THE POLITICAL LEFF is experiencing an identity crisis in Canada, as elsewhere. The collapse of socialist regimes across Eastern Europe is hailed as the triumph of capitalism over socialism. The fact that what Eastern Europeans were doing had more to do with throwing off the chains of totalitarian communism than with embracing the corporative values of Reagan, Bush, Thatcher, and Mulroney doesn`t make life any easier for activists on this side of the Atlantic who still cling to such fundamentals as public ownership of the means of production. These days, socialists don`t talk much about state enterprise. Many try to avoid the appellation "socialist" - unless it is gentrified, as in "democratic socialist" or, even better, "social democrat." Wimpy, perhaps, but safe. Tough economic times have dealt the left a heavy blow. It is no longer fashionable to call on government to solve problems, to strive for equality, or to expend public funds for the relief of the poor. Perversely, the election of the New Democrats in Ontario has made matters worse. Now that Bob Rae has demonstrated that the way for a socialist (sorry, social democrat) to succeed is to campaign like a Liberal and govern like a Tory, the political left is left scratching its head and wondering what, if anything, it stands for. Debating Canada`s Future isn`t going to stop the head-scratching. It`s a bid for renewed relevance. It`s based on the premise that it`s time to remind Canadians that most of the good political ideas in this country over the years originated with the left, and that it`s time to showcase some bright new ideas. The book is a collection of essays by academics and activists of the political left on such issues as public ownership, trade, Quebec, the environment, reproductive technology, and defence. It is set up in a pseudodebate format, with supposedly divergent essays on each policy area. There are some bright spots. Arthur Milner (playwright) and Henry Milner (old Pequiste) jointly make a strong pitch for social democracy (as opposed to democratic socialism). Sue Colley, executive director of the Ontario Coalition for Better Childcare, makes a convincing case for extending the existing elementary school system downward to provide publicly administered childcare for youngsters from newborn to pre-kindergarten - as opposed to public funding for community and other non-profit daycare services. The political scientist Reg Whitaker is, as always, provocative and informed on Quebec. "If Canada has a permanent Quebec problem, Canadian social democracy has a permanent Quebec crisis," he writes. The left does not deal well with matters of language, culture, nationality because socialists carry around with them an image of capitalist society in which the "real" fault-lines are economic and the "real" divisions are those of class. Language, culture, nationality are initially seen as secondary or, worse, as mystifications that get in the way of class consciousness. Whitaker shows how the Parti Quebecois has moved from left to right, from social democracy to a "strident new form of market nationalism." Unfortunately, he has no road map to help Audrey McLaughlin make the NDP relevant in the unity debate. Too many of the essays in Debating Canada`s Future are pedestrian. jean-Paul Harney, the old NDPer-turned-separatist, is anecdotal, superficial, and tiresome on Quebec. And the essays on the environment shed no light on how the NDP may be able to balance the protection of jobs against the preservation of the environment. As a stimulus to debate, the book is a yawn. It leaves the reader wondering whether the left has managed to have an original thought since it thought of medicate.