Quebec has long been a source of both creative and disruptive tension within the Canadian federation. For the three decades following the Quiet Revolution Quebec was captivated by the discourse of sovereignty and Quebec nation-building, a project that posed a fundamental challenge to the legitimacy and integrity of the Canadian federation. Since the 1995 referendum, the intensity of the sovereignty discourse seems to have abated, and the 2003 provincial election brought to power a Liberal cabinet seemingly committed to a more constructive relationship with the federal government and to the assertion of Quebec’s autonomy within the context of Canadian federalism. There is evidence to suggest that this macro-level political shift is a reflection of a different set of priorities currently occupying the imagination of Quebec society. Health care, education, employment and economic development, and the environment – the same issues that dominate the public agenda across the country have come to be among the top priorities of Quebec voters. Some interpret this shift in priorities as little more than a period of temporary quiet in the regular ebb and flow cycle of Quebec nationalism. Others attribute the abatement of overt nationalist sentiment to the success of nationalist policies themselves, particularly those in relation to the French language. Others again see the beginnings of a fundamental realignment of the socio-economic and political forces that are shaping the domestic character and political orientation of Quebec, and the nature of its relationships with Canada and the rest of the world.
This conference is designed to assess these recent trends in Quebec society and politics, and to examine their implications for the future management of the Canadian federation. A number of more specific questions interest us in this broader debate. Are we seeing the rise of a new generation of Quebecers for whom the issue of sovereignty is no longer a compelling and viable challenge, or is the national question only temporarily on hold until more pragmatic questions of economic and social policy can be brought to heel? Are there any noticeable changes in Quebec’s political culture that may account for apparent changes in the province’s stance in federal-provincial relations? Or is the recent moderation in Quebec’s diplomacy attributable to the systemic power of the federal state apparatus and the corresponding structural inability of Quebec to counteract it? What role is played by external factors, such as the increasingly multicultural character of Quebec’s immigrant population or the integration of the province into the North American and global economies? And does this detract from or merely alter the complexion of Quebec nationalism? Alternatively, if we are not in fact witnessing fundamental changes in Quebec society and politics, how does one explain the relative calm of late in overt nationalist sentiment and in Quebec-Ottawa relations? What evidence is there to suggest that the nationalist forces in Quebec will not, at some appropriate time in the future, again place sovereignty at the top of the political agenda? If in fact we are witnessing a truce, how long will it last, and what sorts of conditions would help rekindle the forces of sovereignty in Quebec society?
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