Faith & Spirit Quote by Stephen Harper

Calling bilingualism a "religion" is Harper at his most pointedly heretical: he frames official bilingualism not as policy but as dogma, the kind of belief system elites insist you revere even when the promised miracles never arrive. The phrase "the god that failed" borrows the cadence of Cold War disillusionment, casting bilingualism as an ideological project sold with utopian packaging and delivered with bureaucratic hangover. It’s a line designed to puncture piety.

The intent is blunt political triage. By declaring bilingualism a failed faith, Harper isn’t debating whether bilingual services are administratively workable; he’s questioning the legitimacy of the entire national myth that language symmetry can heal Canada’s deep regional and constitutional fractures. The subtext: the policy benefits a narrow class (Ottawa, public service gatekeepers, upwardly mobile bilingual professionals) while asking the rest of the country to pay for symbolism. "Fairness" and "unity" are the benchmark words here, because they’re the original marketing claims of official bilingualism; he’s flipping the sales pitch into a bill of indictment.

Context matters: this is a Conservative critique rooted in Western Canadian and small-c conservative skepticism toward Ottawa-driven nation-building. It also arrives in the long shadow of Quebec nationalism, the Charter era, and the federal state’s attempt to manage identity through institutional design. Harper’s cynicism isn’t accidental; it’s strategic. By translating cultural policy into taxpayer language ("untold millions"), he invites voters to treat identity management like any other government program: costed, audited, and, if it doesn’t perform, cut.