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opinion

Haidar Hassan Zeini, 4 holds a Canadian flag up following his family's Canadian Citizenship ceremony in Ottawa on Wednesday, September 29, 2010.Pawel Dwulit/The Globe and Mail

Today, the history of The Globe and Mail meets its future. Today, this newspaper, with deep roots in Canada, its founder a Father of Confederation, takes up the question that George Brown put during the 1865 Confederation debates: "Shall we then rise equal to the occasion?"

Grim prognostications about the future of print newspapers abound. To some, the digital age appears set to bury print. The Globe's redesign, far from expressing any loss of confidence in our original medium, celebrates its strengths, its beauty and texture.

Our website today is very different, too, guiding readers to its many parts, building on globeandmail.com's recent award as the best newspaper-affiliated site in the world. Today it has more matter, more depth and more resources, from community groups to financial tools to Emmy Award-winning videos.

Together, the changes in print and online are based on technology: new presses for the newspaper, and rapidly expanding hardware and software for our websites, mobile channels and tablet apps. But technology cannot replace human journalism, the basic task of finding answers to the great questions of the times.

We aim to be at the centre of debate in public affairs, but we also probe the issues and passions that matter to Canadians in their personal lives.

Newspapers are no mere information sheets; they are a way of taking stock, the best opportunity to pause and assess where things stand.

Above all, we try to explain Canada to Canadians. We contribute to its life as a liberal democracy and a liberal economy. We believe in a Parliament that answers to the people, rather than executive power, and protects the freedoms of speech and commerce.

Globe journalism relies upon its authority and credibility. Our reporters, photographers and editors spend their lives building reservoirs of knowledge - and preserving their independence.

We have maintained that autonomy for generations, resisting any temptation to be influenced by fear or favour.

The answer to Brown's question, then, is Yea.

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