From the Editor / L. Ian MacDonald

Ten years ago, when we launched Policy Magazine, we hoped there
would be a receptive audience for an independent voice of ideas on the Canadian political scene.

Or as Associate Editor Lisa Van Dusen put it at the time: “What have we got to lose?”

Nothing. I’d come from a decade as editor of Policy Options, at the Institute for Research on Public Policy, where Hugh Segal had hired me as editor of the magazine founded in 1980 by Tom Kent, a legendary figure in Canadian politics and journalism. Segal was someone I’d met along the way as a political columnist, and when I was later honoured to serve as principal speechwriter for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

When it came time to move on in 2012, I discussed the idea of a new magazine with friends and colleagues. I particularly recall a lunch with James Baxter and Fen Hampson at the Métropolitain Brasserie, known as “the Met”, then as now a gathering place of Ottawa’s political class. James, who had himself recently founded iPolitics, generously offered work space at his office. And Fen, a leader in the world of think tanks, thought there was room for a new entrant in a niche market that was already shrinking in terms of print products.

What to call it? It turned out that the name was not registered by anyone else, so we called it Policy, with the branding motto “Canadian Politics and Public Policy”. The fact that we also cover international affairs says as much about our readers’ interests as about the small world in which we cover them. Policy now includes our bi-monthly print issue, the dynamic and thriving Policy Online and The Week in Policy news digest.

Our first issue, in April 2013, featured a cover package on the Liberal leadership campaign, which Justin Trudeau won by a landslide. He was an obvious choice for the cover image, the first of many from Adam Scotti, his photographer then and now. It’s fitting that this anniversary issue includes a six-page spread of Adam’s photos of Trudeau, both on public occasions and during private moments with Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau and their three kids at home and on the road. Trudeau has the knack of paying no heed to the camera, and Scotti has the gift of seeing stories through a lens.

And so here we are, a decade later, with a special issue looking back, and ahead to where Canada and the world may be going. As always, we’re grateful to our outstanding roster of contributing writers. Most of all, I’m indebted to our team, Lisa Van Dusen, and social media editor Gray MacDonald. Nicolas Landry handles web design and Benoit Deneault provides layout and graphic design.

We begin the issue with Lori Turnbull’s look at how leadership has evolved in the last decade in “Leadership and the Politics of Authenticity”. Then Tom Axworthy, present at the creation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 as principal secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, notes that the balancing of the text with the “political constitution of tradition and convention,” changed our history. Allan Gregg, one of Canada’s pre-eminent pollsters, writes that he “can think of few professionals whose job has become more difficult or whose output more questionable today than it was 10 years ago than pollsters.” Kevin Lynch and Paul Deegan look at the political, fiscal and tech upheavals and conclude that the “past decade has reminded us that we live in a highly uncertain and volatile world.”

Canada’s political parties and leaders have lived through this decade of change, and the manner in which they’ve adapted effects their prospects for success. John Delacourt, former Liberal research director, writes that the challenge for Trudeau in his third term is “to make a compelling case for hope and idealism once again.” Long time Tory adviser Geoff Norquay thinks the Conservatives need to move from “simply criticizing what the government is doing to presenting an alternative.” Former NDP national director Robin Sears writes that the legacy of Tommy Douglas gives standing to Jagmeet Singh in campaigning for health care reform. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says on climate change: “We cannot afford to lose another decade.” And McGill’s Daniel Béland writes that a new brand of Quebec political identity has emerged under François Legault—nationalist but not sovereignist.

Perry Bellegarde, who was National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations from 2014-21, writes of the opportunities and challenges still ahead on the road to reconciliation of Canada’s Indigenous peoples.

Zachary Paikin reflects “on how the world has changed in the last decade, along with Canada’s place in it.” Veteran foreign policy hands Jeremy Kinsman and Colin Robertson write of an era of turmoil and tumult. Memorial University President Vianne Timmons has seen both change and stability. And Don Newman offers timely thoughts in his column.

Finally, in Book Reviews, Kevin Page reviews Bill Morneau’s Where To From Here. And John Stackhouse sees much merit in Thomas d’Aquino’s memoir, Private Power, Public Purpose.

And in a remarkable tribute to Peter Herrndorf, Rosemary Thompson writes of his legacy of leadership for two decades at the National Arts Centre.

Enjoy.