The Bloc Quebecois themselves admit that Ottawa is not the locale to promote sovereignty and describe their presence in the national Parliament, as an effort to defend Quebec's interests.
Much has been said and written about the appropriateness and the utility of a regional party dedicated to the interests of one particular province acting on the federal scene. But, nobody can deny that the presence of the Bloc in Ottawa irks the rest of Canada to no end and on a certain level, to many Quebeckers, that fact alone is justification for the Bloc's presence in Ottawa.
Appropriate or not, the inescapable truth is that the presence of the Bloc in Parliament remains a powerful symbol of Quebec's dissatisfaction with the political status quo, particularly in regards to the constitutional issue.
In this regard, the Bloc accomplishes its mission just by showing up, and while many complain that it is a waste, the party's presence in the House of Commons is a powerful and painful reminder that Canada remains an unfinished product
Undeniably, the Bloc dérange...
But as successful as the party is, in achieving their primary mission of 'annoying' Canada, the Bloc's alter mission, to protect and advance the interests of Quebec, has been an abject failure that has cost the province dearly.
One of the knocks against the Bloc, is the notion that by sitting in opposition, they can hardly bring 'home the bacon.' It is widely held that real influence can only be achieved by having a large representation in the sitting government of the day, albeit federalist.
But for well nigh twenty years, enough Quebeckers have made the choice not to follow that course and because of the split in the federalist vote, the Bloc has been able to slide in with representation, far exceeding its electorial support, winning about two-thirds of the available Quebec seats with under 40% of the vote.
For the first ten years of it's existence the Bloc faced a Liberal majority government and could hardly effect any change at all. Facing off against their nemesis, Jean Chretien, the party wandered the opposition benches like the lost tribe of Israel roaming the desert, essentially wasting time and political capital. In this respect they were no different than the other opposition parties, especially the NDP, a party not dissimilar to the Bloc, perennial losers doomed to collect splinters on the opposition benches, heckling and moaning, as Shakespeare described- "full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing."
There was nothing the Bloc could do in the face of a majority government, but with the arrival of successive minority governments, the Bloc was presented with a golden opportunity to produce tangible results.
Instead they sat on their hands and delivered nothing.
Perhaps Mr. Duceppe followed a strategy that dictated that it was wiser to let the Quebec 'situation' deteriorate, in the hope that it would ultimately lead to those chimerical 'winning conditions.' After all, one might argue, if Duceppe managed to wring a host of concessions out of Ottawa, the urgency of sovereignty would certainly dissipate.
If this was his aim, he achieved his goal magnificently, though I don't think that most Quebeckers envisaged nor approved of this type of a strategy.
This current election is proof that the Bloc follows a mindless and bankrupt philosophy that reminds me of a stubbornly spoilt child, who shakes his head vigorously and shouts 'NO!' to anything and everything offered by an appeasing parent.
Mr. Duceppe's unrealistic and very public demand that Harper cough up 5 billion dollars in goodies in order to win Bloc support for the budget was never serious and was in fact an 'in-your-face' call for an election.
Why? To what end?
Instead of going off into a quiet corner to do a hush-hush deal with the Conservatives that would keep the current government in power, in exchange for some tangible goodies for Quebec, the Bloc chose to go to the polls, where the very best that they could hope for was to be back in Ottawa, in the exact same position that they were before, but WITHOUT the goodies!
Does that make sense?
Would Harper do a deal with the Bloc? ......Of course he would.
In exchange for solid support and the promise of a long political life, Mr. Harper would sell his children. That's the nature of our politicians. Look at the Liberals and the Ndp, who were both ready to sign a very public devil's pact with the Bloc. Political whores, the lot of them.
There's a host of issues that the Bloc would be interested in, where they could actually win concessions if they made a commitment not to bring down the government.
As for a shopping list, I can think of these issues, near and dear to the Bloc, where the Conservatives could bend, without even appearing to be pandering to Quebec.
First and foremost, the Bloc could bargain for a commitment to slash Canada's disastrous immigration, a policy which is doing more to destroy the Quebec position in Canada than anything else. Each year Canada allows over 250,000 immigrants to enter Canada, double or triple what other Western democracies allow and with 90% of these immigrants assimilating into the English side of the language equation, the ongoing damage to Quebec's demographic position is irreparable. Interestingly, there would be little opposition to this move in the rest of the country, and the policy could be enacted administratively and thus without the spectre of a political storm.
Secondly, the Bloc could get an unofficial commitment that Quebec would get it's fair share of federal contracts (plus more,) something it always had taken as a given, but as of late has slipped dramatically. Again this commitment would be administrative and not be subject to a vote in Parliament.
Thirdly, a commitment not to arbitrarily change the demographic weight of Quebec's representation in Parliament, something Harper planned to do. In exchange for the Blocs cooperation, Harper could easily drop the project, another easy trade-off.
The Bloc could also win a concession not to cut political subsidies, perhaps the most frightening of all scenarios to a party that is three times more dependent on the public subsidy than its closest competitor. Link
All of this and much more could be achieved with a little quiet cooperation, secret back room dealings and honest to goodness, old fashioned political horse-trading.
All these goodies could be had in exchange for a commitment not to bring down the government, a good deal considering that any new election changes nothing for the Bloc.
Why Mr Duceppe has chosen to tread water instead of doing something constructive for Quebec remains a mystery.
His actions in triggering the latest election is an unpardonable betrayal of all Quebeckers, both federalist and sovereignist.
Instead of taking the steak he went for the sizzle and as Chantal Hebert said in a recent column, Duceppe is a dog that has traded his bite for a louder bark.
Further reading:
Yes, Duceppe did nothing to cozy up with Harper. I think it's quite intentional. Countless separatist governments, PQ and BQ, have for decades been talking about how Quebec will sit with 75 constituencies while other prvinces grow and get a greater percentage.
ReplyDeleteDuceppe sits on his hands to then look at French Quebecers down the road as say "I told you so!" You didn't vote Sovereignty, so now your parliamentary majority is shrinking, least of all in Montreal.
Just finished watching the English language leaders debate and I was struck at how Jack Layton, despite the repeated coaxing from Gilles Duceppe, would not state publicly in English what his party says in French in Quebec, that The NDP wants to foist Bill 101 upon Federally chartered companies and corporations operating in Quebec. While the imposition of Bill 101 on these Federally chartered companies would appease the language purists in Quebec they would also trigger yet another head office exodus out of Montreal that would end up costing the Quebec economy billions down the road. Talk about cutting off the nose to spite the face. Jack'nTom don't realize this nor do they care. Their short-sightedness all in the name of scooping up a few votes is downright scary. They don't seem to understand that these companies employ mostly Francophones and that if they were to move down the 401 or to Calgary those jobs and taxes would go with them. Now how is that beneficial to Quebec? The NDP has proven once again why they should not be given the keys to the family business. They will say whatever it takes to get elected in the different parts of this country with a different message and tonight he was caught doing so on National TV by Gilles Duceppe.
ReplyDeleteThis piece started alright, but the last half is your typical biased dreck. If Québec, the only conservative stronghold in the province, couldn't get financing for an arena that is sorely needed, how would the Bloc get anything from Harper? And you might habe missed the memo, but the Bloc isn't anti-immigration, they are pro-integration. You also ignore that even the liberals, in a much weaker position than the Bloc, voted against the Cons.
ReplyDeleteThe arena fiasco proved that voting for MPs in a CPC government is useless, because Harper controls everything. Canadians resent Québec for sucking too much money, but want them to stop voting Bloc so they can get more goodies. Nice hypocrisy there!
"But, nobody can deny that the presence of the Bloc in Ottawa irks the rest of Canada to no end and on a certain level, to many Quebeckers, that fact alone is justification for the Bloc's presence in Ottawa."
ReplyDeleteNo party that seeks secession or unconstitutional powers should be represented in the Canadian parliament and no Canadian should have to foot the bill for a party that nullifies the charter of rights and freedoms within its provincial borders. If Quebecers want more representation in Ottawa, then it should be in a federal capacity. If not, then they may as well try yet another referendum. Thanks to the NDP and the Doucheppe party, this country has been in a state of constant instability. The so called political horse trading comes at our expense politically and financially.
"Why Mr Duceppe has chosen to tread water instead of doing something constructive for Quebec remains a mystery."
The decades of 101ers and seperatists have been anything but constructive for Quebec, but I'm sure Toronto and Ontario thank them. We are now the province with the highest drop out rate, poor infrastructure, a shrunken job market and terrorist militias and political movements that threaten the security of all Canadians living in Quebec.
I barfed to see Layton and Doucheppe patting each other on the back, especially when it came to the Bloc's stance on crime in Quebec. The round up of the Mafia and the Bikers has left us with a raging street gang problem that now makes us the Canadian capital of firebombings and drive-bys, while the policiers chill at the local stop signs all day long to fill their quotas.
"His actions in triggering the latest election is an unpardonable betrayal of all Quebeckers, both federalist and sovereignist."
How so? A weaker Bloc position is beneficial to federalists. The only betrayal here is the treason being committed by a party whose interests lie in destabilizing and decentralizing the country to such an extent that its future as a federation remains in question. Panhandling Jack is just the concubine to their cause, and should be held accountable for his willingness to negate the charter in Quebec completely. I can't believe Canadians in the ROC elect his candidates.
Mr Editor,
ReplyDeleteThere would be opposition to a cutback to immigration in the rest of Canada, especially in Ontario and BC where recent immigrants and their offspring make up a large percentage of the population. Thats why even the conservatives never talk about turning off the immigration tap.
For the anglo community in Quebec, turning off immigration is the end of a regenerated community. Even the 1995 referendum, numbers were with the NO side just because of the votes of immigrants to the province.
Another thing, despite constant exodus of anglos and allos, the percentage of Anglos and Allos in the Quebec population is increasing. Maybe to a point where despite majority of Francophones supporting Quebec seperation, that they cannot get enough votes to ever win their referendum.
So please bring more immigrants and send them from the rest of Canada to Quebec. Especially encourage them to do so when they qualify to send their kids to English school in Quebec.
The election will show once again that Quebec doesn't have its place in Canada like it is right now.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Why aren't we part of the US? Canada has no culture of its own except for Quebec.
Editor: “the presence of the Bloc in Parliament remains a powerful symbol of Quebec's dissatisfaction with the political status quo”
ReplyDeleteQuebec’s dissatisfaction is something permanent and unfixable, because it stems from its minority status in the federation. The only way to fix this bruised ego would be to exterminate half of the RoC’s population and 95% of the American population in order to make the continental English-French ratio equal. But that won’t happen, which means that the dissatisfaction of Quebeckers is a permanent fixture.
So you’re right Editor, Quebeckers are dissatisfied, but it’s something that cannot be fixed in the RoC or by the RoC. The RoC must start thinking about itself right now and drop the Quebec subject completely. It certainly shouldn’t get bogged down in endless “negotiations” that are doomed from the start and lead to nowhere. The only point of these “negotiations” is to put the fame-starved Quebec in the spotlight, and not to solve concrete problems. It is simply impossible to solve unsolvable problems and I hope Canada gets it by now.
Editor: “if Duceppe managed to wring a host of concessions out of Ottawa, the urgency of sovereignty would certainly dissipate.”
I would have agreed with it a few years ago, but now I think that if Canada didn’t give in to a single of Quebec’s demands, it would have had no effect on the “winning conditions”. This whole thing is a ploy, and it goes on only because Canada is falling for it. If Canada dropped it, Quebeckers would realize that this “episode” is over and they’d move on to other things.
The “separatist” movement of Quebec survives not only because of Quebec, but also because of Canada. It takes 2 to tango, and Canada entered into the dance by choosing to address the “issue”, respond to the “issue”, and nurture the “issue”, not realizing that the real issue is not separation but opportunism and extortion. The so called “Quebec souverenist movement” that Canada chose to deal with is a misnomer - it should be called the “Quebec extortionist movement” instead.
"I would have agreed with it a few years ago, but now I think that if Canada didn’t give in to a single of Quebec’s demands, it would have had no effect on the “winning conditions”."
ReplyDeleteThe reverse is also true: if Canada were to give in to all of Quebec demands, the issue of "separation" would not die out. In fact, it would make the "separatist" movement stronger. The calculation here is simple: “we threaten, they yield, so let’s threaten some more”.
Re Anonymous 7:33,
ReplyDeleteYou think a new arena for Quebec City is "sorely needed"? Buddy, I think you need to learn the difference between "wants" and "needs". You may "want" wine, but you "need" water. You "want" a mansion, but you "need" a roof over your head. You want a new arena, but the province needs money to pay for health care and road repair. A new arena would just be a sinkhole unless you get an NHL team in there, which is pretty unlikely.
Anonymous 9:49 said...
"Question: Why aren't we part of the US? Canada has no culture of its own except for Quebec."
Thanks for taking time away from studying your belly-button lint to share that fatuous culture comment with us. If we were part of the U.S., we wouldn't have the pleasure of hearing you guys whine about how the english language is taking over, because you'd ALL be speaking english by now.
Diogenes
ReplyDeleteDitto on both accounts
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete"Question: Why aren't we part of the US? Canada has no culture of its own except for Quebec. "
ReplyDeleteSpoken like true French Canadian who has never been outside of Quebec. I enjoyed my time at a cabane a sucre last weekend but is that "better" than a day at the Calgary Stampede? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if you have blinders on to anything that is not French Canadian, your going to miss a lot of beauty in Canada. This is also going on inside Quebec borders. To think that Arcade Fire (number 1 band in the world) and Barney's Version (best actor at the golden globes) were both shut out at the Quebecois awards (Jutras and....... I can't remeber the other one. Really they are useless anyways because they are discriminatory).
"the election will show once again that Quebec doesn't have its place in Canada like it is right now."
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The election will show how ignorant and self-centered the Quebecois are, only wanting to disrupt the functioning of Canadian parliament and country as a whole, hurting people's lives outside Quebec.
That's one of many reasons Quebec doesn't deserve to be a part of Canada and should be thrown out of confederation.
"Question: Why aren't we part of the US? Canada has no culture of its own except for Quebec."
Perhaps because the US doesn't want ignorant, self-serving bigots who's main contribution is to collect welfare and leech off others?
As for Quebec having culture? Any society that puts down other cultures has NO CULTURE. Any society that claims its culture is superior to others, or has to boost about how great its culture is ad nauseum is NOT A CULTURE.
Quebec has the same amount of "culture" as white supremacists do (i.e. you have no culture, nothing of value, and are quite the opposite of having culture).
Quebecois are isolationists. You cut yourselves off from the rest of the world. You are not open to others or things that are different, that is anti-culture if you ask me. And listening to Joule speech and accents, or your idea of music (i.e. country music sung in Quebecois Joule? Please, stop!) or your mediocre TV shows and movies which are pale and unimaginative clones of those in the US? If that is culture, I feel sorry for you.
STOP ISOLATING YOURSELVES. Human beings grow, learn and thrive by sharing ideas, beliefs and values, art, music, etc by being opening and sharing with each other. Quebec is stagnant and culture POOR because it does the opposite. That fact this goes right over your head is further proof of how lost as a society you are.
"Any society that puts down other cultures has NO CULTURE"
ReplyDeleteDonc les américains n'ont pas de culture.