and precisely in the context of constitutional doctrines of judicial
review.33 Thus it is not surprising that the idea has become
widespread, well beyond those who might subscribe
to a specific Kantian philosophy, that a liberal society cannot
accommodate publicly espoused notions of the good. This is
the conception, as Michael Sandel has noted, of the “procedural
republic,” which has a very strong hold on the political
agenda in the United States, and which has helped to
place increasing emphasis on judicial review on the basis of
constitutional texts at the expense of the ordinary political
process of building majorities with a view to legislative
action.34
But a society with collective goals like Quebec’s violates
this model. It is axiomatic for Quebec governments that the
survival and flourishing of French culture in Quebec is a
good. Political society is not neutral between those who
value remaining true to the culture of our ancestors and
those who might want to cut loose in the name of some individual
goal of self-development. It might be argued that one
could after all capture a goal like survivance for a proceduralist
liberal society. One could consider the French language,
for instance, as a collective resource that individuals might
want to make use of, and act for its preservation, just as one
does for clean air or green spaces. But this can’t capture the
full thrust of policies designed for cultural survival. It is not
just a matter of having the French language available for
those who might choose it. This might be seen to be the goal
of some of the measures of federal bilingualism over the last
twenty years. But it also involves making sure that there is a
community of people here in the future that will want to
avail itself of the opportunity to use the French language.
Policies aimed at survival actively seek to create members of