Does the North need more drunken parties?

If there are any leaders in the North they might want to think about the Scottish enlightenment.

In 1700 Scotland was the poorest and most backward country in Europe. By the end of the century it was the intellectual centre of Europe. Sometime around 1700 the monster flashbulb called the Scottish enlightenment began. Scotland became a fountain of inventions, ideas and talent. Enlightenment Scots can be blamed for everything from modern economics through bank architecture to country music.

Canada as we know it is a product of the Scottish enlightenment. The Northwest Company that explored so much of Canada was founded by a Scot. Alexander Mackenzie first mapped the passage to the Pacific Ocean. Sir John A. Macdonald was the first prime Minister. Look for Macdonald's name in the Canadian Encyclopedia and you find pages and pages of Macs and Mcs. We have an economic system based on the ideas of Adam Smith and a political system rooted in the thoughts of David Hume and John Stuart Mill.

But let's not praise the Scots-let's copy them. How do we start a new Northern Enlightenment up here in mosquito country? Can you imagine the brightest young people in the world coming to Thunder Bay to study? Can you imagine meeting some of the world's most important philosophers at a dinner party in Sudbury? Can you imagine inventions and literature pouring out of the young people of Timmins and Wawa?

Historian Arthur Herman claims that Scots Enlightenment created the modern world. His bestselling book-called "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" is subtitled "The True Story of how Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created our World and Everything in It."

Like us, those Scots lived in an economically depressed region with a hostile climate. They had low average levels of education, poor average health and high alcohol consumption. Like Northern Ontario, Scotland was governed from a great city hundreds of miles to the south. Unlike us, the Scots were famous for violence and barbaric clan warfare. Libertarian David Baoz claims that Scotland then was like Afghanistan now.

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So how did they do it? Education and drinking were important ingredients. The best mass education system in the world let the Scots use the talents of a larger fraction of the small population than any other European country. The miracle of Robert Burns was that the son of a poor farmer got the education that his genius needed. England didn't catch up until the 1880s.

Does our school system do as well? Do we produce more welders, poets, millwrights, philosophers, leaders, and scientists than any comparable region in North America? Of course not. Are we on our way to having the best school system in Canada? Answer for yourself.

Bad water and good drink helped the Scots develop. Wine and beer were cheap. Liquor taxes were low. Cheap drink meant entertaining was cheap, and Scottish intellectuals got together to talk and scheme almost every night.

It was probably cheaper to party than to eat alone. One fire for a lot of bodies is cheaper than 30 separate fires, and guests will keep talking if they have to go home to cold beds. These economic facts may be the secret of all the northern empires-the Vikings, the Swedes the Hanseatic League, and even the Russians - it was just too cold to go home to bed so they stayed to talk.

Dinner parties and drink did more than take the place of television. These parties took up the great problems of Scottish society and solved them. People learned what mattered in discussions, and fought for their ideas. Talent was discovered and nurtured. The parties created brilliant people. Dinner parties were the real universities and parliaments of the Scottish enlightenment.

Could it happen in Northern Ontario? Could we bring together the smartest 15 year olds, the most influential business people, the most out outrageous writers and filmmakers, the sneakiest bureaucrats, and our most famous academics night after night to drink and talk? Could we do it without a permanent power blackout? Is it possible to have a dynamic northern culture without destroying the television sets and outlawing central heating? That is your assignment for the month. Read the book and explain what you can do to unleash the next enlightenment.

Dr. David Robinson, PhD, is an associate professor of economics at Laurentian University. He is also with the Institute for Northern Research and Development. ([e-mail])