Straight Talk: Speeches and Writings on Canadian Unity

Jeffrey J. Cormier is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in Canadian society
at McGill University.

Several French-language presses were presented with the opportunity to
publish this very fine collection of speeches and writings by
Intergovernmental Affairs minister Stéphane Dion. Many of them refused
on the grounds that the book was not “academic” enough.
McGill-Queen’s University Press, however, believed that Dion’s
contribution to the unity debate was not only timely and important but
also infused with sufficient intellectual rigor to warrant serious
scholarly attention. Indeed, like Pierre Trudeau, Dion, a political
scientist from the University of Montreal, is among only a handful of
Canadian public figures able to combine a general accessibility of
thought with the clarity and precision of academic debate. These
qualities are clearly evident in the speeches and articles that make up
this book.

Divided into four thematic sections—the spirit of federalism, a
changing federation, Canadian identity and the Quebec society, and the
dangers of secession in democracy—the book as a whole represents a
concise statement of Dion’s vision of Canadian society and Canadian
political culture. Dion’s message is simple: politically, federalism
is the best way to strike a healthy balance between the need for
solidarity and the reality of deep diversity. Socially, universal human
values such as tolerance and respect for others provide the moral
underpinnings of such a political structure. More important, Dion
believes that the Canadian political system, while not perfect, comes
closest to meeting these ideals.

Conversely, he suggests that the secessionist project is a dangerous
one, mainly because it is a program that is incapable of reconciling the
principles of democracy with the notion of ethnic exclusivity. Dion is
interested in debunking the many myths and stereotypes that Canadians
and Quebecers have about the Canadian political system. He does so in a
way that is easy to understand for the general reader, yet sophisticated
enough for a more specialized audience; and he does so, as he says, with
the “passion of reason.”