Abstract
AbstractIn a recent article in this Journal, Paul Sniderman, Joseph Fletcher, Peter Russell and Philip Tetlock characterize the patterns of support for language rights among anglophones and francophones as reflecting the practice of a “double standard,” whereby each group recognizes these rights more readily for themselves than for the other official language group. The authors conclude that two factors, strategic calculation of interests and core political values, are central to understanding support for language rights. This comment focusses on two of their key concepts, “language rights” and “strategic calculation.” It suggests that their discussion of language rights is rather narrowly limited to those recognized in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, thereby neglecting more controversial claims to language rights. Furthermore, “strategic calculation” is open to at least two mutually contradictory deductions regarding the anticipated patterns of support, both of which can be supported by their evidence. I conclude that the authors have presented an intuitively plausible hypothesis to explain support for language rights in Canada, but have not explored their key concepts in sufficient detail to sustain their case.
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