-- Marijuana laws, fingerprinting Canadians at the border, cheap prescription drugs, military and economic integration should be top concerns for next PM in dealings with Washington --
TORONTO, October 3, 2003 -- York University Political Science professor and best-selling author James Laxer has some advice for Canada’s next prime minister, Paul Martin, in dealing with Washington -- up the ante on Canadian sovereignty in the face of pressures from its neighbour to the south.
Laxer, one of Canada’s leading political thinkers, just published The Border: Canada, The U.S. and Dispatches from the 49th Parallel (Doubleday, 2003). Over the course of 18 months and 8000 km, Laxer travelled back and forth along both sides of "the world’s longest undefended border" conducting research for his book.
Laxer found that in response to 9/11 the American government has brought in a series of measures that restrict the movement of people across the border and that call into question the values of tolerance and trust that have shaped the collective history between Canada and the United States. "Not only are our two populations not becoming more alike, they are actually becoming increasingly divergent in their makeup and values," contends Laxer.
He argues that John Diefenbaker, Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien all bore the scars of their relations with Washington, while Brian Mulroney was faulted by Canadians for not standing up to the Americans. Soon it will be Paul Martin's turn to determine the course of Canada’s relationship with the U.S.
Laxer says that Martin will have to deal with thorny issues such as Canada’s Marijuana laws, fingerprinting Canadians at the border, cheap prescription drugs, and increased military and economic integration.
He adds that perimeter defence, harmonized immigration, an increasing influx of the "gun culture" Star Wars II, huge increases in military spending and a continental energy deal are likely to take shape during Martin's first term in office.
Laxer, who teaches at York’s Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, is also the author of the national bestseller Stalking the Elephant: My Discovery of America (2000) and The Undeclared War: Class Conflict in the Age of Cyber Capitalism (1998).
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