Interpreting Quebec's Exile Within the Federation
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Guy Laforest This book combines the approaches of political theory and of intellectual history to with the collaboration of Oscar Mejia Mesa provide a lucid account of Québec’s contemporary situation within the Canadian federation. Guy Laforest considers that the province of Québec, and its inhabitants, are exiled within Canada. They are not fully integrated, politically and Interpreting Quebec’s Exile constitutionally, nor are they leaving the federation, Guy Laforest is Full Professor in for now and for the foreseeable future. They are in the department of political science, Uni- between these two predicaments. Laforest provides Within the Federation versité Laval, Québec, Canada. His main insights into the current workings of the Canadian areas of teaching and research are politi- federation, and some of its key figures of the past cal theory, intellectual history in Canada fifty years, such as Pierre Elliott Trudeau, René Selected Political Essays and Québec, theories of federalism and Lévesque, Stephen Harper and Claude Ryan. of nationalism. He is vice-president of The book also offers thought-provoking studies the International Association for Québec Existential Communities, Functional Regimes of thinkers and intellectuals such as James Tully, Studies and a Fellow of the Royal Society Michel Seymour and André Burelle. Laforest of Canada. and the Organic Constitution revisits some key historical documents and events, such as the Durham Report and the 1867 and 1982 constitutional documents. He offers political and InterpretingFederation.Within the Quebec’s Exile Selected Essays Political constitutional proposals that could contribute to help Québec moving beyond the current predicament of internal exile. Guy LaforestGuy ISBN 978-2-87574-229-2 iVERSiTAS P.I.E. Peter Lang P.I.E. D P.I.E. Peter Lang Peter Lang P.I.E. Brussels www.peterlang.com Guy Laforest This book combines the approaches of political theory and of intellectual history to with the collaboration of Oscar Mejia Mesa provide a lucid account of Québec’s contemporary situation within the Canadian federation. Guy Laforest considers that the province of Québec, and its inhabitants, are exiled within Canada. They are not fully integrated, politically and Interpreting Quebec’s Exile constitutionally, nor are they leaving the federation, Guy Laforest is Full Professor in for now and for the foreseeable future. They are in the department of political science, Uni- between these two predicaments. Laforest provides Within the Federation versité Laval, Québec, Canada. His main insights into the current workings of the Canadian areas of teaching and research are politi- federation, and some of its key figures of the past cal theory, intellectual history in Canada fifty years, such as Pierre Elliott Trudeau, René Selected Political Essays and Québec, theories of federalism and Lévesque, Stephen Harper and Claude Ryan. of nationalism. He is vice-president of The book also offers thought-provoking studies the International Association for Québec Existential Communities, Functional Regimes of thinkers and intellectuals such as James Tully, Studies and a Fellow of the Royal Society Michel Seymour and André Burelle. Laforest of Canada. and the Organic Constitution revisits some key historical documents and events, such as the Durham Report and the 1867 and 1982 constitutional documents. He offers political and InterpretingFederation.the Within Quebec’s Exile Essays Selected Political constitutional proposals that could contribute to help Québec moving beyond the current predicament of internal exile. Guy LaforestGuy iVERSiTAS P.I.E. Peter Lang P.I.E. D P.I.E. Peter Lang Peter Lang P.I.E. Brussels www.peterlang.com Interpreting Quebec’s Exile Within the Federation Selected Political Essays P.I.E. Peter Lang Bruxelles Bern Berlin Frankfurt am Main New York Oxford Wien Guy Laforest With the collaboration of Oscar Mejia Mesa Interpreting Quebec’s Exile Within the Federation Selected Political Essays « Diversitas » vol. 20 This publication has been peer-reviewed. © Guy Laforest, 2014 P.I.E. Peter Lang SA 1 avenue Maurice, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgique www.peterlang.com ; [email protected] ISSN 2031-0331 ISBN 978-2-87574-229-2 eISBN 978-3-0352-6488-3 D/2014/5678/109 Open Access: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 unported license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ CIP available from the Library of Congress USA, and the British Library, GB. Bibliographic information published by “Die Deutsche Bibliothek” “Die Deutsche Bibliothek” lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at <http://dnb.de>. Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................. 11 Introduction Interpreting Québec’s Exile within the Federation: Selected Political Essays, by Guy Laforest with the collaboration of Oscar Mejia Mesa ............................................................................ 13 CHAPTER 1 The Internal Exile of Québecers in the Canada of the Charter ...... 21 I. Pierre Trudeau, the Exile of Québecers, and the Charter ............ 22 II. To End the Exile .......................................................................... 25 Conclusion ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 28 CHAPTER 2 The Contemporary Meaning and Utility of Federalism ................... 31 I. The Meaning and Utility of Federalism ...................................... 32 II. Federalism’s Challenges and Problems ...................................... 34 Conclusion ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 36 CHAPTER 3 Making Sense of Canada as a Federal System: The Relevance of Historical Legacies ........................................................................... 39 I. Historical Legacies: Their Nature, Role, Interrelations, and Contemporary Significance �������������������������������������������������� 43 Conclusion ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 57 CHAPTER 4 The Historical and Legal Origins of Asymmetrical Federalism in Canada’s Founding Debates: A Brief Interpretive Note .................................................................................. 59 Conclusion ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 64 CHAPTER 5 What Canadian Federalism Means in Québec .................................. 67 I. Interpretive Context .................................................................... 68 II. Contemporary Trends and Scholarship: Critical Reflections ..... 72 Conclusion ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 87 7 CHAPTER 6 Lord Durham, French Canada, and Québec: Remembering the Past, Debating the Future ............................................................. 91 I. Coming to Terms with Lord Durham’s Report in French Canada and Québec ��������������������������������������������������� 93 II. Janet Ajzenstat’s Introduction: Debating Lord Durham’s Influence on Canada and Assessing Him as a Human Being and as a Thinker .................................. 98 III. A Critical Hermeneutics for the Present and for the Future ..................................................................... 102 Conclusion �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 108 CHAPTER 7 Some Reflections on the Bouchard -Taylor Commission ................ 111 CHAPTER 8 More Distress than Enchantment: The Constitutional Negotiations of November 1981 ........................................................ 123 I. Causes ...................................................................................... 124 II. Assessing the Behaviour of Participants .................................. 126 III. Consequences .......................................................................... 137 Conclusion �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 139 CHAPTER 9 The Canadian State and the Political Freedom of Québec: The Ideas of James Tully and Michel Seymour .......................................................................... 141 I. Canada’s Political -Constitutional Identity and Québec’s Situation ������������������������������������������������������������ 143 II. The Philosophical Approaches of James Tully and Michel Seymour ................................................................ 147 III. From a Straightjacket to a Reworking of Democratic Constitutionalism with Universal Scope ................................. 151 IV. Michel Seymour’s Criticism .................................................... 159 V. Overall Consideration of the Theses in Light of Seymour’s Objections ��������������������������������������������������������� 163 Conclusion �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 168 8 CHAPTER 10 Trust and Mistrust between Harper and Québec ........................... 171 I. Some Reflections on Trust and its Derivatives ......................... 171 II. Harper and Québec ................................................................... 175 Conclusion �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 187 Bibliography ......................................................................................