Misconceiving Canada - The Struggle For National Unity

For close to forty years Canadian politics has been dominated by the struggle for 'national unity'. And yet today Canada is more deeply divided than ever. Even after the shock of the 1995 referendum, in which Quebec almost voted for sovereignty, our political leaders are unable to bring the country together. How could things have gone so wrong?

Misconceiving Canada argues that in fact the national unity strategy itself is the cause of the present impasse. Whereas in the 1960s the rise of Quebec nationalism prompted all three federal parties to look for ways to accommodate Quebec's aspirations, by the end of the decade a new strategy had taken hold, under the leadership of Pierre Trudeau. Quebeckers were to be integrated with the rest of Canada through a new conception of the country based on official bilingualism, a charter of rights, multiculturalism, and the equality of the provinces. Ottawa would become a truly 'national' government.

In the end, as this book shows, the Trudeau strategy failed to change Quebeckers' perception of themselves as a distinct collectivity within Canada. But, ironically, it has changed the way that Canadians outside Quebec see their country. Many of them are now committed to a vision of Canada which applies the principle of equality in ways that make impossible even the slightest accommodation of Quebec's aspirations.

The author concludes that only by abandoning the Trudeau vision and recapturing the spirit of the 1960s can Canadians hope to unite their country.

This book examines the relationship between Quebec and the rest of Canada, from its historical roots, the roles of governments such as Trudeau and Mulroney, issues of official bilingualism, multiculturalism, the 1995 Quebec Referendum and the impact Quebec separatism would have on the future of Canada.

York University