Political Science Political Parties
The Liberal Idea of Canada
Pierre Trudeau and the Question of Canada's Survival
- Publisher
- James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers
- Initial publish date
- Jan 1977
- Category
- Political Parties, General
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780888621238
- Publish Date
- Jan 1977
- List Price
- $29.95
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780888621245
- Publish Date
- Jan 1977
- List Price
- $14.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781552772256
- Publish Date
- Feb 2008
- List Price
- $29.95
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Where to buy it
Description
Canada in the late 1970s was beset by severe constitutional and economic problems. Public debate on these issues, dominated by the ideas of Pierre Trudeau, was extremely limited in scope and failed to provide any compelling sense of hope for the future.
James Laxer and Robert Laxer seek out the roots of this dilemma with an analysis of the basic strategies of the Liberal Party's system of governing Canada, instituted by Wilfrid Laurier and refined by the governments of Mackenzie King, Louis St. Laurent and Lester Pearson. The political legacy that Pierre Trudeau inherited in 1968, they argue, was flawed in both its methods of dealing with an enduring French Canadian nationalism and its shaky underpinnings in Canada's branch-plant economy.
First published in 1977, The Liberal Idea of Canada remains a wide-ranging and insightful analysis of the ideological foundations of Canada's dominant political party.
About the authors
James Laxer, a professor of political science at York University in Toronto, has a wealth of experience analyzing American society. His best-selling book, Stalking the Elephant: My Discovery of America was described by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Boston Globe David Shribman as "a book by a Canadian that can change the United States." The book was by published by the New Press in New York under the title Discovering America: Travels in the Land of Guns, God and Corporate Gurus. One of Canada’s leading political thinkers, Laxer is frequently consulted for commentary of current national and global issues by the media. He lives in Toronto.
ROBERT LAXER has been a professor of educational theory at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
George Grant (1918-88) has been acknowledged as Canada's leading political philosopher. He taught religion and philosophy at McMaster University and Dalhousie University. His books include Philosophy in the Mass Age, Lament for a Nation, English-Speaking Justice, Technology and Justice and Technology and Empire.
