Dion and Lester Pearson

Here's the more logical interpretation of Lester Pearson's legacy on the national unity file, that probably wouldn't surprise anyone but is worth quoting:

Under considerable political duress, Pearson accepted reluctantly a fair degree of administrative decentralization for social programs in areas of provincial responsibility...At no time did Pearson ever contemplate constitutionalizing this process of administrative devolution or asymmetrical federalism. [He was] an ardent Canadian nationalist, a clear-sighted internationalist, and a defender of national unity. Pearson's policies and practices in federal-provincial relations must be placed in the larger context of such pan-Canadian achievements as Medicare...and the Canadian flag.

However...

A revisionist interpretation of Pearson's handling of the Quebec question has been proposed...arguing that Pearson became a strong proponent of the two-nations theory of Confederation. Even more importantly, Pearson developed into a supporter of a Canada-Quebec conception of territorial duality because Quebec, in his view, constituted the homeland of the francophone nation...[Ken] McRoberts concludes that the Pearson years constituted a promising golden era in Canada-Quebec relations, and that it was destroyed almost singlehandedly by his successor, Pierre Elliott Trudeau. ...Unforunately, Canada did not continue down Pearson's road....This interpretation has gained the support of [Quebecois academics] such as Guy Laforest and Stephane Dion...who champion the entrenchment of an asymmetrical Quebec-Canada federation in order to accommodate Quebec's political and constitutional distinctness.

-Michael D. Behiels, Lester B. Pearson and the Conundrum of National Unity, 1963-1998

This perspective has perhaps escaped proper national attention.

-Steve