Intent for a Nation: What Is Canada For?: A Relentlessly Optimistic Manifesto for Canada's Role in the World

In Intent for a Nation, Michael Byers argues that it is time for a clear-eyed appreciation of our strengths and weaknesses, of all we have and all we could be. A whole series of world events-the waning of US credibility; the increasing value of natural resources; the brain-gain; the ever-increasing interdependence of peoples, countries and continents-have combined to put Canada center stage in a new world order. Instead of emulating our increasingly isolated neighbor, we should be advancing the Canadian model, an idealistic, fiscally prudent, socially progressive vision that has never looked so good.
Intent for a Nation is a fundamentally optimistic, informed and opinionated overview of where Canada stands in the world and what aggressive public policies are needed to carry the country forward in an ever more competitive and volatile world.
Here is a book urging Canadians to rediscover their national self-confidence, to find the courage to dream great dreams-and make them happen.

Michael Byers holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Professor Byers has led two projects for ArcticNet, a Canadian government-funded research consortium: the first on the Northwest Passage, the second on competing claims to the oil and gas reserves below the Arctic Ocean. He is a regular contributor to the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen and has written for the international newspapers The Guardian, Financial Times and London Review of Books. His most recent books were War Law and the glowingly reviewed Canadian bestseller, Intent for a Nation.