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

A compelling call to arms to reinvigorate our vision of Canada's place in the world, from one of the best of our new generation of public intellectuals.

Why do Canadians think so small? "We're a serious country. But our clout-we don't use it," says Michael Byers, who argues it is time for a clear-eyed appreciation of our strengths and weaknesses, of all we have and all we could be. Instead of emulating our increasingly isolated neighbour, Byers says we should be advancing the Canadian model, an idealistic, fiscally prudent, socially progressive vision of foreign policy that has never looked so good.

Playing against George Grant's seminal Lament for a Nation, Intent for a Nation is his informed and opinionated overview of where Canada stands in the world and what aggressive and progressive social, environmental, and governmental policies are needed to carry the country forward in an ever more competitive and volatile world.

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.