1995 Series 1 Number 15 Page 4
John H. Walsh prepared this paper for a meeting of CACOR in October 1995. He explained that a malaise had gripped Canada because of economic policies over the previous two decades. Few people felt their children would be better off than they had been, the wealth gap had widened, and the social safety net was falling apart. He felt there had been irreversible changes.
In this extensive (15 page) essay, he provided an in-depth analysis and a series of suggested ways to improve the situation. He saw that 60% of Canadians were gaining from the situation, 20% were just hanging on, and 20% were living without much hope. This was not a situation for stability. He suggested we knew how to step back from mindless government budget-cutting and how to deal with everything from the rise of the religious right to putting science to better use.
Clearly, Mr. Walsh thought Canada had lost its way, for the first time, and a profound pessimism about the future had developed in the country. It was a crisis worse than the World Wars and the Great Depression. Few thought coming generations would be better off than the preceding generations. The gap between the rich and poor was widening and the social support systems, once taken for granted, were slowly and remorselessly being eroded. He blamed the economic policies of the previous decade, though he admitted technologists like himself also bore some responsibility.
He suggested a complex set of solutions to redesign society.
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