This book proposes a critical interpretation of the current predicament of the province of Québec within the Canadian federation. It uses the approaches of political theory and intellectual history to suggest that Québec is presently exiled within Canada: it is not adequately integrated, and it seems extremely unlikely that it will be successful in any attempt to exit from the federation.

Le Québec vit en quelque sorte une situation d’exil intérieur dans le Canada. Jamais, depuis plus de cinquante ans, le Québec n’a été si peu présent dans les cercles du pouvoir à Ottawa, tant au sein du cabinet du premier ministre Stephen Harper que dans la haute fonction publique et dans les instances principales. Collectivement, jamais la voix du Québec n’a compté pour si peu, constate le professeur Guy Laforest. Le Québec souffre de ne pas être reconnu adéquatement dans le Canada. Et cette situation inconfortable a des effets négatifs sur la capacité des Québécois de se comporter comme une nation hospitalière. Il faudra se battre simultanément sur deux fronts, propose Guy Laforest : approfondir notre débat interne par l’adoption d’un régime de laïcité équilibrée sur fond d’«interculturalisme d’espoir», tout en cherchant à mettre fin à cet exil intérieur par des aménagements à la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés. Après avoir dressé une fresque interprétative des questionnements identitaires au Québec et au Canada, l’auteur s’attarde sur la théorie politique du fédéralisme canadien et sa pratique. Dans la dernière partie de l’ouvrage, Guy Laforest explore la thématique de la liberté politique du Québec dans le cadre canadien depuis 1982. Le Québec est-il collectivement pris dans une sorte de camisole de force ou jouit-il de suffisamment d’autonomie pour transformer les principes de son association constitutionnelle avec ses partenaires

Like all major events in Canadian history, the Quebec Conference of 1864, an important step on Canada's road to Confederation, deserves to be discussed and better understood. Efforts to revitalize historical memory must take a multidisciplinary and multicultural approach. The Quebec Conference of 1864 expresses a renewed historical interest over the last two decades in both the Quebec-Canada constitutional trajectory and the study of federalism. Contributors from a variety of disciplines argue that a more grounded understanding of the 72 Quebec Resolutions of 1864 is key to interpreting the internal architecture of the contemporary constitutional apparatus in Canada, and a new interpretation is crucial to appraise the progress made over the 150 years since the institution of federalism. The second volume in a series that began with The Constitutions That Shaped Us: A Historical Anthology of Pre-1867 Canadian Constitutions, this book reveals a society in constant transition, as well as the presence of national projects that live in tension with the Canadian federation.

In October 2015, the federal Liberals came to power with sweeping plans to revamp Canada's democratic and federal institutions - a modernizing agenda intended to revitalize Canada's democratic architecture. The centrepiece of the agenda was the replacement of Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system, but they also promised to revitalize relations with the provinces, bring Indigenous Peoples into the intergovernmental fold, and to change the ways in which senators and Supreme Court justices are appointed. How has the reform agenda faired? Has it resulted in a more effective and democratic set of political and federal institutions? Or has it largely failed to deliver on these objectives? What, more broadly, is the state of Canada's democratic and federal institutions? The Queen's Institute of Intergovernmental Relations used the occasion of Canada's 150th birthday to examine these pressing issues. The 2017 volume in the State of the Federation series focuses on enduring questions about the functioning of federalism and intergovernmental relations in Canada, including how we should evaluate the quality of Canada's institutions and practices in light of our federal structure, and how current institutional arrangements and their possible alternatives fare according to these criteria.

This volume, incorporating the work of scholars from various parts of the globe, taps the wisdom of the Westphalian (and post-Westphalian) world on the use of federalism and secession as tools for managing regional conflicts. The debate has rarely been more important than it is right now, especially in light of recent events in Catalonia, Scotland, Québec and the Sudan - all unique political contexts raising similar questions about how best to balance competing claims for autonomy, interdependence, political voice, and exit. Exploring how various nations have encountered comparable conflicts, some more and some less successfully, the book broadens the perspectives of scholars, government officials, and citizens struggling to resolve sovereignty conflicts with a full appreciation of the underlying principles they represent.

Quebec’s most recent attempts to assert its distinctiveness within Canada have relied on unilateral constitutional means to strengthen its French and secular character, suggesting that an important change of political culture has taken place in Quebec. With its diverse team of researchers, Contemporary Federalist Thought in Quebec considers the recent history of the debate that once threatened Canada with disjunction, exploring the federalist thought that continues to shape constitutional debate in Quebec. Examining historical perspectives from 1950 to the present day, the volume draws portraits of the key actors in the federalist movement – including political leaders, intellectuals, academics, activists, and spokespersons for pressure groups – comparing their various outlooks, interventions, and values, and examining the ties that bind these actors to the sense of nationalism that emerged during Quebec’s Quiet Revolution. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, Contemporary Federalist Thought in Quebec casts new light on the continuing debate surrounding Quebec’s place in Canada and gives nuance to what is traditionally conceived as a rigid opposition between sovereigntists and federalists in the province.

Speaking at the Congress of African People in September 1970, Amiri Baraka said, “In Newark, when we greet each other on the streets, we say, ‘what time is it?’ We always say, ‘It’s nation time!’ Nationalism is about land and nation, a way of life trying to free itself.” National identity and nationhood are too often easily dismissed as retrograde populism or racist exclusion. Instead, they need to be understood as a key part of a vision of globalization that holds the imperatives of diversity and solidarity in a delicate balance. Jerry White offers a defence of the nation based on the assumption that struggles for national identity have often unfolded in ways that should be familiar to those who defend the political standpoint of the progressive left. Having evolved into something that a wide variety of actors have sought to defend, nations can also serve as a defence against the homogenizing forces of globalization and as havens of diversity in opposition to more singularly minded forms of affiliation. It’s Nation Time is structured as a series of specific case studies that speak to theories of nation and their historical and cultural manifestations. It includes examples as varied as Black nationalism, Simone Weil’s hopes for a postwar France, the first independence period of Georgia, the Bollywood cinema of Nehru-era India, and small or stateless nations such as New Zealand, Quebec, Ireland, Catalonia, the Métis, the Mohawk, and the Inuit to argue that nationalism is a social form that has much potential and life in it. Broadly internationalist but also deeply insightful about the particular cultures and politics of small nations, It’s Nation Time defends an idea of nation, and a form of nationalism that are rooted in the potential for diversity, flexibility, and progressive politics.