Laurentian Elite is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

political term used to refer individuals in the upper class of society who live along the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

and watershed in major cities such as

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, an area which represents a significant portion of Canada’s population. This group included politicians from both the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...

and the former

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...

, and is believed to still be influential in guiding Liberal Party policy. Grlakes lawrence map

The term was coined by journalist

John Ibbitson John Ibbitson (born 1955) is a Canadian journalist. Since 1999, he has been a political writer and columnist for ''The Globe and Mail''. Career Ibbitson graduated from the University of Toronto in 1979 with a B.A. in English. After university, ...

in 2011. Ibbitson used the term Laurentian Consensus to describe the belief that a general governing

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

consensus existed in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

from

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

until the early twenty first century with the election of

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

and the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

with a majority government in the

2011 Canadian Federal Election The 2011 Canadian federal election was held on May 2, 2011, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 41st Canadian Parliament. The writs of election for the 2011 election were issued by Governor General David Johnston on March ...

without significant support in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Ibbitson described the Laurentians as “the political, academic, cultural, media and business elites” of central Canada who were responsible for shaping

Canadian identity Canadian identity refers to the unique culture, characteristics and condition of being Canadian, as well as the many symbols and expressions that set Canada and Canadians apart from other peoples and cultures of the world. Primary influences on th ...

. This concept of the Laurentian Elites and the political consensus that was postulated to exist was expanded in the book ''The Big Shift: The Seismic Change in Canadian Politics, Business, and Culture and What It Means for Our Future'' published in 2013 by

Darrell Bricker Darrell Bricker is a Canadian author, pollster, public speaker, political scientist and political commentator. Profession Pollster Bricker is the current Global CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, a polling, research, marketing, and analysis company. ...

and John Ibbitson.

References

{{Reflist Canadian political phrases Political party factions in Canada

See also

References