The Evolution of Canadian Federalism and its Possible Impact on Quebec Secessionist Discourse

It must be admitted that the current analysis of Canada’s contemporary federalism is very often negative. One of the main criticisms being mentioned by intellectuals is certainly the fact that the country is organized around an ideal of territorial federalism, while Quebec would rather see it evolve into a truly multinational dynamic.1 The clash between these two conceptions is important; while the former sees subsidiarity strictly as a way to insure better governance and considers an equality between all federated entities, the latter rather understands the state as a formal partnership between at least two nations which both have an equal right to nation-building and selfdetermination. For individuals, this implies that the federated entity that is considered as the national government of national minorities – such as Quebec, Catalonia, the Basque Country – should benefit from an asymmetrical treatment.2