Extrinsic Influences on the 43rd Federal General Election

• Author: Gregory Tardi
• Pages: 53-57

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 10

EXTINSIC INFLUENCES

ON THE 43RD FEDEAL

GENEAL ELECTION

INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES

Each political culture is unique, but every political system is permeable

to inf‌luences from others. In that sense, the electoral process of  in

Canada did not occur in a void, but rather in context. e recounting

of our rd federal general election would be sorely incomplete without

mention, however brief, of that context of prevailing trends.

In , the Canadian-born economist John Kenneth Galbraith pub-

lished a most interesting book aimed at the popularization of economic

history, entitled he Age of Uncertainty. After recounting the evolution of

economic knowledge and practice, he devoted the f‌inal chapter to “Dem-

ocracy, Leadership, Commitment.” He came to the conclusion that the

most transcendent economic and political issue of his day was the avoid-

ance of nuclear Armageddon. He ended with the following prescription:

The truth that men seek there [in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, the base of

NORAD] to evade is that this small planet cannot survive a nuclear exchange.

. . .

1 John Kenneth Galbraith, The Age of Uncertainty: A History of Economic Ideas and Their

Consequences (Boston: Houghton Miin, 1977).