In summary form, I view the political process as the vehicle for translating a vision of social inclusion in a national and local reality. Without political will and leadership, vision will never become action. Political support allows both the development and implementation of a national policy agenda. National politicians have the task of working with their provincial and municipal counterparts as well as organizations from civil society, to implement the social inclusion agenda as a National Project.
In our book, The Canada We Want, co-authored with Rob McLean and published by Stoddart in 1999, we outline some of the ways in which the political system can work to realize the vision of National Projects. The magic of the political process consists of mobilizing dispute groups and forces around a common vision. It is precisely because we are citizens of a democracy based on rights that the political factor becomes crucial. Social inclusion without political inclusion is meaningless, because inclusion in a democratic society is about empowerment. It is also about extending the democratic legitimacy of changing the way in which we make social policy in Canada.
John Godfrey was first elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament for the Toronto riding of Don Valley West in October 1993 and re-elected June 1997 and November 2000. He was appointed Chairman of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in January 1994, and in September 1995, he was appointed Chairman of the Standing Committee on Industry. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Cooperation and Minister Responsible for la Francophonie in February 1996. Between July 1997 and July 1998, John served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. He is currently the Chairman of The National Children’s Agenda Caucus Committee, Social Policy Caucus and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Children and Youth at Risk. He is also a member of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, Northern Development and Natural Resources, and a member of the Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages.
John Godfrey is familiar to many as the Editor of The Financial Post, a position he held from 1987 to 1991. Before becoming the MP for Don Valley West, he was Vice-President of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, one of Canada’s leading research institutes, with programs studying social, economic and scientific issues of major importance for Canada.
He began his working career as an academic at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia where he taught for 17 years as a professor of history, 10 of which he also served as President of the University of King’s College, Halifax.
He is the recipient of numerous honours and awards, including Doctor of Sacred Letters (honoris causa), Trinity College, University of Toronto, (1987); the Vanier Award for Outstanding Young Canadian (1981) and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal (1977). John has had a long career of public service and activism, both nationally and internationally.
John is also the author of various articles on educational, political, international, social and economic affairs. In 1987, he published Capitalism at War, a major study of France’s economic mobilization in the First World War. In 1999, he co-authored The Canada We Want – Competing Visions for the New Millennium. He has also written several programs for television and radio and in 1990, John was founding co-host of TVOntario’s popular current affairs program, Between the Lines.
John Godfrey was born December 19, 1942, in Toronto. He was educated at the University of Toronto and earned his MA (Phil.) and PhD (Phil.) from Oxford University. He is married to Trish Bongard Godfrey and they have a son, Ian. John is fluently bilingual in English and French.
His personal interests, beyond a passion for political and social issues, include opera, film, dance, the visual arts, languages, squash, running, tennis, golf, sailing, skiing, wilderness canoeing and international travel.
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