"In this startlingly original vision of Canada, renowned thinker John Ralston Saul argues that Canada is a Métis nation, heavily influenced and shaped by Aboriginal ideas: Egalitarianism, a proper balance between individual and group, and a penchant for negotiation over violence are all Aboriginal values that Canada absorbed. An obstacle to our progress, Saul argues, is that Canada has an increasingly ineffective elite, a colonial non-intellectual business elite that doesn't believe in Canada. It's critical we recognize these aspects of the country in order to rethink its future." -- goodreads.com
What shaped us--Marrying up--Double denial--Why we stumble--Learning to see ourselves--Progress--Learning to imagine ourselves--The minimal impairment of the environment--Minimal imparment on the batttlefield--Within an ever-enlarging circle--One world--Colonial fairness--Imagining a fair country--Order and fear, fear and order--The genius to divide--The Eddy line of fairness--The nature of an elite--Signs of failure--To be sick--To be poor--To be unstable to swim--To become inconsequential--The fear of of living without fear--The fear of getting along with others--Fear of flying--Fear of owning--What does all this mean?--How did they come to be with this way?--The colonial mind--Fear and self-loathing--Insecurity in action--Two colonial tales--How Ottawa became a capital--How the Dominion ceased to be--The roots of failure--From perception to action--The North--A circle of fairness--Notes--Acknowledgments.