FOUNDING CONCEPTS

Specific Outcomes

By studying the articles related to this question you will be able to:

• define liberalism and parliamentary democracy as they apply to Canada's past and present
• understand the importance of Lord Durham's Report in the shaping of identities in Canada
• identify sources of regional tensions throughout Canada's history

Setting the Stage

Before reading the articles look at the introduction to the Question:

• What does it mean to "found" a country?
• How was Canada's founding different from the U.S.?
• Based on what you know, how would you answer the questions in the introduction to this Great Canadian Question?
• Are your answers confirmed or refuted by the readings?

Reading for Understanding

Questions for Barry Cooper's first article:

• According to Cooper, what does it mean to "found" a country?
• How did Canada's creation differ from that of the U.S.?
• What role did Confederation play in Canada's development?
• Does Cooper believe that Canada was established on the basis of some founding principles? What evidence does he present to support his view?
• What "well-known" ideas were important in Canada's political life at the time of Confederation, according to Cooper?
• How have these ideas shaped Canada's political life since then?
• Government in the United States is said to be a system of "checks and balances" among the executive, legislative and judicial branches. What kinds of balances are there in our system, according to Cooper?
• How have the development and timing of responsible government on the prairies shaped the attitude of its people towards liberalism and popular democracy?
• What is "populist liberalism"?
• How are Quebec and the West similar in their responses to Ottawa's version of Parliamentary democracy and liberalism? How do their responses differ?
• "All Canadians, and especially those in the unmovable centre of the country, Ontario, should be grateful for the impurities supplied to the communitarian realities of Quebec and the extra-parliamentary populism of the west." Why?

Questions for Bob Rae's first article:

• What was Canada like when The Clash was written? Why do you think Rae began his essay with reference to this work?
• What is the Canadian paradox?
• What aspects of this paradox do the speeches of Thurlow and Burke, the report of Durham and the actions of Macdonald represent?
• "The modern state can never be co-terminus with 'the nation' without a brutal exercise in ethnic cleansing." What does Rae mean? How does he support his view?
• Rae argues that we have founding principles. What are they?
• According to Rae, "McGee understood that Canada's diversity required a different public philosophy from its colonial past." What was the previous public philosophy?
• "Those who argue that Canada is made up of ten provinces which must be treated exactly the same— a cookie-cutter approach to equality— are arguing in defiance of Canadian history." What evidence does Rae offer to support this view?
• Quebec is entitled to ask the rest of Canada, "What do you want"? What evidence does Rae offer to support this assertion?