Dr Bernard Cadogan
Abstract
The Canadian General Election of 2 May 2011 has delivered the most extraordinary result since 1993 – on the side of the Opposition. While the Conservative Party of Canada (CPOC) is confirmed in office, their rivals the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois have collapsed as parties like the old Progressive Conservative Party did in 1993 and have been replaced by the New Democrats. The aim of this lecture is to consider how Canada has managed the minority nationalisms of Quebec and francophone speakers and of its three First Nations, Indians, Metis and Inuit over the past 50 years, with a view to comparing it as a British-type parliamentary democracy with New Zealand. This lecture will chart how CPOC originally entered the political market as a post-modern conservative majoritarian party in 1989 as the Canadian Reform party, and how it has worked with the pluralist nature of the Canadian constitution, by way of applying to both Canada and New Zealand the constitutionalist Nico Krisch’s distinction between “constitutionalism” and postnational pluralism.
Biography
Dr Bernard Cadogan has a Doctorate of Philosophy from Oxford University on the political thought and constitutionalism and racial policy of Sir George Grey (1812-1898) in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He is married with a three year old son.
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Last updated:
Wednesday, 11 May 2011