but what were his government’s achievements and failures? Reg Whitaker presents The Case for the Defence, highlighting the Canada Child Benefit and the government’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic, among other accomplishments. André Lecours, Daniel Béland and Shannon Dinan ask Why No Strong Quebec Backlash? even though the Trudeau government acted forcefully in the social policy field, a frequent source of Ottawa-Quebec tension in the past. They note that the terrain of such tension has shifted toward issues of ethnocultural diversity. In The Irony of Good Intentions, Tom Flanagan examines Trudeau’s record on Indigenous affairs. Focusing on the government’s substantial increase in spending and Trudeau’s embrace of the “Kamloops narrative” of unmarked graves found at residential schools, he finds that the goal of reconciliation seems further off than ever. John Richards adds a note about the failure to address social dysfunction in Indigenous communities (Better Education is a Necessity to Address Social Dysfunction). Watch the Inroads website for further debate on this subject in the weeks ahead.

Meanwhile, two articles explore issues facing Prime Minister Carney. Ottawa Faces a Crowded Immigration Agenda, explains Anne Michèle Meggs, as a result of the Trudeau government’s shift to a two step immigration system. In Manufacturing Dissent on the Prairies, Mark Crawford looks at the challenge to federalism posed by the adversarial stance – including flirting with separatist movements – of the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments.

Also in this issue:

  • André Binette explains why the United States Constitution is A Constitution in Crisis, and sees it as a cautionary tale for Canada and Quebec.
  • Herschel Hardin recalls Canada’s tradition of public ownership, arguing that It’s Time for New Crown Enterprises as a key element in Canadian defence against U.S. economic power
  • Drawing on his own experience in Saskatchewan politics, John Richards reviews Greg Marchildon’s book on The Road to Medicare, highlighting the contribution of Tommy Douglas, who made comprehensive medical insurance the centrepiece of his political career.
  • Reviewing a new collection of essays, Reg Whitaker looks back at the career of Robin Mathews, The Unwavering Prophet of Canadian Nationalism, whose concerns have new relevance in the Trump era.
  • Donald Trump’s designs on Canada galvanized the Inroads listserv; highlights of the discussion are presented in Canada at (Economic) War.
  • In South Asian Canadians and the Politics of Identity, Rupinder Liddar examines the way in which the “South Asian” label overlooks a vast diversity of identities and opinions, especially significant when looking at attitudes toward foreign interference in Canada.
  • Henry Milner reviews a new book on the 1939–40 Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, which he sees as A War with Lessons for Today.
  • Philip Resnick characterizes 2025 as A Year of Living Dangerously, as his poems explore the wildfires, imperial pretensions and Canadian efforts at resistance of the year’s first few months.

— Bob Chodos