If the next stage of constitutional renewal is to be the strengthening of national institutions, consideration should be given to the judicial branch of government as well as to the Senate and House of Commons. In assessing reforms in this area it is important to distinguish the symbolic from operational consequences. First priority should be given to constitutional entrenchment of the Supreme Court. Although the significance of such an amendment is largely symbolic, it is needed to remove uncertainties created by references to the Supreme Court in the Constitution Act, 1982. A general guarantee of judicial independence should be abandoned as a misguided exercise in constitutional symbolism. From both a symbolic and operational perspective, reform of section 96 of the original constitution holds out the most interesting possibility of establishing the constitutional basis for a truly national judiciary.

Social thought is in a state of crisis; so is Western society. We are still subject to the ideologies and social structures developed or institutionalized during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. No new global social theory has emerged since those of Hegel and Marx. Socialism seems both to complete and to abstract Western social thought. An explanatory hypothesis suggests itself: the blockage is a result of the contradiction in Western civilization between the deep aspiration for social efficiency and the equally profound desire for liberty. This contradiction, historically very fruitful, has been brought to its head by socialism, which although stemming from liberalism, has not managed to supersede it or to suppress it. Hence the crisis of socialism becomes the true crisis of our thought and society.

The migration of people from valley to valley or from region to region, and, since the emergence of the nation state, from country to country, is an acknowledged characteristic of humanity. The motives behind population movements fall into two broad categories: a desire for an improved lifestyle based upon economic betterment and a need to escape from persecution and oppression stemming from intolerance and discrimination whether practised or merely condoned by those in authority. Frequently, these fundamental motivations explaining population movements may be interrelated and therefore difficult to separate. Economically motivated migrants have comprised the majority of persons throughout the ages who have pulled up roots to relocate. Nevertheless, that portion of mankind which has felt compelled to flee to avoid physical danger resulting from official or societal attitudes and policies has constituted a significant portion of the migratory population. This article focusses on this latter category of persons, some of whom seek to enter and remain in Canada. The policy and administrative process governing the admission to Canada of these refugees, as well as an explanation and evaluation of the formulation and implementation of such processes will constitute the major thrust of thearticle.

Tocqueville is usually understood to have proposed a two-tiered antidote to “the problem of democracy”: the doctrine of “self-interest rightly understood” and the preservation of religious belief. This article argues that Tocqueville provided a previously unnoticed third tier to his prescription: the democratic family. Sheltered from the competitive individualism of society, the family is portrayed as a haven of co-operation that nurtures the habits of altruism. Central to this scheme is a “different but equal” regime of the sexes. Arguing that increased equality leads to increased competition, Tocqueville suggests that a thorough-going equality of the sexes would undermine the family's function of moral formation.

This article examines several major demonstrations that turned violent, with particular emphasis on the organization of the groups, their political status, their objectives, the style of action of the participating groups and the actions of the police forces. After examining how these factors combined to affect the dynamics of the collective action process in each of the incidents, a series of hypotheses is drawn up charting the relationships between these factors in order to establish some hypotheses about the causes of violent outcomes during demonstrations.

A major objective of this article is the reexamination of canvassing-voting relationships analyzed by Clarke, Jenson, LeDuc and Pammett in Political Choice in Canada. However, this study distinguishes itself in two major ways. First, usage is made of multivariate techniques, a necessity in view of the number of variables that ought to be taken into consideration. Secondly, two conceptually important types of variables are incorporated; namely, the number of parties canvassing potential voters (“competitive contacting”) and the degree of party competition in the constituency (“competitive context”). The results indicate the relevance of these two types of variables, although varyingly so. Thus, “reinforcement,” the principal canvassing effect uncovered, is related to competitive contacting, independently of the competitive context. On the other hand, possible “recruitment” and “conversion” effects are associated with particular attributes of both factors. These results, along with some unexpected ones, underscore a suggestion advanced in the article for renewed research into the subject of canvassing.