Protesting Bill 96 Peacefully is a Humiliating Waste of Time

A lot of good people in the English community are organizing what they believe to be a spirited campaign to counter the  effects of the proposed Bill 96, a law presented by the Quebec government as a needed defence of the French language but in reality just another mean-spirited device to inflict more pain on the anglo and Ethnic community.

While I laud the good intentions to oppose the law, these efforts are pathetic and doomed to failure.
What's worse, this type of effort is actually counter-productive because it is not only a fight we will lose but one in which we will be humiliated.

"The Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) held a two-day virtual conference titled Our Place in Quebec and Canada. The QCGN is strongly research-based. Its leadership is steeped in experience and knowledge of the issues; there are also young up-and-coming leaders. It has done considerable consultation within the community and opened dialogues with politicians and other community organizations. The QCGN is gearing up for the public hearings through coalition-building and highlighting the impact of Bill 96 on individual freedoms. It will be working on outreach, legal strategies and letter-writing campaigns to educate not only anglophones, but francophones, with a view to sparking a debate on the type of Quebec we want to build together. The QCGN has valuable information on its website, including its analysis of the bill." Robert Libman

Letter-writing campaign?

With apologies to my friend Robert Libman who penned the above in a Montreal Gazette article, the protest route is a solution destined to fail miserably which will result in our collective humiliation at the hands of separatists and nationalists who will delight in our painful and pointless begging, an exercise that will serve only to edify and entertain our opponents who view us with scorn and disdain.

Think of a Spanish bullfight where the bull is forced into the ring and mercilessly poked and speared, pre-ordained to perish ignominiously by way of a thousand cuts.
For the cutthroat arena fans, the longer the pain and suffering of the beast, the greater the enjoyment.
If I could communicate with the bull, I'd tell him not to enter the ring or at least not to fight, saving its dignity, if not its life, thus depriving the rabid mob of its morbid quest for blood.

So too, our potential letter-writers and peaceful Bill 96 protesters are the doomed bull. 
They are that same confused, bewildered beast, destined to ignominious defeat.

So welcome to the real Quebec language debate where inflicting pain upon our community is the goal, an endeavour our Premier and his nationalist ilk of anglophones and ethnophobes actually enjoy.

Our pathetic and painful protest movement will be seen by our tormentors as but a delicious appetizer to the main course, where they gleefully drop the hammer on the English and Ethnic community, the proverbial coup de grace that once and for all declares Quebec French and French alone.

And so respectfully I submit that peaceful debate and protest is the absolute wrong strategy to adopt because there is no reasonable compromise to be had and no hope of even the tiniest scrap of compromise.
 
Please don't do it.

You only have to read the French press which universally paints us as entitled exploiters and colonialists who deserve to be taken down a peg or two.  Day after day, rants liken us to the British poobahs of India, living the good life of entitlement, paid for by the blood, sweat and tears of the downtrodden francophone masses. 

Such is the coordinated narrative being woven by the CAQ government and supported by a grovelling French press eager to dump on 'les Autres.'

And so there are only three avenues left to us that have any chance of success and all don't involve peaceful protest and useless letter-writing campaigns.

The first is a violent revolt, which none of us has the stomach, the nerve or inclination to undertake.

The second is civil disobedience, effective but again not an avenue we are inclined to pursue, having put our faith in the democratic process all our lives, it's hard to become scofflaws.
But before outright rejection of civil disobedience, remember how the students brought the province to its knees over tuition increases. The students were actually protesting for sport and eventually lost interest, but had they continued to put on pressure on the public through disruptions, who knows what blackmail they could have squeezed out of the government. Most importantly,  the lesson learned was that the public had no stomach for a fight and zero taste for a protracted and uncomfortable state of siege.
In the end, the public was screaming for capitulation whatever the cost.

But the third option is the more interesting path and one guaranteed to make our opponents sit up and take notice....

PARTITION.
A BREXIT MOVEMENT FOR MONTREAL IS THE ANSWER

Now before you shake your head and mutter about the plan's futility, a partition movement for the Island of Montreal makes more sense than you can imagine and isn't half as unrealistic as your first estimate would conclude.
Remember that when the Brexit movement in Great Britain started it was laughed off as a futile effort by a tiny minority of cranks.

THE ELEVENTH PROVINCE.

The island of Montreal represents everything that separatists and nationalists hate and everything that we federalists value.
Immigrants, diversity, religious freedom and bilingualism are the ideas that the proponents of Bill 96 abhor and values that the very large majority of those living on the island of Montreal adhere to.

The partition of Montreal makes political sense because of its natural boundaries and its federalist majority.
I know that some will argue for a larger basin but adding other areas isn't feasible.

On the if-come Montreal holds a winning referendum and seceded from Quebec, those Quebecers who want to remain federalist are welcome to move to the island as are those who are not may choose to leave.

There isn't any doubt that presented with an opportunity to create a bilingual, diverse and religiously tolerant province, a YES vote is not only feasible but likely for Montreal. 

WE ARE THE MAJORITY.

And most importantly we can count on the rest of Canada to support this new province unreservedly since Montreal is the only thing Canadians like about Quebec.
Should Quebec choose independence after Montreal becomes a province, you won't see any love-in rallies by Canadians begging them to stay. The prevailing attitude would more likely be good riddance.

Would the Quebec government allow such a referendum?

Absolutely not, it would fight the idea tooth and nail, but that is what independence movements are all about, the fight for recognition for the right of self-determination.

More importantly, once a credible secession threat is made the debate will change dramatically. We will no longer be begging for favours and the more stringent the limitations placed upon our community, the faster support for partition will grow.

Separatists and nationalists are a paranoid lot and suffer from recurring delusional conspiracy theories.

Let us give them the granddaddy of it all.
A partition movement will be frightening and just a few posters and meetings will send them into a frenzied fit of apoplexy.

The French news channels will exaggerate the movement because that is what they do, thus giving legitimacy to the movement.

Faced with real and frightening push-back, the francophone majority will no doubt reconsider its harsh treatment of our communities. Faced with the dilemma of something to lose (and losing Montreal is a pretty big deal) I've no doubt that the majority will seek rapprochement rather than a bloody war, one which they very well may lose.

1. Ambit claim

   In negotiation, an ambit claim is an extravagant initial demand made in expectation of an eventual counter-offer and compromise. In labour union negotiations, this is called a Blue Sky demand.

Pushing for partition is a strategy that will be infinitely more successful in protecting our rights than will be peaceful protests. 

Whether partition is achieved or not, the effort will be rewarded.
Save your letters for grandma....