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Laurentian Elite is a 
The term was coined by journalist
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
political term used to refer individuals in the upper class of society who live along the St. Lawrence River and watershed in major cities such as Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
, Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
and Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
, an area which represents a significant portion of Canada’s population. This group included politicians from both the Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia' ...
and the former Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003.
From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...
, and is believed to still be influential in guiding Liberal Party policy.
The term was coined by journalist John Ibbitson
John Ibbitson (born 1955) is a Canadian journalist. Since 1999, he has been a political writer and columnist for '' The Globe and Mail''.
Career
Ibbitson graduated from the University of Toronto in 1979 with a B.A. in English. After university ...
in 2011. Ibbitson used the term Laurentian Consensus to describe the belief that a general governing political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...
consensus existed in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
from Confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
until the early twenty first century with the election of Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
and the Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...
with a majority government in the 2011 Canadian Federal Election
The 2011 Canadian federal election was held on May 2, 2011, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 41st Canadian Parliament.
The writs of election for the 2011 election were issued by Governor General David Johnston on Marc ...
without significant support in Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
.
Ibbitson described the Laurentians as “the political, academic, cultural, media and business elites” of central Canada who were responsible for shaping Canadian identity
Canadian identity refers to the unique culture, characteristics and condition of being Canadian, as well as the many symbols and expressions that set Canada and Canadians apart from other peoples and cultures of the world. Primary influences on th ...
. This concept of the Laurentian Elites and the political consensus that was postulated to exist was expanded in the book ''The Big Shift: The Seismic Change in Canadian Politics, Business, and Culture and What It Means for Our Future'' published in 2013 by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson.
See also
* Quebec City-Windsor Corridor * Liberal elite *Politics of Canada
The politics of Canada function within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, in which the monarch is head of state. In ...
*Western Alienation
In Canadian politics, Western alienation is the notion that the Western provinces – British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba – have been alienated, and in some cases excluded, from mainstream Canadian political affairs in f ...
* Quebec Separatism
*Central Canada
Central Canada (french: Centre du Canada, sometimes the Central provinces) is a region consisting of Canada's two largest and most populous provinces: Ontario and Quebec. Geographically, they are not at the centre of Canada but instead overlap ...
References
{{Reflist Canadian political phrases Political party factions in Canada