| On a brilliant spring day, in the midst of a sustained economic boom, 200 of Canada's most influential citizens gathered
earlier this year in the grand ballroom of the Royal York Hotel to consider the country's prospects in the global economy.
But as the corporate chieftains, university presidents and government officials rose to speak amid the ornate frescoes and gilded moldings
meant to give expression to Canada's 19th century ambitions, it soon became clear that many were haunted by a more disturbing question:
Would there even be a Canada in 25 years, or would the country become, for all practical purposes, the 51st American state? |