If politics is Hollywood for ugly people, political leadership campaigns are beauty contests for political geeks. But they matter, a lot. Maybe too much. For decades we’ve been imbuing our political leaders with hopes and expectations and dreads and disappointments that no mere mortals could ever hope to live up, or down, to. So it begins again with the undeclared race for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. Mathieu Dumont and Paul Bunner sketch profiles of a dozen possible, probable or potential candidates.

Ever since the Quiet Revolution, the question “What does Quebec want?” has been central to every debate over constitutional reform. With the federalist cause ascendant in Quebec today, it seems an opportune time for a reasonable discussion about the question. C2C’s Mathieu Dumont and Quebec federal Conservative MP Maxime Bernier recently had that discussion in Montreal. Bernier said Quebec has no constitutional agenda other than for Ottawa to respect provincial jurisdiction. It is a measure, perhaps, of how much Quebec – and Canada – have moved on from the bitter, paralyzing debate that nearly tore us apart in the late 20th century.

Depuis la Révolution tranquille, la question « Que veut le Québec? » a été au centre de tous les débats sur la réforme constitutionnelle. Aujourd’hui, la cause fédéraliste gagne en popularité au Québec et il s’agit d’un moment opportun de se pencher sur la question. Mathieu Dumont de C2C et le député conservateur québécois Maxime Bernier se sont récemment entretenus à ce sujet à Montréal. Bernier affirme que le Québec n’a aucun objectif constitutionnel outre exiger qu’Ottawa respecte les compétences provinciales. Ceci semblerait indiquer que le Québec (ainsi que le Canada) a beaucoup évolué depuis l’époque des crises constitutionnelles qui ont failli déchirer le Canada à la fin du 20e siècle.