NOTES AND DERIVATIONS


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1. The genesis of Canada Can Thrive (Policy Press/Peter Martin, 1962, copyright 1961) is described above. Some of its specific proposals were unique; but more significantly, it was a lonely voice for Canada and its micro-regions at a time when the prevailing forces were provincialism and continentalism (when Peter Newman was telling me that all forms of nationalism are bad, and Melville Watkins was calling Canadian nationalism "a devil" to be exorcised - as he did in 1964). Those are still the prevailing forces, but the few scattered voices have been joined by many others. The book will be refered to in notes 2, 7, 10, 37, 42, 48, 51, and 59, but I would immediately wish to mention that printing run requirements for it necessitated last minute cuts and these were made in the econometric portions in such a clumsy manner, for which I take responsibility, that some non-sequitors resulted. Its chapters had, for the most part, previously appeared as articles in Saturday Night during 1961, and these at times gave more detail than appeared in the book.

Facilitation Problems of International Associations (Union of International Associations, 1960) was unique in its in depth study of the legal position of corporations international in scope but obliged to secure personality in a specific country.

Sex and Law in Canada (Policy Press/Peter Martin, 1962)/. Le sexe et la loi au Canada (Editions du jour, 1962) was the first book to cover all aspects of the topic in a Canadian context.

An Introduction to the Federal Government (Canada, Dept. of Defence Production, 1964) described, in large part, the unusual administrative integration at branch level of two distinct government departments. See fn. 22.

2. The pace of further processing has not matched that of initial publication. It was not until 1962 and 1963 that the Yearbook of World Affairs and Rev. int. de droit comp., respectively, reviewed Facilitation Problems.  Sex and Law was reviewed as "an important contribution to Canadian legal and social literature" by the editor of Canadian Corrections, in an article in the Ottawa Citizen, yet it was not reviewed by any professional journal (to my knowledge) including that editor's own. Of Canada Can Thrive, an Ottawa Citizen review suggested that "Dr. Rodgers' thesis deserves close examination," but I have yet to see it cited at all. Federal Government was an in-house publication, although on deposit in the National Library, Ottawa, and students of constitutional custom and public administration do not seem to have come across some of its atypical points which might be of interest; see fn. 22

3. Mutatis mutandis, most of Facilitation Problems is applicable to the multinational corporation, but the sort of catalogue references ascribed to a work dealing with non-governmental organizations is not likely to attract the interest of corporate lawyers. Students of international organization tend overwhelmingly to focus on governmental bodies and to ignore the INGOs. Accordingly, the integrative analysis relating to IGOs in that book has largely been missed. It does not surprise me to find as recently as Spring 1970 an article in International Organization accepting the ECOSOC criterion of IGO/INGO differentiation, despite the de facto inadequacy of that criterion, as analyzed ten years prior.

4. See page 18 and footnote 27

5. See the last paragraph of the book.

6. See page 63.

7. The Vancouver Sun reviewed Canada Can Thrive and suggested that any government adopting the book's policies would be "neither Liberal, Tory, nor NDP" (which leaves Fascist or Communist?). The review contrasted the book with H. G. Johnson's continentalist Canada In A Changing World Economy and called the latter "a gem of rational thinking". (For a more balanced note, see 2. For an accurate description of the underlying political philosophy of Canada Can Thrive, see G. Horowitz, "Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism in Canada: An Interpretation", CJEPS, 1966, upper page 159.) The underlying analysis of Canada Can Thrive was that of a country torn between the twin forces of continentalism and provincialism. Donald Creighton makes exactly the same analysis in "Watching The Sun Quietly Set On Canada" in Maclean's, November 1971. Canada Can Thrive, amongst other things, proposed federal biculturalism and bilingual districts before the Royal Commission on that subject was appointed. Some of its other proposals are only now being seriously discussed, though with no apparent awareness of the precedent.
It also predicted the de-Canadianization of the universities of Canada, to which the author subsequently fell victim (I. Lumsden, Close the 49th Parallel etc. U. of Toronto Press, 1970, footnote page 172). See 38.

8. Lectures given at Vancouver City College as visiting professor in community education services, and at Douglas College, both Winter 1972.

9. Many US parent companies no longer permit their subsidiaries to advertise in Canadian media because overflow advertising does the job for them to the tune of $40 million a year ("Juneau confesses ideal impractical", Vancouver Sun, 10 November 1971). This was predicted in Canada Can Thrive as discussed also in Saturday Night of 11 and 25 November l961. As an executive officer of the Winnipeg council of ACTRA, it was the author's pleasure to draft a resolution requesting the Canadian government to prevent, by tax measures, the placing of Canadian-oriented advertizing in border US broadcast stations; a measure subsequently implemented, thereby facilitating the opportunities for Canadian commercial activities to finance Canadian communication with Canadians. See 16, 28.
Quebec intellectuals tend to believe that francophone Canada has escaped the continentalization of media, and I have argued in a CBC network "Viewpoint" (21 February 1968) that Quebec separatism derives in part from the inability of anglophone Canadians to join with francophones in the establishment of an authentic Canadian society. Nevertheless, one has merely to watch a francophone show like "Donald Lautrec Chaud" to realize that Quebec itself is not far removed from Los Angeles.

10. I do not consider Canada sacrosanct, nor any of its institutions sacred. It is valuable as a counter to the hegemony of superpowers. If another superpower were to seriously challenge a weakened United States, and pose the threat of world domination, union might be in order. If the Canadian communication system is merely a shadow of the American, then perhaps the Canadian networks should be replaced by other possible means whereby Canadians speak to Canadians. The proposals of Canada Can Thrive were not sacred either; some propositions, which might have great effect when made, have little effect when implemented too late. Such may have been the case with federal bilingualism in Canada; the technicians of which may find more scope for their talents in the EEC than in a milieu in which Quebec proposes unilingualism for itself and must thus accept unilingualism in other provinces.

11. See page 77, and footnotes 38, 39.

12. See page 45.

13. Some of the most fervent advocates of legalized stupifiants and hallucinants might, if still sober, be among the first to protest if governments were to promote the use of such drugs as means of pacifying the population. See 34.

14. The "take-off" concept is particularly associated with Kenneth Galbraith's Stages of Economic Growth. Galbraith's early formation was Canadian. Like many Canadians, he left the country because its refusal to adopt "take-off" policies meant a stifling future for the energetic individuals of his generation. Most moved over the border, since language and other barriers ruled out such countries as Sweden and Japan.

15. See page 75.

16. When one country permits its technology to be locked into that of another (in the absence of standardization), its options are severely limited. By Canada's choice of colour television "an inferior system was adopted primarily on the grounds of compatibility with American systems...the superior SECAM III system would have provided a natural barrier to the flood of American television programming...Even when technology and economics favour an independent Canadian cultural stance, the Americanization of Canada persists." L. Trainor, "Science in Canada", Lumsden, op cit fn. 7 supra. See fn. 9.
The result of this sort of process has led to cultural and institutional integration. See Rodgers, "Americanized Schools Not New Problem, Free Press, Winnipeg, 30 April 1969, and the following items by others in the same paper in the space of but a few months:
"Incentives to Behemoths", 11 November, millions of tax dollars to subsidize US multinational corporation operations; "Changing its Identity Costs Gulf $14 Million", 11 April, BA Oil change made to benefit from overflow advertizing; "US Fee Schedule Supported", 2 April, photographers obliged to join US association or pay a penalty in order to participate in a Canadian competition; "Says Stations Can't Maintain Canadian Program Content", 30 April, private operators suggest that American programs suffice for Canada (and cost less per capita); Letter, 23 August, from lady protesting that annual conference of Can. Inst. of Public Affairs dominated by professors of American origin talking about American problems or applying American concepts to specifically Canadian problems; "Curtain Up on Arctic Oil Show -- But Who Runs North?" 20 September, tax system hinders Canadian operators but advantages American operators; from Globe & Mail, "Michener and a Nice Guy Discuss Dew Line", 1 May 1969, Governor-General denied entry to military locations unless granted US security clearance; from Canadian Magazine, 26 July 1969, a survey indicates the US tourists were disappointed that Canada looks like such a carbon-copy of the US; and from the Winnipeg Tribune, in a Financial Times article on franchising, 24 November 1969, an American businessman quoted as saying "Canadians are more reserved than Americans, and they take instructions better -- much easier partners in the franchise operation." I put the general question of Canada's economy, and thus much of its cultural life, to Hubert Humphrey, in a seminar and his surprising reply was: "Why doesn't your government do as in Japan and restrict American ownership to a less than controlling interest in any firm?" I was even more surprised when only one of the two Winnipeg papers quoted him and the Canadian Press did not put it on their wire. See 28.

17. An excellent simplified account is given in an issue of Life, 22 October 1971, devoted to the subject of the brain. I read onetime an interesting book written from the perspective of neurology and dealing with cultural differences as affecting international relations; the author and title escapes me.

18. Merely reforming an institution is a difficult enough task. I spent three years endeavouring to ease the monopoly control of the facilities of the Parliamentary Press Gallery and for my pains earned false statements on pages 280, 281, and elsewhere, in Peter Dempeon, Ottawa Assignment, 1968. The refutation of such criticisms will have to await my memoirs, if ever written and published. See the opening comments of the Preface of the present book, and the last paragraph of the book.

19. I shudder to imagine how a careless analyst would summarize Rodgers, "Wanteds: Intelligence in the RCMP", Saturday Night, 24 June 1961. The title (editors choice) was juxtaposed with a picture of the Commissioner. The article was a serious plea for upgrading within the security division.

19b. In the preface to The Computerized Society (Prentice-Hall, 1970), James Martin and Adrian Norman say "we may someday talk not about separate computers, but rather a vast organism interconnected by telecommunications links." Later (p. 68) they talk of a "catalogue of remote systems" which "will grow, multiply, and interlink. A countrywide, and probably a worldwide, network of computers that can be dialed up on the existing telecommunications will be available to us before many years have passed."

19c. In The Computerized Society (p. 32) the authors visualize "wives and children" working at home, through cable hookups, constructing and testing programs. But later (p.46) : "when a machine is programmed to learn and take certain actions as a result of what it has learned, it can go on learning and learning mechanically until, in this decision-making process, it becomes superior to the human beings who created it. One of the fascinating aspects of the computer industry is that one is never sure what new direction it is going to take next."

20. Rodgers, "Ballot Box versus Bargaining Table in the Age of Automation," Social Democrat, April 1957 evidences a long-standing pessimism.

20b. See note 45b on page 44.

21. Subcommittee on Employment and Manpower, Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Toward Full Employment: Proposals for a Comprehensive Employment and Manpower Policy in the United States, USGPO, April l964, 20.

22. Federal Government (op. cit. last para., fn. 1 supra) was published by the Training and Development Division of the Department of Defence Production, servicing branches which integrated, under two separate deputy directors in each, the functions of DDP and the Department of Industry. T and D found itself operating as an unofficial mediator or communicator in a situation which was not particularly favoured by the Deputy Minister of Industry. The organizational chart of that period can only be pictured in three tones; see p. 1 (frontspiece), op. cit.

22b. In his Future Shock (Bantam, 1970, p. 136) , Alvin Toffler says "we are moving from bureaucracy to ad-hocracy". Without qualification, that would be a very simplistic analysis. The talent pool concept, mentioned in the previous section, would facilitate adhocracy.

23. Centralization/decentralization are relative terms; see pages 15, 66, 68, 72.

24. See page 69.

25. For a valiant attempt to apply cybernetics to political systems, see Karl Deutsch, Politics and Government (Houghton Mifflin, 1970), p. 160. Note the tremendous problem of charting the area of "perception" and "consciousness" (p. 157 therein). Note the relatively limited meaning of "sovereignty" in his definition (p. 153) of self-government: "To be autonomous means to be able to apply information from the past to a decision in the present." The past information, for many situations, may be simply that one is impotent in a given circumstance. See "There is no such thing as abstract political analysis", a paper published in letter form in the Toronto Telegram 6 Oct. 1969.

26. The Vietnam war may be categorized as a case of amplifying feedback, escalating to no avail, since to obliterate the Viet Cong would have required the use of nuclear weapons obliterating the country as such and risking nuclear war between superpowers, not to mention irradiating the atmosphere.

27. The Canadian population is continuously bombarded by conflicting signals saying, at times, that Canada is the net beneficiary of continentalism and, at others, that it suffers therefrom. There is a similar emission from Quebec. The sophisticated observer, following the process closely, establishes "pro" and "con" pools in his memory and maintains a sort of running equation of the contents. The unsophisticated observer is quite bewildered by it all (and, of course, a similar process occurs in other societies and other matters). Between anxiety state and identity crisis, Canada muddles along.

28. The massive overflow of American media is "noise" to members of ACTRA and others who want a Canada "doing more of its own thing." From this perspective, Canada is a communication system swamped by intrusive noise. Amplifying feedback is at work. Canadians first saw TV from the US (see fn. 16 supra) and demanded more of the same. Canadian talent was obliged to gravitate to the US. Canadians will now accept US regional accents on Canadian broadcasting, but newscaster Margaret Higgins was removed by the CBC for sounding "too English". In the early Seventies, PBS accepted an English-accent announcer, and David Frost achieved high ratings, but the Canadian networks continued to discourage reminders of past English colonialism and to reflect the new colonialism of slavish imitation and acceptance of American programming, particularly in the case of CTV. Even the minority media, films used in the schools, tend to be American. The underground press is full of articles imported from and oriented towards the problems of, in particular, the American black, whereas the comparable problem in Canada is really that of the Esquimaux and Indians. When black models became fashionable in the US, Canadian media immediately followed suit. The ultimate symbolism of the Canadian situation is probably given us by the establishment in Canada of the Union '76 chain of gas stations, with their TV advertising, carried over cable systems, lauding the "Spirit of 76" (i.e., 1776). See 16.

28b. See notes 38, 39, and page 77.

29. For a discussion of this factor, and a bibliographic survey of wider scope relating to Acadiana, see the item referenced in footnote 1, Rodgers, "French Canada and French Louisiana: Transnationial Relations Between Units of Federations," Proceedings, APSA 1970. For an outcome of the relations implied above, see "Le cri du general de Gaulle a retarde l'accord Quebec-Louisiane," Le Devoir, 14 September 1970, and Rodgers, "Conclusion of the Quebec-Louisiana Agreement on Cultural Cooperation," AJIL 1970, p.380, as discussed in the APSA paper. In conducting the negotiations to the penultimate stage on behalf of Louisiana, when there domiciled, I endeavoured to steer a complex course favouring greater transnational flexibility for American states, greater facility for Canadian provinces to initiate transnational activity but countered by a more explicit right of annullment of the outcome for the Canadian federal government (the United States being more than adequately equipped in that regard). The formula (discussed in the APSA paper and Le Devoir) satisfied no party, but its spirit now underlies the modalities according to which Quebec is admitted as a participating government of the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation (La francophine), Communique; Dept. of External Affairs, Ottawa, 8 October 1971.

30. E.g., by exchange of videotapes, etc.

31. For example, the elements of the ski-doo have been within ready combination for many years; the factor lacking in this case was primarily the innovative imagination of the Bombardier's. By contrast, the non-stick saucepan, imagined by cooks for centuries no doubt, had to await a spin-off from space research. See 51.

32. Much of the information of this section derives from films, like those produced by Jacques Cousteau and broadcast on the networks.

33. See page 35 - 36.

34. Not being a political science textbook, the present work excludes any depth definition of "authority." To paraphrase Lincoln, those in power can terrorize some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but no government has succeeded, for more than relatively brief periods, in terrorizing all of the people all of the time. Ultimately, elites have ruled by the overt or tacit acquiescence of the people. A combination of drugs, genetic tampering, and electronic surveillance would present another dimension, however, rendering inoperative the distinction between power and population-derived authority. Even then, the elite would need its own internal concept of authority, unless one person were to secure all tools of control. See 13. A recent study by H. Adam, Modernizing Racial Domination: The Dynamics of South African Politics (U of California Press) is reported to indicate the considerable success, from the government's point of view, in containing Black unrest in that country. Professor Adam nevertheless points to some hope for the Black society, and bases it on the localization factor discussed in this book at page 35. Reported in Simon Fraser University Comment, December 1971.


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