7 historical realities proving Canada has always been a classically liberal country

7 historical realities proving Canada has always been a classically liberal country COMMENTARY 5 AUGUST 2026 i ARTICLE SUMMARY KEY STATS Recent claims that Confederation and Canada’s post-Confederation development weren’t suffused with classical liberal ideas run up against seven historical realities. 1. The BNA Act is a recognizably liberal document. Janet Ajzenstat’s The Canadian Founding: John Locke and Parliament works through the ratification debates in the colonial legislatures between 1864 and 1873 and finds the Fathers—liberal and conservative alike—arguing from inalienable rights an…