Issue 22|Winter / Spring 2008

Issue 22:

The Quebec election of March 26, 2007, brought Liberal Premier Jean Charest to the brink of defeat, reduced the Parti Québécois to third-party status and catapulted Mario Dumont’s Action Démocratique du Québec to the role of official opposition. One of the factors in the ADQ’s rise was Dumont’s critical stance toward “reasonable accommodation” of cultural and religious minorities. Inroads 22 contains an excerpt from a consultation document issued by the Bouchard-Taylor Commission, which the government appointed to study reasonable accommodation, along with comments from four distinguished observers. In addition, insiders and observers close to all three parties examine Quebec’s political landscape in the wake of the election.

Columns

Culture

The Trivially Hip

CBC radio and the decline of public broadcasting

By Arthur Milner

Canada

The Enigma of Stephen Harper

The enigma of Stephen Harper is quite the opposite: hidden depths, concealed agendas, complex contradictions. There are any number of Harpers that flash by, and they simply do not add up.

By Reg Whitaker

Social Policy

Harnessing the New Millenarianism

A mode of thinking in Western culture that wears disguises and creeps into political thought and speech and into our daily lives.

By Finn Poschmann

Editorials and Rejoinders

Canada

Quebec Politics After the ADQ Breakthrough

An introduction by Henry Milner of five key insiders who share their observations about a Quebec election that was, in a number of ways, unprecedented.

By Henry Milner

Social Policy

From the Melting Pot to Reasonable Accommodation

An introduction by Bob Chodos on the Reasonable Accommodation section of Issue 22

By Bob Chodos

Articles

Canada

Claude Ryan’s Vision and Liberal Renewal

A key event for the Quebec Liberal Party and its renewal is a members’ convention scheduled for March 7–9, 2008, in Quebec City.

By Geoffrey Kelley

Canada

Quebec Liberals and the Quebec identity

John Parisella gives an insider's reflection on the Liberal Party of Quebec

By John Parisella

Canada

Individuals as Actors in their own Civic Life

Why voters with young families supported the ADQ, and how to get them back

By Camil Bouchard

Social Policy

Seeking Common Ground

Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor offer an overview of the origin and practice of accommodation

By Gerard Bouchard

Canada

Canadian Studies and the Harper Foreign Policy Agenda

Budgetary and administrative measures are altering the federal government’s historic support for promoting knowledge of Canada, both abroad and at home.

By Richard Nimijean

Social Policy

Rupture or Moderation?

Bryan Breguet and François Vaillancourt take a look at ADQ’s social and economic policies

By Francois Vaillancourt

Social Policy

When Liberalism and Pluralism Conflict

David Goodhart the editor of the London-based magazine Prospect, recounts his week long trip to Canada.

By David Goodhart

Social Policy

Bouchard-Taylor and Nation-Building

Lurking behind reasonable accommodation in the commission’s consultation document, Seeking Common Ground, are issues relating to nation-building in Quebec.

By Alan Cairns

Social Policy

The Quebec Language Question is Back

From Saint-Léonard to the Bouchard-Taylor Commission

By Christian Rioux

Social Policy

Religion is the Elephant in the Room

Official public inquiries backed by public hearings and extensive research are a practice of which Canadians, or at least their governments, seem particularly fond.

By Garth Stevenson

Canada

More Money for Universities, But…

The government’s new funding strategy has brought money into the universities, but shaped them in a particular way. It is time to ask whether this is really what we want. Written by Keith Archer and Rainer Knopff.

By Keith Archer

Canada

Canadian Federalism and the Would-Be Nation Builders

Our destiny, if we are to remain Canadians, is to be non-American. It simply will not do, if one wants to understand our federation, to ignore this reality.