Canada's Origins

by Ajzenstat, Janet; Smith, Peter J.

• ISBN13: 9780886292744
• ISBN10: 0886292743
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-11-01
• Publisher: Carleton Univ Pr

Summary

Ajzenstat and Smith challenge the idea of Canada as a country whose liberal individualism, unlike that of the United States, is redeemed by a tradition of government intervention in economic and social life: the so-called "tory touch." This ground-breaking book begins with the now classic article in which the red tory view was formulated. It then presents a new and illuminating picture of Canadian political life, in which liberal individualism confronts not toryism but the participatory tradition of civic republicanism. In the final section the two editors, one a liberal, the other a civic republican, debate the crucial questions dominating Canadian politics today-including Quebec's search for recognition-from the perspective of their shared understanding of Canada's founding.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Canada's Origins in New Perspective
Liberal-Republicanism: The Revisionist Picture of Canada's Founding	p. 1
The Tory Paradigm	p. 19
Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism in Canada: An Interpretation	p. 21
Republican Influence	p. 45
The Ideological Origins of Canadian Confederation	p. 47
The First Distinct Society: French Canada, America, and the Constitution of 1791	p. 79
Civic Humanism Versus Liberalism: Fitting the Loyalists In	p. 109
Liberal Roots	p. 137
Durham and Robinson: Political Faction and Moderation	p. 139
The Triumph of Liberalism in Canada: Laurier on Representation and Party Government	p. 159
Egerton Ryerson's Canadian Liberalism	p. 181
The Constitutionalism of Etienne Parent and Joseph Howe	p. 209
The Provincial Rights Movement: Tensions Between Liberty and Community in Legal Liberalism	p. 233
Looking Ahead	p. 263
Canada's Political Culture Today: Liberal, Republican, or Third Wave?	p. 265
Selected Bibliography	p. 283
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