Talking Past Each Other: Quebec and the Federal Dialogue in Canada, 1867–2017 by Hamish Telford (review)

This book is extremely ambitious. It explores the history of the relationship between the province of Quebec and the federal Canadian state from Confederation pretty much to the present. Over this 150-year period Telford focuses on the Confederation debates, the establishment of the new Canadian state, the supreme court's interventions on the issue, the Quiet Revolution, the rise of the Parti Québécois, and the Liberal and Conservative parties' reactions.

One of the key overarching themes of the book is the tension between 'difference federalism' and 'majority federalism'. The former refers to a federal state being able to have programmes which do not necessarily have to be subscribed to by all parts of the country, e.g. the Canadian federal state and the province of Quebec, whereas the latter relates to a federal state believing that national programmes should apply to all parts of the country. This reflects the fact that the federal state represents the majority will of the population whereas the provinces reflect the interests of people in particular parts of the country. An excellent example of this is the Canada health insurance programme introduced by the Canadian federal state. It believed that it had the responsibility to introduce this so that the same standard of living could be maintained across the whole country. However, the province of Quebec argued that this infringed the sovereign rights of the provinces to introduce their own social programmes as they saw fit.

This illustrates a fundamental point of difference between the understanding of confederation between Quebec and the rest of Canada. The former believed that it was a compact between two nations: the French and the British to create a new state: Canada. In contrast the rest of Canada believed that it was just the coming together of several colonies of what was then British North America. This position has led to Quebec being at the forefront of defending provincial rights against what it sees as an overbearing federal state. However, Telford makes the important point that this does not mean that Quebec has been insular when it comes to its relations with the other provinces, far from it. It strongly encourages cooperation between it and the other provinces of Canada. Telford does lament though that with the rejections of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords and the decline of support for Quebec separatism there has been a reluctance to reopen constitutional issues and complacency about the issue. He believes this is quite disappointing and concerning, which I would agree with.

This is a hugely significant book, both in terms of its subject matter but also breadth. As Telford quite rightly points out, there has been no in-depth treatment of the subject in English, and so it fills an important scholarly gap. I would recommend it wholeheartedly to scholars of Canadian/Quebec history, Canadian/Quebec politics, and Canadian/Quebec studies in general.