To Survive, PQ Must Abandon Sovereignty

Recent political events in Quebec have been compared to a 'Tsunami,' with the Bloc Quebecois being suddenly and violently swept away with little or no warning in the federal election of May 2, when they were caught unawares, by a massive and unexpected Ndp wave.

But until the recent past, a Tsunami was described in the West as a 'rogue wave,'  something quite unexpected and deadly, but strangely out of place and in this respect the description bears little resemblance to what  is happening politically to sovereignty movement.

I much prefer the comparison to that of an earthquake that explodes after years of pressure building up between two opposing tectonic plates butting up against each other and moving in diametrically opposite directions.

The recent resignation of four hard-line members of the PQ signals that the two factions, the hard-liners and the pragmatists in the party can no longer peacefully co-exist and after years of building pressure, the fault-line finally exploded in a rupture that has cleaved the party rather dramatically.

It's not a complicated issue, three of the hardliners that left the party are all pushing 70 years old and are old-line separatists, creations of the 1960's. To them fighting the good fight for sovereignty is worth the inevitable pain of defeat. To them the more pragmatic and realistic approach adopted by the PQ since the 1995 referendum defeat, where promises of a  new referendum has been conveniently put off until those mythical 'winning conditions' appear, is a policy akin to waiting for the Rapture.

The PQ finds itself in a difficult spot, Madame Marois has continued this policy of promising a referendum when conditions improve, knowing full well that they won't, but it is this promise that has come to be the Achilles heal of the party facing an electorate which has clearly rejected the idea of another referendum. In fact just the talk of a potential referendum is enough to drive voters elsewhere as the new political reality of Quebec manifests.

After fighting for sovereignty for 40 years Quebeckers are tired. Unless you're a fanatic, it's hard to be on the losing side for so many years and for most, enough is enough.
Over these last forty years conditions have changed so dramatically in Quebec that that many come to question the basic raison d'etre of the movement.
Quebec has moved from a bilingual province, to a unilingual society in full control of the levers of power, be that industry or government and as the province has realized it most basic goals and addressed the most pressing linguistic issue to the satisfaction of the majority, attraction of sovereignty has faded.

A recent poll confirmed the direction of Quebec voters with just 26% supporting the PQ, one point behind the sad-sack  Liberals. What is patently apparent is that should Francois Legault launch his new party he would sweep into power and a Montreal newspaper reported yesterday that he is ready to launch this fall. It seems that his description of the new party's philosophy- nationalist, not sovereignist, is striking the right cord with voters who want Quebec to remain fiercely independent, but don't want any talk of referendums or sovereignty.
A bit of a paradox, but then again so is Quebec.

Interestingly, it doesn't mean that support for sovereignty has taken a dramatic plunge, it just means that many sovereignists have come to realize that the numbers aren't there to win and to continue the fight would be an exercise in self flagellation.

Now that the sovereignist hardliners have left the party, Pauline should actually breathe a sigh of relief. What remains are young pragmatists that yearn for power as much as they do sovereignty. The majority of those left are relatively young have never been in power. For them, a strategic backing away from the referendum option, in favour of actually becoming the government is something they are quite willing to trade off.

Sure Pauline, sure! (ygreck.ca )

And so it befalls Pauline and the PQ to put the referendum business firmly on hold.
In order to claim political power the PQ must unambiguously tell the population that there will be no referendum, at least in the first mandate of a new PQ government.
Of course certain hard-liner will flee to the Quebec solidaire party, but not enough to make a difference.

82% of Quebeckers have indicated that they don't want a referendum, including 71% of the PQ constituency, who according to pollsters are looking for a party that can provide 'good government.'

With the departures of the radicals, Pauline Marois has been handed a unexpected gift, an opportunity to move the PQ towards legitimate power.
All she has to do is to swallow hard and announce a referendum freeze.
The party will accept it and more importantly the public will buy into it.

Does Pauline have the strength to give up on sovereignty?

Readers, can this PQ leopard actually change its spots?

Quebec- First They Took Away Language, Now Religion

Back in the day, when Bill 101 was being introduced, the shock in the English community was something quite extraordinary and there were those who warned that if the government was going to legislate what language people could speak, it wouldn't be long before the government would legislate what religion we must all adhere to.

The defenders of Bill 101 scoffed at the notion, denigrating the complainers by telling anyone who'd listen that these were the opinions of alarmists and that the government would never, ever, interfere in religious affairs.

Skip forward forty years and here we are, with the government doing exactly that.

Back then Catholicism was the majority religion, but today it is largely a spent force with most francophone Quebeckers, Christians in name only. It's fair to say that secularism is the religion du jour, with just 6% of Francophone Quebeckers attending church regularly. The baptism rate for newborns has fallen below 60% and most of these are based on tradition or in order to satisfy parents and family. 

Christianity was chased from the public schools and has recently been replaced with a general course on religion that doesn't teach faith, but rather the nuts and bolts of all religions in a sterile and often criticized curriculum.

But there remains a minority, people of faith who object to a type of religious training that teaches children that their religion is no better or  worse than the rest.
Private religious schools which are also forced to teach this course, have objected that they cannot instruct children from a Christian, Jewish or Muslim point of view. One Catholic high school went to court and won its case. Now the issue will be decided by the Supreme Court and it doesn't look good for the Quebec government once again.

Yolande James- Minister of Anti-Religious Affairs

This week a newly formed group, an alliance between Christian and Jewish organizations is launching another court challenge, this one over the recent declaration by the government that state-funded day cares cannot teach any manner of religion. No doubt this is destined once again, to to head to the Supreme Court, which is over-burdened with cases from Quebec, all relating to attacks on personal freedoms and rights by the provincial government.  LINK

Considering that many of these day cares are operated by churches, synagogues and mosques, it seems a bit harsh to tell them that religion is verbotten. The rules are so silly that it is now legal to have a Christmas tree, but not legal to tell the story of the birth of Jesus. Jewish children may light a Menorah on the holiday of Hanukkah, but the teacher may not tell them why they are doing it.

Childrens songs that have religious references must be purged of offending passages or be banned!

Christmas without Christ

Now many of you out there will argue that the state has no business supporting religion and should remain neutral. It's the responsibility of the parents, if they choose to, to give their children religious instruction on their own time and on their own dime.

Makes sense, right? ......er ....not so fast.

The day-care issue is a case in point on how a government can control people through funding.

Ronald Reagan the old US conservative president lived by the credo that if he didn't like certain public policy he would effect change through funding cuts, instead of legislation.

We're getting a bit of that from the Conservative government which is cutting funding to organizations receiving government subsidies that don't share values with the government with the 'Rights & Democracy' group a prime example. This ranges from support of the arts, special interest groups and international aid groups.
It's toe the ideological line, or no money for you!

Now Quebec's state-funded daycare is so successful because of its low price, that it has practically driven all competition out of business. The $7 a day fee that parents pay is topped up by a government subsidy of $28 per child per day.
How is private industry able to compete with that?

And so  parents who want religious training in daycare are priced out of the market by a government who drives off the competition and then imposes a secular agenda on what is left. How fair is that?

Still not convinced? Let me make an analogy;

Let us say that the government decides that in an effort to make sure that each family has enough to eat, it will enact a universal food program.

The program is funded by all Quebeckers who pay a new tax, which averages out to about $100 a week, per family.
No family is exempt and nobody can opt out. Everybody must pay, like it or not.
For this $100 tax the government provides each family a weekly food package worth about $75 per week (The $25 is lost to administration expenses. Hey, it's the government!)
Government nutritionists choose only healthy foods it deems appropriate and no exceptions or exchanges are allowed.

Now certain Jewish families complain that they eat only Kosher food and that most foods in the basket are inappropriate.
"TOO BAD!" -says the government, "we're not in the religious business! Buy your own food if you don't like it."

Certain Muslim families also complain as well. The meat is not Hallal and we don't want pork products!
"TOO BAD!" -says the government, "we're not in the religious business! Buy your own food if you don't like it."


"BUT YOU TOOK OUR FOOD MONEY!"  the Jews and Muslims respond.

"TOO BAD!"

And that is how the religion of secularism  can be imposed on an unwilling segment of the population..

It isn't the government's job to tell citizens whether they should or should not be religious and it should not dictate to what extent that faith may manifest itself in society.

Refusing public funding of religious schools is not a neutral decision, it is a decision towards secularism. Those people of faith who pay taxes have rights as well and those rights should be respected.
It's easy for secularists to refuse funding to religious day cares because they are in the majority. But the Quebec government has long held a principle that fighting for minority French language rights in Canada is laudable and fully justified.

But not respecting its own religious minority acts completely in opposition to the principles it espouses.

What harm is there in funding religious day care?  Only people of faith send their children there and their tax money is used to fund the program. If you don't like religion don't send your children there!

Government exists to serve the people, all the people, not just the majority.
We all pay taxes and should expect expect equal consideration.

Funding religious day care costs not one cent extra and serves those families who wish to avail themselves of the program.

So what is the real objection?

PQ Self-Destructs Over Arena Lunacy

Mayor Regis Lebeaume in search of a private law.

As you may or may not have heard already, three key members of the Parti Quebecois bolted the party Monday with another leaving yesterday ostensibly because of Pauline Marois's decision to impose party solidarity and force members to vote in favour of a law shielding the City of Quebec from any legal action in relation to a deal it struck for the management of the proposed arena in Quebec City.

It's a complicated affair and I'm sure most readers (especially those out of province)  haven't wasted the necessary time to be fully apprised of this sordid affair.
Let me try to give you a Twitter version of events. (In my day we used to call a quick summary of a complicated issue, a 'Readers' Digest version, but we must keep up with the times!)

Here goes;

The Mayor of Quebec City, Regis Lebeaume, was convinced by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman that in order to secure an NHL franchise, Quebec needed to build a new arena. Lebeaume quickly put together an arena package, pledged $50 million from his own Quebec City and got a commitment from the provincial government to contribute another $100 million towards the $400 million dollar price tag. He then tried to shakedown the federal government for another $100 million but was unsuccessful. 

In order to keep the project going, the mayor made an un-tendered, under-the-table deal with media scion Pierre-Karl Péladeau to fund the balance by granting Quebecor (Péladeau's company) management of the building and the city's support in his bid to own the potential NHL team.

This didn't sit well with an ex-city official who said that he'd challenge the deal in court because it didn't follow tendering procedures. Lebeaume, fearing that the deal couldn't stand a legal challenge, asked a PQ member of the National Assembly to put forward a private members bill that would shield the city from legal proceedings.
The proposed bill needed unanimous house consent just to be heard, but after some grumbling by the ADQ and Amir Khadir, all members agreed to hear the bill.

As the Bill heads for debate the PQ and the Liberals have indicated that they will vote for it, thus assuring its passage, but many members on both sides of the house have expressed misgivings at the anti-democratic nature of the proposed law.
Monday morning all hell broke loose as three highly placed (and radical) PQ members left the party to sit as independents, with another one joining their ranks yesterday, rather then agree to support Pauline Marois and toe the party line.

Lise Lapointe, Pierre Curzi and Louis Beaudoin

Now the three members who quit on Monday said that they couldn't vote for the bill in good conscience, but failed to mention that Marois offered them a way out. She told them that their vote was not required and they could skip the voting session if they chose to.
But that wasn't good enough and the three walked out on the party via a press conference, without even informing the party beforehand.

Yesterday another PQ member Jean Martin Aussant, also left, but was more direct as to his reasons. He complained that Marois' leadership was the reason for his departure, adding that she wasn't the right person to lead a successful referendum campaign. LINK

All of this was sparked by the unflinching support of Quebeckers to any arena project and the fear by the political parties that opposing  the Lebeaume law would ballot box suicide.

The damage doesn't appear to be over, with Bernard Drainville, one of the few PQ bigwigs remaining advising Marois to make the vote on the arena deal a free vote where members are not forced to vote the party line, or else.....

The split by the four members represents the worst crisis the PQ has ever faced, even worse than after election defeats where at least the party remained united.

A whole new dynamic is created.
Will  the rebels form a new more 'sovereignist' party, one somewhere between the PQ and Quebec solidaire? After all they have almost as many members as the Bloc Quebecois and with further defections likely it's an even bet that a new party could happen?

More likely is that Marois will be shown the door in the true style of the Parti Quebecois, who have a well-earned reputation for eating their leaders.

For federalists it makes for great theatre and my only hope is that the infighting continues for a good long time.

Look for the pages of Vigile.net to fill up quickly, as there's nothing like a good cat-fight to get the pens wagging.

In the meantime, Premier Charest shrewdly put off debate of the Lebaume law until the fall. That way the PQ can have another couple of months to battle it out over an issue that's tearing the party apart.
Well-played!

And so it'll be a summer of Pauline versus the radicals.
Who will win?
I don't care, as long as the fight goes on forever!!!

Arena Madness Sweeps Quebec

Were you ever in a situation when someone close to you was about to make a horrible blunder and try as you would, you couldn't convince them to alter their course?
It's sad and frustrating, a son who starts running with a bad crowd, a daughter who insists on marrying an obvious loser, a brother who abandons his family in search of a more exciting life or a sister who quits school to take up basket weaving.

Nothing you can do can convince them of their folly and all that's remains is to wring your hands and stand back in sad resignation and wait for the train wreck that is about to unfold.

I feel that way watching the comic-drama that surrounds the potential new arena in Quebec city, as the population, the media, as well as the politicians involved, all race towards disaster, supporting a plan and a course of action that can only spell financial ruin.

The big controversy swirling today, revolves around whether Mayor Regis Lebeaume's under-the-table deal with Pierre-Karl Péladeau and his company Quebecor, giving them exclusive management rights to the building is a good idea as well as the idea to insulate that deal from a legal challenge by way of a special law.

The problem is, that it's the wrong issue to be debating.

It's like your son asking for your advice as to whether he should buy a Harley or a BMW in advance of his plan to run off with a biker gang.
If you're a responsible parent , you might just want to slap some sense into him;

"Harley, BMW. Are you insane? For God's sake, PLEASE DON'T JOIN A BIKER GANG!"

And so instead of debating the merits of the Péladeau deal to run the arena, we need to ask ourselves why on Earth we're undertaking a costly new arena WITH NO FIRM COMMITMENT FROM THE NHL.

Regis Lebeaume in the spirit of Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, has sold a bill of goods to Quebeckers, telling them that it's imperative to build an arena first, in order to secure an NHL team later.
He has told everyone who will listen that Gary Bettman, president of the NHL, has told him as much in private and so it must be so....or is it?

Actually, it's pure unadulterated hogwash. Not true. Fiction. Baloney!

It's frustrating to see politicians who are charged with safeguarding the public trust acting so naively and so stupidly.
If Mr. Lebeaume doesn't understand that Bettman is running a game on him and Quebec City he should be ousted from his job for gross stupidity.

Like a trainer holding a biscuit high in the air, just out of the reach of his dog, in a cynical effort to see just how high his dog will jump, Regis Lebeaume has proven he can jump pretty high.

It's strange that Quebeckers don't recognize the same con they themselves have been perpetrating on the federal political parties in Ottawa for decades. 
"Give us more money and benefits and we might vote for you....errr... Maybe."
We all know how that worked out for the Conservatives and the Liberals who gave away the Sun and the Moon and got nothing in return!

What's painfully clear is that Quebec will get a team when Bettman runs out of options for another one of those failing franchises in the southern United States, just like Winnipeg, who backstopped a crumbling Atlanta franchise, which was going down the toilet.

And so getting a NHL franchise in Quebec hasn't got anything to do with a new arena. If it did, Bettman would have long ago sold a new franchise to Quebec City for 200 million, conditional on a new building.

Did any one notice that Bettman didn't seem to care about the smallish arena in Winnipeg which holds about the same number of fans as the current arena in Quebec city, the Colisée?
For Bettman moving a franchise from one city to another is infinitely more palatable than a franchise going Chapter 11 or even worse, just plain folding, bad for the reputation of the league, no doubt.
There is, as we all know, several teams in deep, deep financial trouble, teetering on the brink of disaster.
 
And so Quebec is held in reserve, for the next franchise flop, which Bettman knows better than any, is going to happen a lot sooner than later.

When that midnight flop happens, Quebec will have its franchise, new arena or not.
That's because there are no viable alternatives to Quebec, Bettman knows it and so should we.
The NHL has run out of cities in the United States that would support an NHL franchise, all that is left is Canada and Quebec is the only location left that doesn't conflict with existing franchise territorial rights.
In the meantime Bettman recognizes Lebeaume for the merry sucker that he is and like an expert con man he successfully strings his mark along.
Bettman must be laughing in his beer at the desperate and panicked lengths Lebeaume is going to satisfy a condition that is really of no import. "Jump a little higher please. Good dog, Regis!"

The pitiful hysteria that grips the Province over the prospect of an NHL franchise is a lesson in collective mania that demonstrates that a good con can be run on anyone including a whole society if the bait is right.

I'm reminded of that old classic musical of 1962, the MUSIC MAN, where an expert con man, in order to sell a small town a bunch of musical instruments, convinces them that they need to form a band to combat youth disaffection. His actions to convince the town  are so burlesque and transparent that one would never believe that a con like that could play out in real life, but alas we are witnessing one and the same, in Quebec City's arena fiasco. It's a bit sad.

I'll bet most of you are too young to have seen this classic and so watch and enjoy a master con artist at work.
Unfortunately, Regis Lebeaume and Garry Bettman need no lessons....

 

And so ladies and gentlemen, there's trouble in Quebec City!

 

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Late Breaking.......

Several  stalwarts quit party over PQ support for legislation, supporting Lebeaume arena plan.

More tomorrow....

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Stéphane Dion Back in Fighting Form!

Up until a year ago, you might have thought that Stéphane Dion was just about the worst leader the Liberal Party of Canada ever fielded. As a dark horse who swept into power in the unlikeliest of manner, his storybook ascension to power was followed alas, by a disastrous tenure as leader and a sad and precipitous fall from grace.
Whether it was his poor command of English or the foolish decision to base an electoral campaign on increasing taxes through some sort of green tax, the public wasn't having any of it and so after an electoral disaster he was shown the door rather indelicately.
While the Liberals were glad to see Dion leave, few would have guessed that the next leader, Michael Ignatieff, everything Dion wasn't, would turn out to be infinitely less successful.

One might have assumed that  Dion would fade away politically but he soldiered on and has survived the Liberal massacre of May 2, being returned to Parliament by voters in the Montreal riding of St. Laurent where his ethnic and English base remained more loyal than his Liberal confreres.

In the aftermath of the election slaughter and no prospect of another election for four years, the Liberal party  has announced that it is hunkering down for an extended period of introspection and re-building, even opting to delay the choice of a new leader for eighteen months. And so like a wounded animal that slinks away to lick its wounds, the Liberals have exited the political battlefield and ceded the fight, or so it seems.

Out of  the ashes of the electoral meltdown, Dion has risen like the Phoenix to reclaim past glories when he stood head and shoulders above all, battling the separatists successfully to the point where to Quebec militants, he became the most hated Quebecker since Pierre-Eliot Trudeau.

His successful letter campaign, wherein Dion wrote detailed and exhaustive rebuttals against separatist propaganda in a series of Op-Ed pieces in newspapers across the country, enraged separatists who fumed at the the calm and collected and professorial manner in which he destroyed their positions.

Dion's greatest achievement was the Clarity Act, a law that creates rules for any future referendum. The law allows for separation but only after a clear referendum question is asked and a clear majority is received. 
As much as separatists hate the law, Dion never fails to remind them that it is the law of the land, with the underlying message that to ignore its precepts would mean that the only road to independence would be a unilateral declaration of independence, something almost impossible to sell in Quebec.

Unlike most of his Liberal party cohorts, Dion is not a disheartened or beaten man, his election was a personal triumph, one that he badly needed. Mr. Dion is still in debt vis-a-vis his leadership run and is rumoured to owe over $100,000. His job at $157K guaranteed for another four years will go a long way to assuage the financial stress. Mr. Dion at 55 has just now qualified to receive his Parliamentary pension, but by staying an extra four years (achieving twenty years in Parliament) he will assure himself of a $100K-$150K per year pension when he chooses to retire or is defeated in the next election (not likely.)
With no aspirations to become leader again (been there, done that) Mr. Dion is in a good place, financially secure and free to say and do what he wants.

What he wants to do, is to pursue his political first love, that is to confront separatists and to dispel sovereignist propaganda.
Dion has also correctly identified the Ndp as the real rival to the Liberal Party dream of reclaiming national prominence and as such a convergence of issues and circumstances has placed Jack Layton and the dippers firmly in his cross hairs.

Since Harper and the Conservatives will content themselves to majority rule and leave the political fighting to the boys across the aisle, the only logical battle is the Ndp versus the Liberals and the return of Dion to the fight augers badly for the dippers whose political positions are so eminently attackable, Dion is going to have a field day.

Even snarling Uncle Tom will match up poorly to Dion's calm and deliberate manner and if Mulcair thinks he can bait Dion into a name calling knife fight, he's badly informed.

Here's an example of Dion's intellectual prowess and what the dippers are up against. It's a speech he gave at the 8th Annual Michel Bastarache Conference at the Rideau Club in  February entitled Secession and the Virtues of Clarity.

And so Dion is taking up the fight against Jack Layton, the Ndp and its hypocritical stance on Quebec sovereignty.

Here in a letter to La Press he attacks the idea of 50%+1 being enough of a margin of victory in a referendum LINK{FR}

Here he attacks the separatists hiding in the Quebec wing of the Ndp caucus; 

He [Mr. Layton] should be forced to ask each of its members that they believe in Canada. And if this is not the case, he should say: "I have so many members who are separatists and who would vote " Yes" in a referendum on independence. " He should tell us what he would do, "said Mr. Dion. LINK{FR}

With a majority government before us,  it augers poorly for political debate. The Conservatives have nothing to gain from engaging in partisan debate (for at least three years) and so we might have expected an exceedingly boring time in Ottawa.

Dion has changed all that.
He's set the tone for the debate, chosen an opponent and demarcated the battle lines. It's going to be the Ndp versus the Liberals and the fight is going to be interesting, with the Liberals playing the Canada card and the Ndp forced to defend its Quebec position.

I wouldn't want to be staring down at Dion, his slight professorial bespectacled look belies a tenacious fighter who is just that much smarter and intelligent than his opponents.