An ardent Canadian nationalist has died

[tay]

He remained involved in political activism throughout the '70s through the '90s. An economic nationalist, he was a founding member of the Committee for an Independent Canada, the Council of Canadians and led the National Party of Canada.

Describing him as a "Canadian nationalist of a rare ... kind," Braid said Hurtig was "absolutely convinced" Canada had to go in a different direction.

Let's never, never, give in to those who are selling out Canada," Hurtig urged in his 2002 book The Vanishing Country

"He was ferocious in his convictions and beliefs," Braid said


The Vanishing Country (Part I of III)

Is it too late to save Canada? No, I don’t think it is. But some very important things will have to happen soon if we’re going to ensure that our grandchildren grow up to be Canadians.

https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/november-2003-vanishing-country-part-i-iii

 

[bill barilko]

Let's never, never, give in to those who are selling out Canada

Words to live by!

 

[Walter]

Everyone's favourite commie. RIP

 

[Machjo]

Sorry Walter, but he was far more of a natioanlist than a commy. Anti-free-trade, closed borders, against 'cultural imperailism.' On that last point, I would like to know more. For some, 'cultural imperialism' just means opposing US competition against their own brand of Canadian cultural imperialism. To be fair to Mel Hurtig though, I don't know enough about his ideas to know whether by 'cultural imperialism' he just meant opposition to the US version of it or whether he opposed Canadian cultural imperialism too, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that point for now.

He was definitely left-leaning though, but certainly not an internationalist.

 

[coldstream]

I campaigned for the National Party of Canada, which Mel Hurtig founded and organized, in 1993. I met and corresponded with him briefly. I have family in the publishing and bookselling business who worked closely with him in his ventures... many centred around fostering Canadian nationalism and identity. He was an articulate, passionate patriot who did many great services for his country. Rest in Peace.

This is a better remembrance of his life

Mel Hurtig — Edmonton bookseller, publisher and activist — dead at 84 - Edmonton - CBC News

 

[eh1eh]

Everyone's favourite commie. RIP

I generally don't bother with the down vote thingy, I just like to say.
This is stupid you ossified old fart.

 

[taxslave]

Just because he was articulate and passionate don't make him right. I don't remember much about him except he was a kind of prairie socialist.

 

[tay]

Just because he was articulate and passionate don't make him right. I don't remember much about him except he was a kind of prairie socialist.

Tommy Douglas was Prairie socialist. Hurtig was a Nationalist as am I.....

Mel Hurtig died last week. He was an economic nationalist who watched as Lester Pearson sacked his hero, Walter Gordon. And he watched yet again as Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper integrated Canada into the American Empire. But, if you look around the world, economic nationalism is making a comeback. Tom Walkom writes (link is external):

Globalization is under attack in the U.S. and Europe. Americans fret about the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership deal and the existing North American Free Trade Agreement. They have come to understand that such trade and investment pacts don’t always work for them.

The entire European Union project is being questioned in France, Italy and the Netherlands. The single European currency is rightly viewed by many of the countries that use it as a Trojan horse.

The Council of Canadians, which Hurtig helped found, didn’t have much luck in Canada when it argued against the proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the EU.

But it did have some success in Europe where its agitation helped produce a backlash that may well sink CETA.

The signs are everywhere. But those signs have been ignored by Canadian businesses:

Today, there is little support for economic nationalism among Canadian business. Conversely, there is little desire among the general population to protect Canadian firms that ultimately don’t want protection.

Still, this does not mean the urge for autonomy has disappeared completely from the country. If economic nationalism means economic democracy then the spirit of Mel Hurtig arguably lives on among those who want a fairer shake for the middle and working classes.

It also lives on among those who don’t want the laws of the land overturned by foreign business in the name of free trade.

It may be one of history's ironies that Mel Hurtig's ideas will be more powerful after his death than they were when he was alive.

 

[tay]

How could you not love a man who rented a Twin Otter airplane to drop a Canadian flag on the American icebreaker “Polar Sea” when it entered the Northwest Passage without permission from our government?

Mel’s legacy is his challenge to all of us who live in this country: if, with all our natural wealth, financial resources, and educated population, we in Canada cannot create a truly just and sustainable society, who can? His spirit lives on to guide us to this path.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/com...for-justice-still-guides-us-maude-barlow.html

 

[Danbones]

How could you not love a man who rented a Twin Otter airplane to drop a Canadian flag on the American icebreaker “Polar Sea” when it entered the Northwest Passage without permission from our government?

Mel’s legacy is his challenge to all of us who live in this country: if, with all our natural wealth, financial resources, and educated population, we in Canada cannot create a truly just and sustainable society, who can? His spirit lives on to guide us to this path.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/com...for-justice-still-guides-us-maude-barlow.html

amen to that