Advancing the Values Debate

There are at least four reasons to study Canada-U.S. comparative values. First, it makes an interesting parlour game, something most Canadians have done without having ever arrived at a definitive answer. Second, they can be studied to answer the question of whether economic integration has led to cultural integration, as was often argued during the debate over free trade. Third, they can be used to predict if Canadians will accept further economic integration, as non-economic values and attitude compatibility are excellent indicators of future choices. And fourth, through them we can glimpse whether North America will ever become more than a geographical expression—whether political union, the Shakespearean ghost that haunts successive acts of our national existence, awaits the Canada-U.S. relationship.

In Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of the United States and Canada, Seymour Martin Lipset argued in 1990 for an enduring pattern of...