Accounts of the work of six significant figures in Canadian political thought are used to examine key intellectual debates, including the national unity issue and Canada's relationship with the United States. James Bickerton, Stephen Brooks, and Alain Gagnon analyse the work and influence of George Grant, Harold Innis, Charles Taylor, and Pierre Trudeau, as well as two writers crucial to French-Canadian nationalism, André Laurendeau and Marcel Rioux. The authors look at the ways these individuals understood freedom, equality, and community and consider the impact they have had on Canadian political life.