Ron Dart Column

There is no doubt that Peter Dale Scott is one of the most important Canadian political poets.

by Ron Dart

Vivelecanada.ca

Peter Dale Scott comes from a worthy Canadian line and lineage.  His grandfather, Fred Scott, was a contemporary of Stephen Leacock, an important Canadian poet, an Anglican priest and padre to many soldiers and at the forefront of the Winnipeg strike in 1919. Fred Scott embodied, in thought, word and deed, a vision of responsible citizenship. Peter’s father,

Frank Scott, was one of the best known Canadian poets, constitutional lawyers and founder of the League for Social Reconstruction (LSR) and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). The LSR-CCF were the forerunners of the New Democratic Party (NDP). Frank Scott was a student of Stephen Leacock. Peter’s mother, Marian Dale, was an accomplished Canadian painter. The Politics of the Imagination: A Life of F.R. Scott (1987), by Sandra Djwa, recounts, as an authorized biography, the life of Frank and Marian Scott.

Charles Taylor and the Hegelian Eden Tree: Canadian Compradorism The fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom. Genesis 3:6 Canada may produce more original work on Hegel than any other nation. David MacGregor Literary Review of Canada (February 1994) The fact that the well-known Canadian philosopher, Charles Taylor, won the enviable Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries About Spiritual Realities in 2007 has been noted and noticed by many. There are few that have won this prestigious award, and fewer Canadians have taken the trophy home. Taylor did so, and did so in a way that has made many a Canadian proud of their native born boy. But, philosophy is about asking critical questions, and critical questions keep us from slipping into hagiography. Why did Taylor win the Templeton Prize, what questions need to be asked of Taylor, what intellectual agenda does he serve and are there other Canadians of equal worth and merit that might have won the Templeton Prize but did not? Most Canadians that study philosophy in any serious way often learn of Plato and Aristotle, if they are fortunate the Patristic contemplative way (many know little of this), Medieval thought, the fragmentation of thought in the Reformation, then the journey into the modern and postmodern mood and ethos. I suspect, if most Canadians (or non-Canadians) that study philosophy were asked about Canadian philosophy and philosophers a blank and confused stare would come across their bewildered faces and baffled minds. Surely, there is no such thing as a distinct Canadian philosophical tradition and Canadian philosophers that embody such a tradition. Such is the colonial mind. Nothing good can emerge from within the womb of Canada, hence the turn most Canadians make to a variety of elsewhere communities (past and present) in their study of philosophy. Is there, though, a distinctive Canadian tradition of philosophy, and, if so, what is it? And, if there is such a tradition, where does Charles Taylor stand within such heritage, line and lineage? The answer to these questions might assist us in understanding why Taylor won the Templeton Prize.

Stephen Leacock: A Centennial Celebration He (Leacock) was more famous than this country Don Herron In Canada, I belong to the Conservative party Stephen Leacock At McGill, as at Ottawa Collegiate, I was blessed with exceptional teachers. Stephen Leacock, head of the department of Economics and Political Science, was one of the most brilliant men I have ever known. He was an ardent conservative and fierce Canadian nationalist. Eugene Forsey Political Science, then, deals with the state; it is, in short, as it is often termed, the “theory of the state”. Stephen Leacock Elements of Political Science (1906) Who was Stephen Leacock, as a thinker and activist, before the publication of his best selling books of humour such as Literary Lapses (1910), Nonsense Novels (1911), Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912), Behind the Beyond (1913) and Arcadian Adventures With the Idle Rich (1914)? There is no doubt that Leacock was launched in a certain direction with these bumper crop book sales. He established himself as the central writer in Canada with these slim missives. But, there is more to the tale to tell. Leacock was 41 years of age when Literary Lapses left the publishing tarmac in 1910. What had he thought and written before 1910? It is 100 years this year (1906-2006) since Leacock’s first major work on political theory was published. Elements of Political Science, like his later books of humour, sold at a rapid pace. The book was translated into many languages and used as a standard textbook in political science classes at universities in North America and beyond. Elements of Political Science was so popular that it was republished with additions and updates in 1913 and 1921. Leacock had established himself, with the publication of Elements of Political Science, as one of the most important Canadian political theorists. He was in 1906 the chair of the political economy department at McGill University, and he taught there until his retirement in 1936.

Russet Lake-Afghanistan: August 20 & September 5 Gary Bauman, Bryan Ward and I left Abbotsford at 6:00 on Sunday August 20th, and we wound our way up the Sea to Sky and arrived at Whistler by 8:30. The lift did not open until 9:30, so we waited, swapped tales and anticipated the hike under the blue canopy and the heat of day star. We were, by 10:30, off the peak chair and on the wide dirt roadway. We dipped down into the valley, and it took us little time to bid adieu to the heights of Whistler and be on the trail. The older path took us up and over the Musical Bumps (Piccolo, Flute & Oboe), then down into Singing Pass. Many a pleasant ski run has been down in the powder of Flute bowl. The hike up again from Singing Pass into Russet Lake (and the Alpine cabin) was a delight. We were charmed and lured by the sheer beauty of the white tipped Spearhead and Fitzsimmons Ranges. The white robed snowfield and blue lipped glacier of Castle Towers held our attention for many a moment. We had a splendid lunch by the gurgling stream that curled its way out of Russet Lake. The well built rock shelters protected a few tents, and the Alpine hut was empty. We left the lake by about 2:30 and hastened back over the Musical Bumps to the Roundhouse Lodge for the final gondola descent at 5:30. We headed into the Fraser Valley as an alpenglow lit up Baker in a bright orange last gasp of the day. My son has just returned from a 7 month tour in Afghanistan. He has spent much of the time in Forward Operational Bases (FOBs) in the barren mountains outside Kandahar near Pashmul, Panjwai and Gumbad near the dense rock mass of Badwan Outcrop. Many a time he carried an 80 pound pack up steep and treacherous slopes. Needless to say, it is good to have him back safe with us again. We have had many a restless and sleepless night.

Canadian Republicanism and Christian Zionism by Ron Dart The National Post (Saturday August 19 2006) carried a full page advertisement, sponsored by Christians United for Israel, calling for a ‘National Day of Prayer for Israel and the Peace of Jerusalem’. A short read of the advertisement makes it quite clear that the political agenda for the day of prayer is support of Zionism. The organization that sponsored the advertisement, Christians United for Israel, is a right of centre activist organization with close ties to Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn and John Hagee. It is interesting to note that Benny Hinn was offered some of his earliest vision and assistance by the well known Canadian Christian Zionists, Merv and Merla Watson. A browse through the Canadian affiliate website tells the tale in startling clarity (www.cufi.ca). The connection between republican politics and Zionism in the USA and between conservatism and Zionism in Canada does raise some worrisome questions. If I was a Palestinian, I might have some questions. What about an organization called Christians for Palestinians? Christians United for Israel has a large following in both the USA and Canada, and such a following does have an impact on the foreign policy of both Canada and the USA in the Middle East (and who sides with who and why). It also does much to define who the terrorists are. It does not take much reflection to sort of where Christians United for Israel line up in this ideological chess game. It is significant to note that on the Christians United for Israel website another conservative organization is recommended. Institute for Canadian Values (www.canadianvalues.ca) has decided Zionist leanings, and the connection between Canadian values and Zionism does beg some rather serious questions. Do Canadian values equal uncritical support for Zionism? The CEO of Institute for Canadian Values is Joseph C. Ben-Ami, and his website makes it rather obvious (particularly in the books recommended) that he has so linked Canadian values with Anglo-American republicanism (and brought such a mixture into Canada) that he seems to know nothing about the more complex nature of historic Canadian conservatism. Smith, Hayek, Novak, Neuhaus and many more republicans are held high. This heady mixture of republicanism and Zionism equals, so Ben-Ami and the Institute for Canadian Values think, Canadian values. Surely, most thoughtful Canadians would have serious problems with such a questionable synthesis. Ben-Ami’s website does need to be pondered, read and noted for the worrisome connections made, and the serious inability to understand Canadian history.

The Evangelical Sanhedrin and Republicanism: Promises and Perils I The American Evangelical Sanhedrin by Ron Dart George Marsden has suggested that the growth, vision and ideals of the Evangelical movement in the USA after WW II makes it, in many important and significant ways, a informal denomination (‘The Evangelical Denomination’ in Evangelicalism in Modern America). If this is the case, and I agree with Marsden on this point, who are the leaders and organizations that have defined, shaped and guided this denomination? It is the leadership in a movement that is the Sanhedrin, hence the title of this essay. And, what are the promises and perils of the Evangelical Sanhedrin? There is no doubt that leadership is essential for any movement, but what is the relationship between the Evangelical Sanhedrin, Evangelicalism and the republicanism tradition? This essay will unpack this troubling and perennial dilemma both within the USA and Canada. The New Evangelicals that emerged throughout and after WW II attempted to define and clarify their identity and denomination as a middle path between a militant, narrow and reactionary fundamentalism and a form of liberalism that had capitulated to modernity and the trends of culture. The Sanhedrin that guided the ship over such turbulent waters did much to make it clear that there was a third way of understanding the faith journey, and such a way need not be liberal nor fundamentalist. Who were the leaders and the institutions/organizations that formed this appealing denominational Sanhedrin? And, what were the faults and failings of such a Sanhedrin? There are a variety of leaders and organizations that make it quite clear that the New Evangelicals had a distinct identity, and to these we now turn. There are two essays that needed to be heeded and read to get a feel for this new denomination. The dates are significant, also. Remaking the Modern Mind (1946), by Carl Henry, is a pithy and clear headed missive on the future trail to be hiked by the New Evangelicals. Henry was, in many ways, the dean and intellectual backbone of Sanhedrin life. ‘Can Christians Win America?’ (June 1947) and ‘The Challenge to the Christian Culture of the West’ (October 1947), by Harold Ockenga, are companion pieces to Henry. Henry was the first editor of Christianity Today (the flagship of the New Evangelicals), and Ockenga’s ‘The Challenges to the Christian Culture of the West’ was the opening convocation address at Fuller Theological Seminary. Both Henry/Ockenga and Fuller Theological Seminary and Christianity Today were central to defining and shaping the New Evangelical way.

Nationalism, Feminism and Mountaineering: Elizabeth Parker and the Alpine Club of Canada "As much as any single person, Elizabeth Parker was responsible for the formation of the Alpine Club of Canada Keith Haberl" Alpine Huts: A Guide to the facilities of the Alpine Club of Canada (p.52) "Her (Parker’s) cultured and forcible style of writing, her keen sense of vision and invariable accuracy of statement was one of the most helpful factors of the Club’s formation." A.O. Wheeler There are those who take to the white crowned peaks, and they have little interest in politics. Rock jocks abound in plenty of places. There are feminists who are nationalists, and feminists that have no interest in the ancient rock sentinels or nationalism. Elizabeth Parker, to her credit, threaded together, in a wise and judicious way, nationalism, feminism and mountaineering. This is a most unusual combination, but Parker pulled the rabbit out of the bag, and did it in a skillful and not to be forgotten manner. The Alpine Club of Canada is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year (1906-2006), and the birth of the ACC has much to do with the nimble thinking, journalistic finesse and organizational skills of Elizabeth Parker. The Elizabeth Parker Hut in the Lake O’Hara area is one of the oldest Alpine huts in Canada, and, obviously, it was dedicated to Parker’s foresight and firm stance on an American attempt to co-opt Canadian Alpine life into the American way. What is the nature of this tale and drama, and why should Elizabeth Parker be so honoured on this the 100th anniversary of the ACC?

Book review: On The Front Line of Life: Stephen Leacock: Memories and Reflections, 1935-1944 (2004) Selected, edited, and Introduction by Alan Bowker Dundurn Press: Toronto, Ontario by Ron Dart Most Canadians, if they have heard of Stephen Leacock, think of him as our national court jester. Leacock’s humorous short stories have kept many both in and outside Canada laughing and in good spirits well into the night and throughout many a long day. But, not as many know that Leacock was an important political theorist and activist in his life. Alan Bowker has played a substantive role in reminding those who do not know or are prone to forget that the author of the Canadian classic, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, was also the author of such political classics as Greater Canada: An Appeal and The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice. In fact, it was Bowker’s earlier book on Leacock, Social Criticism: The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice and Other Essays (1973) that made the link between Leacock’s humour and his political concerns. Bowker very much stands on the impressive and broad shoulders of Ramsey Cook and Carl Berger in the valiant attempt to see the other side of Stephen Leacock. The 1973 publication of Social Criticism broke new ground by the way it highlighted that Leacock could not be reduced to merely an amusing teller of quaint tales. Bowker’s 1996 ‘Postscript’ to Social Criticism made it abundantly clear that he was doing a rethink of some of Leacock’s life and writings, but the substance of the book remained much the same. There was a flaw in Bowker’s Social Criticism, though. Most of the articles he included in the book dealt with Leacock’s earlier political writings. He suggested that as Leacock’s humour became better known, his serious political concerns lagged and lacked depth and a certain incisiveness.

Robert Service: People’s Poet by Ron Dart He (Robert Service) was a people’s poet. To the people, he was great. They understood him, and knew any verse carrying the by-line Robert W. Service would be a lilting thing, clear, clean and power packed, beating out a story with a dramatic intensity that made the nerves tingle. - Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph Robert Service is ‘the singer of the common man’ - Stanley Walker I suppose all my life I have fought against obscurantism! For me the true intellectual is a simple person who knows how to be close to nature and to ordinary people. I tend to therefore shy away from academic poets and critics. They miss the essence. - Dorothy Livesay, Song and Dance Most Canadians have heard of Robert Service (1874-1958) as the popular and successful author of The Shooting of Dan McGrew and The Cremation of Sam McGee. These two ballad type poems catapulted Service to the forefront of popular Canadian literary life. These poems were published in Songs of a Sourdough (1907), and this slim missive became the first book of poetry in Canada that sold well and made a substantive profit. Who was Robert Service, though, before Songs of a Sourdough was published to such acclaim and attention? And, what sort of path did Service hike after his early fame as bard and tale teller of the Yukon was left behind? Robert Service was born in Scotland, and like most creative and gifted people, had a difficult time at school. He left the hallowed halls at the age of fourteen, and he worked in a bank until he was twenty-two. Needless to say, such potential could hardly be tamed and domesticated in the banking world. There were hints of Service’s future political outlook and artistic abilities at work in such tender years. Service became quite involved with the socialist movement (while still working at the bank) in the 1890s, and he became an avid reader of Robert Blatchford’s leftist leaning The Clarion. The publication of Blatchford’s, Merrie England (1894), was ‘an immediate runaway bestseller’, and the young Robert Service was held and convinced by Blatchford’s simple, incisive and poignant socialist prose and arguments. It was just a matter of time before Service had to make some hard decisions.

NOAM CHOMSKY AND MAUDE BARLOW: ELECTIVE AFFINITIES by Ron Dart A few weeks ago (November 2005), 77-year-old Noam Chomsky was voted by the British monthly, Prospect, and Washington based, Foreign Policy, as the most important public intellectual alive today. Maude Barlow, chairwoman of the Council of Canadians, received the prestigious alternate Nobel Prize (Right Livelihood Award) December 8, 2005, in Sweden. There is no doubt that both Noam Chomsky and Maude Barlow have dared to raise (and done so for many a decade) hard and difficult questions about both globalization and the American empire. Chomsky has been active longer than Barlow, but many of their concerns are one and the same. Both Chomsky and Barlow publish in a prolific manner, and both have spent many a long and demanding hour on the lecture circuit. Chomsky and Barlow have their following and fans, and both cut to the core and centre of many of the troubling issues in our global economic, political, military and ecological order. Those who have had the courage to see beneath the thin surface of American foreign policy cannot help but see its rapacious and duplicitous nature. The many overt and covert CIA operations (and the millions of deaths as a result) cannot go unnoticed. The fact that our global liberal international order tends to fawn on the wealthy and ever weaken the poor is there for one and all to see. It does not take a great deal of thought or research to realize that the Bretton Woods organizations beat the drums of a market economy, and punish those who will not goose step to such an ideological beat. The UN is often powerless to oppose both the aggressive nature of the American empire and the capitalist bent of both the USA and laissez-faire capitalism. Noam Chomsky and Maude Barlow have been at the forefront in the USA, Canada and the larger global stage in offering a significant minority report. Their voices have not gone unheard, hence the many kudos offered them in the past and in the final few months of 2005. It is one thing to agree with Chomsky, Barlow and tribe about some of their legitimate criticisms of the world order and how it operates and is structured. The much more difficult question to answer is this: what is the best and wisest way to oppose such an order, and, equally important, how do we create a just and equitable world order and standards that serve a nation well?

Marya Fiamengo: Nationalist Poet Extraordinaire Marya Fiamengo is a nationalist, and a moderate feminist. As a nationalist, she leans toward the Red Tory position. Patience After Compline The day (October 25 2005) promised to be a full and packed one. Robin Mathews, Glenn Woodsworth, Arnold Shives and I caught the early ferry from Horseshoe Bay (BC) to Gibsons. We had planned to visit Vivian Woodsworth, Dick Culbert, the Woodsworth home in Gibsons and Marya Fiamengo. The trip from Horseshoe Bay was thick with the ripest of conversations.

The American Beats and the Canadian West Coast Culture Wars By Ron Dart It is 50 years this autumn (October 13, 1955) since the Bop and Beat poets of the East Coast ( Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg) and the Ecological Beat poets of the West Coast (Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen) met at Six Gallery in San Francisco. In his evocative book Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen & Jack Kerouac in the North Cascades (20020), John Suiter has this to say: “The Six Gallery reading has sometimes been called the first synthesis of the East and West Coast factions of the Beat Generation.” (p.148) The American Beat poets were also connected to the Black Mountain tradition of poetry. The history of the Black Mountain tradition has been well told and recounted by Martin Duberman in his revealing and historic missive, Black Mountain: An Exploration in Community (1975). The Beat and the Black Mountain literary traditions attempted, in a conscious and committed way, to break up and break down dated and older ways of writing and doing poetry. This innovative approach to doing poetry was well traversed in The Poetics of the New American Poetry (Donald Allen/Warren Tallman: 1983). The attempt, by the Beats and the Black Mountain traditions, to move poetry in a new direction, and redefine how poetry should be done, prepared the way for the Counter Culture of the 1960s-1970s.

ALLEN GINSBERG AND GEORGE GRANT: Howl and Lament for a Nation It is 50 years this autumn (October 13, 1955) since the Beat Movement was launched at Six Gallery in San Francisco. Some of the American Beats from the East Coast (Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg) and the West Coast (Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Lawrence Ferlinghetti) met and read together at this gathering. John Suiter rightly says, “The Six Gallery reading has sometimes been called the first synthesis of the East and West Coast factions of the Beat Generation.” (p.148) Kenneth Rexroth had hiked to many of the peaks in the North Cascades in the 1920s. His rambling and tramping tales are well told in An Autobiographical Novel (Chapter 30). Gary Snyder worked on lookout peaks (Crater and Sourdough Mountains) in 1952-1953, but he could not get work in the North Cascades in 1954 because of his affiliations with unions and anarchist left groups. These were the McCarthy years, and Snyder was a victim of such a red scare. Philip Whalen worked on lookout peaks (Sauk and Sourdough Mountains) in 1953-1955. Jack Kerouac, a year after the Six Gallery reading (1956), spent a summer on Desolation Peak in the North Cascades. The Dharma Bums (1958), Lonesome Traveler (1960) and Desolation Angels (1965) all reflect much of what he saw and experienced on Desolation Peak.

George Grant's Lament, Forty Years Later
Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism
by Ron Dart

Lament for a Nation should be respected as a masterpiece of political meditation.
- Peter Emberley

Masterpiece is not a word to use lightly, but Lament for a Nation merits it.
- William Christian

It is forty years this year (1965-2005) since George Grant’s Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism took wings and left the press. It is most appropriate, therefore, to reflect on this timely text and meditate on its perennial relevance for Canadian thought and political life.

There is no doubt that Lament for a Nation is a compact and succinct masterpiece. It says much in a few pages. It is very much a tract for the times. Alex Colville, the well known Canadian painter, called Lament for a Nation a political novel. When this missive was published, the arguments in it awoke and stirred many in the New Left and Counter Culture in Canada to fight for what Grant seemed to think was passing away. Lament for a Nation has appealed to many audiences for many different reasons, but the truths in it are as relevant today in an age of globalization and a post-9/11 imperial world as they were in 1965.

What, then, are the ideas and arguments in Lament for a Nation, and what can they still say to us?

Gary Snyder, The Beats and Robin Mathews: American Sage and Canadian Prophet danger on peaks and Think Freedom by Ron Dart Snyder is an elder statesman of the natural world and the tribal unions of poetry. He has a body of work as original as predecessors William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens. - The Bloomsbury Review I have always found it difficult to imagine this century without the life and work of Gary Snyder. - Wes Jackson Few American poets have attracted so wide a readership while garnering such critical acclaim as Pulitzer Prize-winner Gary Snyder. - Tim McNulty I’m not saying Robin Mathews is yet nearly as good as he’s going to be. But he’s so far ahead of the ruck, right now, that if he wanted to look back at them, he’d have to use binoculars. - Milton Acorn Were Mathews a Quebecois writer who advocated the independence of Quebec, rather than a Canadian patriot who advocates the independence of Canada, he would be a cultural hero in his community, if not a cabinet minister. - Larry McDonald Robin Mathews is a fighter-poet, aggressive in his defense of human rights, expressing his nationalist vision with enough feeling to slash like a razor. - Montreal Gazette I live in Abbotsford BC, and Abbotsford is in the centre of the Fraser Valley. Our home in Abbotsford is on the rock rim of Sumas Mountain. We can, from our nest on the ledge of Sumas Mountain, look across the Fraser Valley to Mount Baker, the USA and eastward to the backbone of mountains known as the North Cascades. The journey from Abbotsford to the North Cascades is a short and scenic one. The many hikes and ambles through dense forests to highland peaks make for a visual feast. Evergreens, gray rock slabs and glacier white vistas are there for one and all to see. It is in the North Cascade mountain range that Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac and Philip Whalen worked as lookout rangers in the early and mid-1950s. The tale of these Beat poets has been well told by John Suiter, in Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen & Jack Kerouac in the North Cascades (2002). Poets on the Peaks is informative and evocative, and a literary and eye-holding journey into both the life and times of Snyder, Whalen, Kerouac and the North Cascades. Suiter writes, at the beginning of Poets on the Peaks, “This Book is for Hozomeen”. Mount Hozomeen is a knife edge, razor sharp mountain in the North Cascades. I climbed Mount Hozomeen, from Manning Park, with Outward Bound, in 1976. Jack Kerouac was a lookout ranger on Desolation Peak in the mid-1950s, and he spoke often of Mount Hozomeen. I have hiked up Desolation Peak, and spent many a fond hour there. Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen were lookout rangers on Sourdough Mountain, and I have enjoyed many a ramble up to the cabin on the mountain ridge. Three of the most important Beat poets (Snyder, Kerouac, Whalen), before they were well known, lived and hiked about these peaks, and from their time in the North Cascades, they drew much and used what was internalized in their writings.