Gak, somewhat annoying to see such stupid generalizations (draft dodger = pot entrepreneur) mixed up with a legitimate observation.
Having gone to university in the early and mid 80's I think she makes a valid point; a significant number of Canadian academics were men who had left the US either to escape the draft or did not want to live in what the US had become in the late 60's early 70's. Many were well educated and joined academe here in that time period, their careers peeking in the late 70's and 80's.
In the social sciences this actually had a profound impact on developments in some areas of study and inquiry. Developments in my area of study in latter years and grad school, social science statistics and methods, was constrained and actively resisted by academics who equated any kind of methodological studies with the same American streams of thought (behavioralism, broadly speaking and its sequale) that were applied to Vietnam, Nixon and so on. 'Not offered in 19XX -19YY' were standard course calendar offering for methods courses in Political Science and Sociology. However, watching economics turn into a branch of mathematics validates some of their concern.
All that being said, an indigenous school of political economy did develop here at places like York and (once upon a time) my alma mater, Carleton, and we did attract some non-Americans, like Ralph Miliband. And there are schools here that could rival American schools for right wing behaviors; virtually any history or business department is a trove of cave man behavior, any faculty at the University of Calgary, and the Poli Sci department at UBC, are also prime examples.
The riposte to Kleins' observation about draft dodgers being behind the dope business is the strong presence of organized crime in the dope industry and the fact that many growers go to significant and dangerous lengths to protect their plants. In fact I would offer that given the level of sophisticated weapons and booby traps some of these guys use, it's just as likely that a large number are Vietnam vets, not dodgers.
Finally, through some contacts in the teaching and research community I hear that a similar brain gain is not going on now, seems that the private universities in the US can offer salaries and perks quantum levels higher than what Canadians can offer. That, and no threat of a draft, apparently mean that academics these days can put up with what the US is becoming a lot more readily than they could 25-35 years ago.
Paul Childs
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