No, this is not a misspelling. In a recent interview with the CBC, a Bloc Quebecois winner—one of four in the newly elected House of Commons, commented on her parties fortunes. It was, she said, that the electors were “tricked” by the NDP. She graciously said that she would accept the decision of the electorate but that 24% of the voters in Quebec supported the BQ and therefore the BQ should be granted official party status by the House. This was particularly true, she said, because the four compatriots represent the “nation of Quebec”.
Get real. When I last heard, Quebec was still part of Canada though it did not and has not signed on to the Canadian constitution. In 1982 it was allowed to “opt out” and it did. Canada, therefore, has an orphan province.
It is inconceivable to me that Canada should have allowed the seating of a party in Parliament whose stated aims was to have Quebec secede from Canada. It is also inconceivable to me that no one has challenged the validity of the party in the courts.
Problem is, though, that Quebec as it now stands represents a treasure trove of seats all of which seem to be a bit up in the air. Now they are NDP but I cannot see this as a future trend in Canadian politics. Quebecers will side with either the party in power or the one that it perceives will be in power. It is only in that way can it squeeze the country for an inordinate amount of federal support. The NDP cannot achieve what the BQ did not achieve: any real traction in Ottawa. There will either be a reemergence of the BQ (not likely) or the seats will come up for grabs by whatever mainstream party promises them the most.
I am a strong supporter of the right of Quebec to maintain its cultural identity. I am even a supporter of a bilingual country as envisaged by Trudeau. That is the way the country was formed and Quebec got most of its rights through legislation even though its military leader was defeated. But that is completely within the context of Quebec being part of Canada.
I believe that there should be one last try at including Quebec in Canada’s constitution. In that Layton is correct. If Quebec decides not to sign, then aid to the province in the form of federal-provincial equalization payments should stop. Transfer payments for healthcare should stop. The skewing of federal programs to favour Quebec should stop.
I proposed this solution in 1983 when I was an advisor to the Deputy Minister of Finance. Remember we had a Liberal government and a francophone Minister of Finance and Prime Minister. Such a solution, I was told, would break the country up. Quebec would unilaterally declare itself a country. I thought that this was nonsense then and nonsense now. Even at its most virulent, Quebec wanted to leave Canada but have Canada pay for most of its expenses. It wanted Canada to defend it. It wanted a common currency. It wanted its defense to be guaranteed by Canada. In return it would give Canadian free passage to eastern Canada.
There is always a small group of people who want to opt out of some part of Canadian life. There are Newfoundlanders who rue the day that Joey Smallwood signed up for Canada. There are Westerners who would feel more comfortable as part of the United States. The First Nations would rather that we all go home. Canada is a geographically large with an equally large number of regional interests. We have, for almost 150 years, managed to negotiate these differences within the boundaries of one country. We need a united country and, if we cannot have that, we need to define the terms by which Quebec would leave us.
If I were Prime Minister I would ask that Parliament not seat the 4 BQ members. But then again I’m not and I’m dreaming.
Bernie.
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