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As Conservatives prepare to choose a new leader in less than four months, one MP and candidate could be in a position to rouse a federally dormant group of Quebecers. Maxime Bernier’s brand of libertarianism provides an interesting twist to this leadership race, as it demonstrates that many Quebecers and other Canadians share a fair amount of common ground.

Some of the more interesting revelations in Le Code Québec, a demographic study co-authored by pollster Jean-Marc Léger published last year, involved surprising ties between Canada’s traditional two solitudes. Quebecers, Léger argued, identify themselves as a hybrid people, defining their cultural influences as three-fold: “modest French, playful English and peaceful American.”

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Though it runs contrary to mainstream nationalist political narratives, many Quebecers are, at least in part, somewhat American in spirit, and Bernier embodies this. These typically suburban or rural Quebecers would not be mistaken for Americans, but hold a world view that is U.S.-inspired, entrepreneurial, critical of the welfare state and fiercely libertarian.