Breaking Trail

What shapes our ideas about northern territories? How should a new government tackle its first term in office? How can political ideals thrive in a homogenized global marketplace? How can honourable relations be created between the different cultures of natives and settlers? These are the types of questions asked and answered by Tony Penikett, a former Yukon Premier and a writer who kept writing during an almost accidental political career that lasted a quarter of a century. He brings both the writer's eye and the insider's insight to events at the local, national and international levels. Early essays reflect on the forces that have shaped the North and on creating one's own political compass. Later work focuses on balancing the complexities of power: economy and environment, European and aboriginal, regional and national, principles and practicalities. A writer's sense of humour appears, too, when describing the "politics of moose" to his constituents or his life as "a meeting man" to his children.