Lament for a Province: The Tragic Costs of Quebec's Flirtation With Separatism

Terry A. Crowley is an associate professor of history at the University
of Guelph and the author of Agnes Macphail and the Politics of Equality.

The first in a series of annual reviews entitled “Changing
Americas,” this volume consists of articles written by experts on
Canada and Latin America. The focus is on Canadian–Mexican relations
in the context of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and on
Canadian policy as it relates to Haiti, the democratization of Central
America, the Organization of American States, urban development,
security issues, and the role of nongovernmental organizations.
Collectively, the articles identify the problems and prospects of
Canadian–Latin American relations as an integral first step in
developing a coherent Canadian policy that fits their changing nature.

The first part of the book would have benefited from some examination
of the Canada–Mexico matrix in the context of NAFTA’s actual
negotiating process. Some of the articles in the second section would
have benefited from a fuller exploration of the Canadian connection. All
in all, however, the book succeeds, mainly because the editors have cast
their net widely; in lieu of consensus, they have opted to provide
competing perspectives, including some that oppose the book’s central
premise. In this regard, Beyond Mexico is a useful aid to discussion of
the topical question it poses at the outset: “Does democracy matter in
the conduct of foreign policy?”