Abstract

Whilst Grant’s pessimism and fatalism are undeniable, subsequent developments modify Grant’s thesis somewhat. Whilst the old common intent of Canada is largely dead, the hollow liberal nationalism that replaced it that is incapable of commanding thick loyalties and shared loves has opened up space for more local and regional loyalties. Whilst the old Canada may be dead, love of one’s own is irrepressible even in a technological civilization, and the hope that Grant calls us to may be in these new local and regional particularities instead. This chapter offers a reassessment of Grant’s central claims in this light, and reapplies his core and still valuable insights in a contemporary neo-Grantian account of Canada and Canadian conservatism.