Les deux volumes de pasquinades ont cherché par leurs égratignures à faire ressortir les travers culturels les plus marquants des deux pans les plus importants de la société canadienne, en ne se concentrant pas sur leurs traits communs (qui sont nombreux) mais en insistant sur certaines sensibilités différentes et les prisons mentales qui s'y aboutent.

Gilles Paquet (1936–2019), O.C., MRSC, was Professor Emeritus at the Telfer School of Management and a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre on Governance of the University of Ottawa. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Royal Society of Arts of London, and served as President of the Royal Society of Canada (2003–2005). He studied at Laval, Queen's (Canada) and at the University of California (Los Angeles) where he was Postdoctoral Fellow in Economics. He taught at Carleton University for almost 20 years before joining the University of Ottawa in 1981. He received honorary doctorates from Queen's, Laval, and Thompson Rivers University, received the Public Service Citation Award of APEX, and was made Honorary Member of l'Association des économistes québécois. He was made Member of the Order of Canada in 1992.

Gilles Paquet's profile page