A Response to Mendelsohn's “Public Brokerage: Constitutional Reform and the Accommodation of Mass Publics”

Extract

Matthew Mendelsohn's “Public Brokerage: Constitutional Reform and the Accommodation of Mass Publics” offers an alternative to what he calls the “conventional wisdom” surrounding Canada's intractable constitutional quagmire. Unlike most analysts of the Canadian constitutional process, Mendelsohn advocates greater public input into constitution making. Indeed, he suggests that the principal problem lies with elites, not mass publics. Limiting the role of “elites” in “accommodation,” he argues, allows for the possibility of constitutional reconciliation. Mendelsohn, then, provides a service by infusing some fresh ideas into Canada's constitutional debate.