Stephen Downes

I'm old enough to remember the budget of 1995 and how the Chretien government dealt with mess made by the 'Made in Canada recession' wrought by the previous government of the day. This much is true: "granting council budgets were reduced (and) it also instituted a multi-billion dollar cut in transfers to provinces for health and postsecondary education." But equally important, and far more relevant to the day-to-day lives of Canadians, was the multi-billion dollar Infrastructure Project detailed in the Red Book. There was austerity, sure, but there was also a reinvestment in Canadian communities. In addition to (apparently) endorsing austerity, Alex Usher suggests "putting our best minds together for the next 12 weeks.. to answer the following questions about the future of Canada," questions like "how can we best balance the protection of our democracy with the maintenance of norms of free speech?" I mean, what? Even assuming this is a good way to generate answers (it's not; it's ridiculous) the questions address nothing that will help universities, much less the Canadian public as a whole.