Diplomatic Games

Even the most assiduous readers of the LRC may react with dismay when faced with the review of a book about the international relations of a Canadian province. Are we looking at a new cure for insomnia? However, when the province in question is Quebec, the pulse quickens a bit because we can be sure that the story will be a passionate one and a lot of thought will have gone into it. Such is the case with Histoire des relations internationales du Québec, edited by Stéphane Paquin with Louise Beaudoin and published in 2006 by VLB Éditeur. It is available only in the French language.

The word histoire has two meanings in English—“history” and “story”—and this book falls into the second category. It is a collection of 26 loosely related essays, short stories, by 20 different authors. Seven of the chapters provide a chronological overview of Quebec’s foreign affairs organized according to political regimes— for example, the Lesage period, the Johnson...