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| Vive le Quebec!.. Vivre le Quebec, LIBRE! |
For these faint-of-hearts, Pierre-Karl Péladeau's, (PKP) famous fist pump, made the likelihood of a referendum all too real and triggered many panicked francophone voters to abandon the PQ for the safety of the Liberal party, or so the narrative goes.
It reminds me of an episode of The Big Bang Theory where the lovable gang of scientific nerds goes to a bully's apartment to collect on a debt. When the doorbell is rung and the bully opens the door, three of the four turn tail and run away, leaving poor Leonard to face the music alone..... Ha! Ha!
That's what the hardline separatists would have us believe of the francophone voters who ran away from the PQ in the face of another referendum. Fear.
But I'm not buying, not for a moment.
Now readers, if there's one food I can't stand, it's radishes. I don't like them, don't buy them, don't serve them and won't abide by them.
I am reminded of President Bush senior, who hated broccoli and wouldn't serve it in the White House.
That being said, I can assure you of one thing, I'm not afraid of radishes and I don't think President Bush is afraid of broccoli.
WE JUST DON'T LIKE THOSE THINGS.
The fact that many francophones abandoned the PQ over the possibility of a referendum or sovereignty isn't because they are afraid.....
IT IS BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT EITHER AND ARE STEERING CLEAR.
It's easy to brand someone a fraidy-cat just because that person thinks that jumping off a cliff with a bungee cord isn't a particularly good idea.
While the hardliners brand the reservation as 'fear,' I call it 'abundant good sense.'
Some people drink coffee, some tea. Would you brand those who prefer tea as 'fearful' of coffee?
Utter rubbish..
Reading the pundits in the separatist press, I understand the reason for this 'fear' theme.
The alternative explanation, that most francophones have evolved to reject sovereignty on its merits (or lack thereof), is just too devastating and difficult to accept.
Throughout the pages of Le Journal de Montreal, the theme of 'fear' is being peddled by columnist after columnist, politician after politician;
In an articled entitled 'A confused people' Mario Dumont describes Quebec Francophones as both 'confused' and 'afraid'....
"Is this normal? It's weird and it underlines how shallow-rooted are our beliefs. I feel some voted out of fear." Link{fr}
"He (Drainville) acknowledged that the support for the Charter in the population wasn't converted into votes. "It should be noted that the fear of the referendum was stronger," he analyzed. Link{fr}
Mathieu Bock-Côté devoted an entire column to the 'fear' theme.
"Quebecers, for now, and perhaps for awhile, do not want to engage in sovereignty and in many cases, something they simply refuse to consider outright. Most of this analysis then, is meant to decipher this fear. What is it about? What are its fundamental elements and what are its deepest determinants?... the struggle for sovereignty remains relevant and in the medium term, the strategy should be to confront this attitude and convert it to hope. In other words, the electorate can be convinced of a project that does not yet endorse . Link{fr}
Clearly, hardliners are trying to convince themselves and others that if they can just convince Quebecers to get over their fear, sovereignty can once again be on track, just like convincing a reluctant bungee jumper, standing white-knuckled and frozen at the gate, to take the plunge!...Good luck with that.
And so I'd like to see the PQ taken over by this group of delusionals, led by Pierre-Karl Peledeau, and seconded by Bernard Drainville and other dreamers who cannot see that the sovereignty parade has passed Quebec by.
Let them them embrace the fantasy that its only a question of allaying Quebecers' 'fear' of sovereignty that delays the inevitable rendezvous with destiny.
Here's is that fantasy enunciated in all its glory by Mathieu Bock-Côté;
"One lesson is clear: soft-pedaling sovereignty is a losing strategy. The PQ will never convince Quebecers to embrace independence if they continue to hide their option. .. LINK{FR}
So the problem wasn't that there was too much discussion of sovereignty, referendums and independence during the election campaign, but too little!
Argghhh!!!
A Parti Québecois, loyal and committed to 'Article 1' of its constitution, the commitment to sovereignty as the number one priority, is doomed to obscurity, reliving past glory, but no longer relevant.
Under such conditions, the PQ will pass into obscurity and fall by the wayside, like the Union Nationale, or the Créditistes, before it.
Let's hope the party finds a leader who will lead the PQ down this garden path, because there is a more disagreeable possibility.
It isn't impossible that the PQ can give up on 'Article 1' and evolve into a nationalistic party, one without the separatist option.
You heard it here first.
Jean-François Lisée, the erstwhile separatist and political opportunist is doing exactly that.
He is moving to lead the PQ away from the sovereignty agenda. In a long blog piece, Lisée is making the case gently. He may not be the only one in the PQ to understand the reality, but he is the first to hint at a PQ without sovereignty.
"The combination of PQ + PKP gave the sovereigntist option a new credibility. However, this credibility awoke in nearly half a million French-speaking Quebecers a strong aversion to relive the referendum adventure, ..."
....But the elephant in the room is now clearly visible: a significant part of the French electorate is, in the foreseeable future, resistant to the referendum option. Resistant to the point of plunging Quebec back in the arms of the Liberals rather than to consider the option of country. " Link{fr}So Lisée is setting himself up as the alternative leader to those who will push hard for sovereignty, like Drainville and PKP.
He appears to be setting a course for a grand 'virage,' the PQ without a sovereignty option.
The word 'Autonomy' is starting to circulate as a replacement for the toxic 'sovereignty.'
Autonomy is a muddy concept where Quebec would pursue more power from Ottawa, but without any threat of separation.
The game's afoot, a hard line sovereigntist PQ with PKP or a social-democratic PQ with strong nationalism replacing sovereignty with Lisée.
I'm pulling for PKP to destroy the PQ once and for all.
