In 1965, George Grant grappled with the question of Canada’s soul in his landmark book, Lament for a Nation. Grant’s main lament was captured in his book’s subtitle: “The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism.” Grant’s warning is more relevant today than it was when he wrote it. Canadians, especially younger ones, appear less proud of their country than at any time in living memory, thanks to the collapse of the Laurentian Consensus and Justin Trudeau’s post-national identity politics. Unless the next generation of political leaders reverses this erosion of patriotism, the country’s future could be at risk.
To Grant, John Diefenbaker’s defeat in the 1963 federal election marked the demise of genuine Canadian nationalism. Grant saw the Pearson Liberals, who won the election, as internationalists committed to a liberal, progressive agenda that emphasized economic growth and integration with the United States. He believed that the Liberal-inclined elite benefited from and perpetuated an agenda that undermined Canada’s unique identity and sovereignty while claiming to represent Canadians’ best interests.
While Grant’s concerns about U.S. cultural and economic hegemony continue to resonate, he missed the birth of a new Canadian identity occurring right under his nose. As an English Canadian writer with deep admiration for Canada’s connection to the British Empire, Grant didn’t recognize the shakeup in identity produced by what Quebec politician and journalist Claude Ryan called the Quiet Revolution.
Pearson and the Liberals saw the Quiet Revolution for what it was and got in front of the parade, creating what John Ibbitson and I referred to in our 2013 book, The Big Shift, as the Laurentian Consensus. The main pillar of the Laurentian Consensus was reconciling the nationalist interests of Quebec with the rest of the country. It also embraced our growing multiculturalism that emerged after the Second World War.
While elements of the Laurentian Consensus go back to Canada’s founding in 1867, its peak was the Constitution Act of 1982 and the subsequent efforts by both Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments to blunt the appeal of Quebec nationalism.
The Laurentian Consensus also defined majority-winning election strategies for both the Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties from the 1970s until the early 2000s.
