Support for Political Community: Evidence from Quebec and the Rest of Canada

Abstract

Despite its diverse makeup and deep divisions, Canada has a fairly solid reputation as a stable democracy and political community but we are repeatedly reminded how fragile this "community of communities" may in fact be. Using new data from the Comparative Provincial Election Project, we examine how Quebecers feel about Canada and Quebec and compare these perspectives to those of other Canadians. We find that support varies provincially, over time and across subnational political communities. And in Quebec, political performance has a strong bearing on support for political communities, even after controlling for other common cultural, structural or contextual explanations.