Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

When we compare exogenous and endogenous enunciations of the "Canadian model" in the French-language press, it's clear that this model is globally caught up in a double game: on the one hand, the idea of an attenuation of the American model for the Canadian and French-language press, and on the other, rivalry with the Quebecois model for the French-language Canadian press. There are thus two stereotyped discursive strategies employed when a formula like the "Canadian model" circulates like a new symbolic currency in the competition of nation brands. The value judgments can be read semantically through the lexical field and modalities used to describe this model, but above all through its validation as a (self-)referenced statement.

The abstract of the article can be read in the following sentences: the expression "Canadian model" is often used in journalistic discourse because it reflects a desire to compare social institutions. For the French-language press, the question is whether this formula conceals a set of statements in which Canada represents an example to be imitated or, on the contrary, to be avoided. In order to assess the scope of this normative enunciation with consequences for nation branding, the article uses a longitudinal analysis of two French-language corpora to identify the frequency of use of this formula as well as specific enunciations. The results show that this expression is used to underline the distinction with the American model, but also with the Quebec model. The French press perceives this "Canadian model" as a gateway to the American market society, but also as the symbol of a multicultural contract in contrast to French republican thinking based on a unitary model with a universalist vocation. The full article is available on https://utpjournals.press/doi/10.3138/ijcs-2022-0008

Christophe Premat