On February 1 to 2, 2005, an International conference was held at the Gorbachev Foundation on the occasion of the completion of the Russian-Canadian project in public politics: “Calgary University — Gorbachev Foundation”. A wide range of theoretical and practical problems of public politics in Russia and in Canada were discussed at the conference in which notable scientists and specialists of the two countries took part. It is mainly questions of development of the public sphere in Russia, which were being raised in the course of the discussion, that are accentuated in the review presented here.