"We need to talk..." Argghhh!!!!!...
Whether it's a girlfriend about to break up with you or you with her, a wife or husband about to unload on a spouse or a boss who invites you into her office for a little 'talk,' it isn't something that the object of such a discussion is keen to engage in, where in fact, some run from the exercise as if it's a communicable disease.
Honey.....
I think we should start seeing other people.
It' time to move in together...
It's time to finally get married...
It's time we separate...
It's time we talk about money...
It's time you get off your ass and get a job...
It's time to stop drinking or drugging...
It's time to have a baby...
It's time to throw out your Playstation/XBox
It's time to grow up...
It's time you stop seeing that certain friend...
It's time to stand up to your mother...
etc. etc.
Yup, the 'talk' is that frank and uncomfortable conversation that couples have, albeit rarely, because it often leads to a drastic change in a situation.
For the PQ, it's been thirty-five years of promising Quebecers a new order, an elopement of sorts whereby the province flees the safety and comfort of Canada to stake out life in an independent country.
"We gotto leave Canada" has been just about the only conversation ever offered by the PQ on the subject and while the PQ has exhorted Quebecers to leave, they've never once indicated where Quebec will go.
It seems that the PQ never got up the nerve to have that very real 'talk' with Quebecers over the modalities of independence.
Will Quebec get a new currency?
How much will our taxes go up?
Will we maintain our Canadian passport?
Will we have free trade with Canada/United States
What about borders?
What will happen if all the Anglos leave?
Will Canada maintain good relations with us?
Will our geographic borders remain intact?
Will the natives revolt?
Hmmm,.
No PQ government has ever aborded these touchy subjects, perhaps because the answers, not exactly what the electorate wants to hear.
Sometimes these very serious 'talks' happens by design, but often enough by a dose of dutch courage, or by accident, where circumstances, coupled with frustration or desperation pushes a party to go where they never went before..
Such was Pauline's venture into the 'talk,' an act of frustration precipitated by badgering reporters who hounded her mercilessly after Pierre-Karl Péladeau's infamous fist pump.
And so finally, Pauline opened the real conversation about sovereignty, one that should have happened thirty-five years ago.
Pauline's version of independence had Quebec using Canada's dollar, complete with Queen Elizabeth's picture on the money, a bit of a letdown to the purs et durs, I imagine.
In that monetary union Quebec would ask for a voice on the Bank of Canada, which perhaps might be re-named the Bank of Canada and Quebec, like Newfoundland and Labrador.
In Pauline's world there would be no borders between Canada and Quebec and Quebecers might hardly notice the difference at all, which begs the question as what the point of it all is.
No matter.....
Like the marriage talk to a reluctant boyfriend of many years, Pauline's 'talk' went over like the proverbial lead balloon.
Quebecers fled in abject terror at the thought because while they liked to talk about sovereignty in a hypothetical way, setting the date, discussing the details made everything too real and faced with the 'talk,' reality set in.
It's bit of a long journey to make my point, which is that I utterly reject the hardliners' contention that sovereignty support sits at about 40%, because it just isn't so.
While perhaps 30%-40% of Quebecers are willing to entertain sovereignty in an abstract and hypothetical way, faced with reality those numbers would collapse.
What did we really learn from the election?
That any discussion of sovereignty by hardliners should be met not by silence, but a shocking dose of reality.
Partition, money, borders, native rights, debt, etc. etc., are all discussions that should be brought to the forefront now, because allowing the thirty-five year fantasy to live on, is unproductive and harmful.
Quebec has sunk from one of the richest to one of the poorest provinces in Canada, all because of the sovereignty fantasy.
It's time for Canada to stop enabling separatist fantasies by spelling out what Canada's version of sovereignty would be.
I don't think it would include continued equalization payments, a common currency or a common anything for that matter and certainly not any part of friends with benefits.
If the PQ wants to soldier on as a separatist party, Quebecers should understand the truth, that the PQ's end game is a recipe for disaster, complete with René Levesque dollars and decidedly hard borders in a territorially emasculated Quebec.
Sound like something you might like?... That's the real question those flirting with sovereignty must ponder.
40% support...I think not.
