Canadian Government Executive - Volume 25 - Issue 02

April/May 2019 // Canadian Government Executive / 33 Trade the political scene were the two most im- portant politicians of their time. I would say first both chronological- ly and in intellectual terms, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of Great Britain and was followed very quickly by Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was not as ideological as Prime Minister Thatcher was, but he had been a Democrat, and he became a Republican, he was an extraor- dinary communicator who connected very well with the American people, but he didn’t really have a strong ideology. He really fell for Mrs. Thatcher’s tenants of small government, of really accentuating the characteristics of our world order of 1945, supported by technology. Technolo- gies were a central part of that develop- ment. The Washington consensus, which was that any country around the world that wants to use the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the GATT that be- came the WTO had to do three things: de- regulate, liberalize and privatize. All three of them reduced the role of government in public affairs. In the 80s, it led us to the fall of the Ber- lin wall and the implosion of the Soviet Union. We won the Cold War without one drop of blood being shed, and the implo- sion to the Soviet Union brought a lot of countries into the European Union and on our side of the equation. The Chinese de- cided to join in the world economy, open up their own economy, and participate in the world economy, so in the 90s, we were on a high. I mean we were really on a high; we didn’t need to smoke at that time. Our values and our vision had become unanimous in the sense that there was a very large consensus supporting that. There have been problems along the road – too many people left behind because of the lack of training, the progress of robot- ization, and the financial crisis of 2008, but I don’t want to spend too much time on that. The 2016 Brexit and Trump are abso- lutely turning things around back to na- tionalism. Brexit is essentially an act of sovereignty, bringing back nationalism and saying Britain will not take any advice from Brussels, and it will make its own decisions in London. Trump says, America first and to hell with the rest. The rivalry of our era is the rivalry be- tween the United States and China; that is going to be with us for decades to come. What I find interesting is that the Presi- dent of the United States, meeting that challenge, decided to do it on his own. He imposes tariffs on aluminum and steel from China, but he also does it on Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. The great advantage of the United States and its strength in world affairs of the past 70 years is that it had been brilliant in the world multilateral architecture it provid- ed, and that it was leading alliances. Lead- ing is something you do with people. The U.S. was leading the world, but they were doing it with Germany, with France, with Britain, with Canada. Trump never thinks in terms of leading. Trump is not a leader; Trump wants to win. Euro-skeptics won in Great Britain. Mr. Cameron never did the referendum because the Brits wanted the referendum; he did it because his party was not man- ageable over the issue. It was for partisan reasons that he could not get his party aligned, and he threw the ball to the Brit- ish people, sure that he would strengthen his line on the Euro-skeptics – but he dropped the ball big time. In Great Britain, Prime Minister May says, “I have to deliver on the vote and the will of the people. Fifty-two per cent. I have to deliver on that vote.” But those same people elected a House of Com- mons in which 75 per cent of the MPS are against Brexit. The sovereigntists said we would need to get rid of Brussels and the European Union and make decisions in the House of Commons because we’re a parliamentary democracy. Let me conclude on this. At this mo- ment, I think that after all of the progress we’ve made, over 70 years of progress to- wards democracy and towards the rule of law, and how much multilateralism has brought – a billion fewer in poverty on the planet – we again have nationalism. We now have autocratic tendencies popping up all over the place: within Poland and Hungary, and populists in Italy. You see Macron, the big light of the liberal center in France, at 23 per cent approval with the yellow shirts. I would never underestimate the na- tionalism in China with Xi Jinping, who is there for as long as he wants to be, now that he’s changed the Constitution. China has changed its history textbooks regard- ing our nation. What I mean is that at this time, nationalism and populism is on the rise, and it goes with protectionism. “The 2016 Brexit and Trump are absolutely turning things around back to nationalism. Brexit is essentially an act of sovereignty, bringing back nationalism and saying Britain will not take any advice from Brussels, and it will make its own decisions in London. Trump says, America first and to hell with the rest.” — Pierre Pettigrew