Philip Resnick explores what makes B.C. stand apart as a region of Canada. He looks at the views of politicians, opinion-makers, and ordinary British Columbians on the challenges posed by Quebec nationalism, on their sense of estrangement from central Canada, and on what they see as the future of Canadian unity. He concludes with an examination of the likely B.C. response in the event of a “yes” vote in any future Quebec referendum on sovereignty. Clearly written and provocative, The Politics of Resentment provides a new way of thinking about British Columbia’s place within the Canadian federation.

Philip Resnick began writing poetry in Montreal, stopping for a time when he embarked on an academic career at the University of British Columbia. His marriage to Andromache (Mahie), who was Greek, resulted in numerous stays in Thessaly, in the city of Volos, and in a village on adjacent Mount Pelion. These stays rekindled his poetic inspiration and resulted in the publication of a number of collections in the late 1970s and 1980s. Philip has continued to write ever since and has published numerous poems in magazines and journals, as well as a 2015 collection Footsteps of the Past and 2018 collection Passageways. As a political scientist at the University of British Columbia for over forty years until his retirement in 2013, Philip has published widely on political topics. He makes his home in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Philip Resnick's profile page

• Short-listed, BC Book Prize, Roderick Haig-Brown Regional

Resnick finds that there is a correlation between ill will toward Quebec and opposition to treaty-making, and resentment is an important feature of the mindset that imagines Quebeckers and aboriginal peoples enjoying “special” privileges.

the Georgia Straight

For some quick answers (to what British Columbians really want, people) should pick up Philip Resnick’s new book, The Politics of Resentment: British Columbia Regionalism and Canadian Unity.

The Globe and Mail

The Politics of Resentment analyzes B.C.’s contributions to unity debates, poetry, fiction, academic writings and hotline rantings to get at the question: What makes B.C. stand apart as a region of Canada?

Vancouver Sun