Mel Hurtig was a Canadian nationalist with very strong pro-Canada feelings. He felt that our government was selling us out. That our government was simply trying to turn us into the fifty first state of the United states. In his book At Twighlight in the Country, he shares many of these views. He fought very valiantly against the free trade agreement, speaking out against it whenever possible. Urging government leaders to reconsider what we were giving the United States and what little we would be receiving in return. He also continually spoke out about how our culture continued to disappear and become more like that of the United States. How soon our culture could be undistinguished from our southern neighbors. He completely believed that we simply sold out our country and the politicians should be ashamed.One of Mel Hurtig’s mentors was George Grant. Foresaw the selling out of Canada and spoke about in his book Lament for a Nation which was published in 1965. He said as Mel quotes him in his own book: Canada has ceased to be a nation, but its formal political existence will not end quickly. Our social and economic blending into the American empire will continue apace, but political union will probably be delayed. (p. 434)Grant foresaw what Mel would begin to see and greatly foreshadowed exactly what would happen in Canada. Grant felt that the wealthy, the ruling classes, Liberal party and the elite of Montreal and Toronto, were responsible for selling out of Canada. Mel shared these views and especially later in life the views of the liberal party which he had previously been Mel Hurtig3a part of. Later these views carried on to the Mulroney led conservatives who in Mel’s mind finished the selling off of Canada for good. Mulroney had said that he was not even interested in free trade when he was first elected but quickly changed his mind thanks to his good friend American president Ronald Reagon. Hurtig w...
