National Network for Equitable Library Service

B.W. Powe’s visionary work of political philosophy dares to re-imagine Canada. First conceived in 1993, this fully revised, expanded, updated edition, complete with an inspired new introduction that considers Canada in a post-9/11 context, is a landmark book that has become a classic text for understanding the work-in-progress that is Canada. Countering George Grant’s pessimistic Lament for a Nation, which defined the intellectual climate in Canada for decades, Powe argues that our country is in fact a completely original model of what an enlightened polity might be for the 21st century. Here is a passionately inspired portrait of Canada as a communication state – a counter-nation of loose ties and subtle associations where dialogue, ideas, debate and the exchange of information is the currency that holds us lightly together. Towards a Canada of Light points to the urgent realization of a new and liberating way of what it means to be Canadian.