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Federalism and the French Canadians
- GenresPoliticsNonfictionCanada
212 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
1 person is currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Pierre Elliott Trudeau
39 books12 followersLe plus célèbre diplômé de l’Université de Montréal. Outre des études de droit à l’UdeM, Pierre Elliott Trudeau a étudié à l’Université Harvard, à l'École des Sciences Politiques de Paris et à la London School of Economics. Farouche opposant du gouvernement de Maurice Duplessis dans les années 50, il fonde, de concert avec d’autres intellectuels, la revue Cité libre et défend fermement les droits des travailleurs québécois. En 1961, il revient à l’Université de Montréal en devenant l’un des quatre premiers chercheurs du Centre de recherche en droit public (CRDP). Il enseignera à la Faculté de droit jusqu’à son entrée en politique en 1965.
Premier ministre du Canada de 1968 à 1979 et de 1980 à 1984, Pierre Elliott Trudeau a marqué la vie politique canadienne de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. On lui doit entre autres l’adoption de la Loi sur les langues officielles, la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés, et la Loi constitutionnelle de 1982 qui confirmait l’indépendance légale du Canada.
Libre penseur et ardent défenseur des droits de la personne, Pierre Elliott Trudeau a signé de nombreux articles qui témoignent d’une grande rigueur de pensée. En 1987, l’Université de Montréal le faisait docteur honoris causa pour son exceptionnelle contribution à la vie intellectuelle et politique canadienne. Cet honneur s’ajoutait à l’Ordre du mérite des diplômés de l’UdeM, qui lui a été décerné en 1974. Depuis 2000, le prix Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau est décerné à un étudiant de maîtrise ou de doctorat de l’UdeM qui se distingue par la qualité de ses travaux sur la justice sociale, le fédéralisme canadien ou les droits et libertés.
Premier ministre du Canada de 1968 à 1979 et de 1980 à 1984, Pierre Elliott Trudeau a marqué la vie politique canadienne de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. On lui doit entre autres l’adoption de la Loi sur les langues officielles, la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés, et la Loi constitutionnelle de 1982 qui confirmait l’indépendance légale du Canada.
Libre penseur et ardent défenseur des droits de la personne, Pierre Elliott Trudeau a signé de nombreux articles qui témoignent d’une grande rigueur de pensée. En 1987, l’Université de Montréal le faisait docteur honoris causa pour son exceptionnelle contribution à la vie intellectuelle et politique canadienne. Cet honneur s’ajoutait à l’Ordre du mérite des diplômés de l’UdeM, qui lui a été décerné en 1974. Depuis 2000, le prix Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau est décerné à un étudiant de maîtrise ou de doctorat de l’UdeM qui se distingue par la qualité de ses travaux sur la justice sociale, le fédéralisme canadien ou les droits et libertés.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 5, 2023
Really a great book and it's amazing to see the transformation of his views on Federalism over the years. I want to point to two quotes from the book:
1) Trudeau proposes a constitutional reform that "when a province contains a French or English minority larger than, say, 15 per cent, or half a million inhabitants, legislative and judicial functions must be exercised in such a way that the two languages are given absolute equality." And he argues that "[s]uch reforms must certainly be incorporated into constitutional law. It would not be very realistic to rely upon good will or purely political action. For example, in a province containing a greater number of Canadians of Ukrainian origin than of French origin, it would be rash to think that an elected provincial legislature would risk giving French schools privileges that Ukrainian schools did not have."
2) "A truly democratic government cannot be 'nationalist', because it must pursue the good of all its citizens, without prejudice to ethnic origin .... Certainly, such a government will make laws by which ethnic groups benefit, and the majority group will benefit proportionally to its number; but that follows naturally from the principle of equality for all, not from any right of the strongest."
But what do we say in the case of the province with a larger Ukrainian minority than a French minority? Why should not the Ukrainians benefit proportionally to their number? My point is not to show that Trudeau was somehow confused or incoherent. Rather, I would like to point out that the second quote seems to obviously recognize the democratic values we have today whereas the first does not and ask this question: Which view prevails in Canada - even Anglo-Canada - today? Quite obviously it is the sentiment of the first quote which we take on today. But why? By what right are a very small minority of French speakers in Anglo-Canada entitled to greater resources and consideration than other ethnic and linguistic minorities? How have they earned such a right? By their better fathers having been great negotiators?
And while the Ukrainian situation may not be one that arises today, the power that French Canadians have in Anglo-Canada is still one that should baffle us! There are a good deal more people who have Tagalog as their mother tongue in Alberta than there are French. But nonetheless, our road signs are decorated with that most romantic language and we have entire systems of schooling for French Canadians while the Tagalog and Mandarin speaks are left in the lurch! You might remember an exchange between Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, and Premier of Quebec Legault where Ford defended his cuts to French-language education by saying that we've got 600,000 Chinese Ontarians and 600,000 Italian Ontarians but that we can't please everybody and Legault responded by saying that he "made it clear to Mr. Ford that I didn’t like that francophones were being compared to Chinese or other cultures." But why? Why should it be the case that we not compare the French Canadians living in Anglo-Canada to other minorities? What answer can the French Canadians resort to other than a sort of, "Well, we built this country, you know" response? Even with this response one should not be so quick to forget the role that the Chinese also had in building this country.
1) Trudeau proposes a constitutional reform that "when a province contains a French or English minority larger than, say, 15 per cent, or half a million inhabitants, legislative and judicial functions must be exercised in such a way that the two languages are given absolute equality." And he argues that "[s]uch reforms must certainly be incorporated into constitutional law. It would not be very realistic to rely upon good will or purely political action. For example, in a province containing a greater number of Canadians of Ukrainian origin than of French origin, it would be rash to think that an elected provincial legislature would risk giving French schools privileges that Ukrainian schools did not have."
2) "A truly democratic government cannot be 'nationalist', because it must pursue the good of all its citizens, without prejudice to ethnic origin .... Certainly, such a government will make laws by which ethnic groups benefit, and the majority group will benefit proportionally to its number; but that follows naturally from the principle of equality for all, not from any right of the strongest."
But what do we say in the case of the province with a larger Ukrainian minority than a French minority? Why should not the Ukrainians benefit proportionally to their number? My point is not to show that Trudeau was somehow confused or incoherent. Rather, I would like to point out that the second quote seems to obviously recognize the democratic values we have today whereas the first does not and ask this question: Which view prevails in Canada - even Anglo-Canada - today? Quite obviously it is the sentiment of the first quote which we take on today. But why? By what right are a very small minority of French speakers in Anglo-Canada entitled to greater resources and consideration than other ethnic and linguistic minorities? How have they earned such a right? By their better fathers having been great negotiators?
And while the Ukrainian situation may not be one that arises today, the power that French Canadians have in Anglo-Canada is still one that should baffle us! There are a good deal more people who have Tagalog as their mother tongue in Alberta than there are French. But nonetheless, our road signs are decorated with that most romantic language and we have entire systems of schooling for French Canadians while the Tagalog and Mandarin speaks are left in the lurch! You might remember an exchange between Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, and Premier of Quebec Legault where Ford defended his cuts to French-language education by saying that we've got 600,000 Chinese Ontarians and 600,000 Italian Ontarians but that we can't please everybody and Legault responded by saying that he "made it clear to Mr. Ford that I didn’t like that francophones were being compared to Chinese or other cultures." But why? Why should it be the case that we not compare the French Canadians living in Anglo-Canada to other minorities? What answer can the French Canadians resort to other than a sort of, "Well, we built this country, you know" response? Even with this response one should not be so quick to forget the role that the Chinese also had in building this country.
June 28, 2013
A bit of personal perspective on this: I grew up in a fairly politically aware family, and while I was alive while Trudeau was prime minister, I was too young to really have any personal memories about that time. So all of my knowledge of Trudeau comes second hand.
Growing up, there were two basic truisms about Trudeau that I was taught: my Albertan family taught me that he was a traitor to Canada for selling out the West to benefit Quebec; after I moved to Ontario, I was taught that people in Quebec thought he was a traitor to Quebec for the October Crisis. An interesting mix of perspectives.
Federalism and the French Canadians comes before all of that, but context is key to understanding the writing here, I think. Trudeau's later actions stand in stark contrast to his decentralizing, "provinces first" attitude displayed here, and it's also necessary to remember that he was writing before both the Quiet Revolution and Reaganism/Thatcherism, which make some of his ideas seem a bit outdated.
While some of the ideas might seem outdated, a lot of them are depressingly current - the sections on Quebecois alienation and on the provincial government there seem like they could be applied today to most provinces, for example.
Growing up, there were two basic truisms about Trudeau that I was taught: my Albertan family taught me that he was a traitor to Canada for selling out the West to benefit Quebec; after I moved to Ontario, I was taught that people in Quebec thought he was a traitor to Quebec for the October Crisis. An interesting mix of perspectives.
Federalism and the French Canadians comes before all of that, but context is key to understanding the writing here, I think. Trudeau's later actions stand in stark contrast to his decentralizing, "provinces first" attitude displayed here, and it's also necessary to remember that he was writing before both the Quiet Revolution and Reaganism/Thatcherism, which make some of his ideas seem a bit outdated.
While some of the ideas might seem outdated, a lot of them are depressingly current - the sections on Quebecois alienation and on the provincial government there seem like they could be applied today to most provinces, for example.
October 18, 2021
If you're a Canadian with half a mind you need to read this now and bow down before a Canadian with a mind and a half.
November 4, 2014
This book contains the manifesto for the type of Canada that Trudeau wanted to create: that is to say one that was built on the Anglo-Saxon model of liberal democracy and yet at the same time would accommodate cultural diversity which he later came to refer to as multi-culturalism. He felt that Canada offered a better prospect for Quebeckers that a separate sovereign Quebec. At the same time, he felt that Quebeckers should struggle more vigorously for real sharing of power with English Canada than they had in the past.
What really impressed me was Trudeau's outrage at the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II. He felt that the incident demonstrated that Canada needed a constitution that effectively protect the rights of its citizens. Provide would go on to fight his entire political career to repatriate the Canadian constitution from Britain and to enshrine a charter of rights in it.
Federalism and the French Canadians is a must read for all undergraduate students studying Canadian history as provides a clear enunciation of the ideology that drove the Canadian Liberal Party from 1965 when Trudeau entered the Canadian Parliament to assume the Portfolio of Federal Justice Minister to the present day when his son is fighting to save the Liberal party from extinction as it losing its centrist political to crafty opponents on both the left and the right.
What really impressed me was Trudeau's outrage at the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II. He felt that the incident demonstrated that Canada needed a constitution that effectively protect the rights of its citizens. Provide would go on to fight his entire political career to repatriate the Canadian constitution from Britain and to enshrine a charter of rights in it.
Federalism and the French Canadians is a must read for all undergraduate students studying Canadian history as provides a clear enunciation of the ideology that drove the Canadian Liberal Party from 1965 when Trudeau entered the Canadian Parliament to assume the Portfolio of Federal Justice Minister to the present day when his son is fighting to save the Liberal party from extinction as it losing its centrist political to crafty opponents on both the left and the right.
September 2, 2011
Well written, but dated. Very interesting from a social anthropology perspective and Trudeau's wit and rhetorical prowess are on full display. Love him or hate him, Canada needs more politicians of his caliber.
June 12, 2009
Important for anyone interested in Canadian Politics, particularly for anyone interested in Quebec's place in the nation or in Pierre Elliot Trudeau's early days.
August 4, 2011
Un livre qui aide beaucoup à comprendre l'évolution de la société canadienne et celui qui deviendra plus tard Premier ministre du Canada.
July 19, 2012
A socialist for federalism. Smart and insightful, but a little kooky. I don't remember another book that cites Mao and Lord Acton so favorably within such few pages.
January 3, 2013
I continue to come back to this book three years later because of its relevance to Cree issues and the state of Quebec today. Some great ideas from one of my favorite PM's
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews