Friday, December 02, 2005

Que SIS?

This blog was supposed to be a commentary on the general life of a west-coaster in Quebec, but everywhere I turn are big political issues and I can't seem to keep myself from spouting on about the election or the environment. To try and keep things on track somewhat, I'm going to talk about my ever-evolving position on Quebec independence.

From what I can gather in the media, the Bloc Québécois is using this election primarily to push for sovereignity. The big news (and I suspect this is only a small part of a much more holistic platform) is that the Bloc are calling for a separate intelligence service and separate Quebec teams in the olympics (where they'd probably win more medals than Canada). As I say, I'm sure those ideas have been exaggerated a bit, but when I hear them, I can't help but react negatively to the Bloc.

The thing is, when it comes to individuals, I can sympathize with the movement for Quebec to become a separate country. This sympathy has grown stronger now that I've taught a half-semester of 10th grade Quebec history. At best, French Canada has been an afterthought to the english leaders of the country. Now that it has gained power, it's become an annoyance. Culturally speaking, this creates a very strong feeling of separation among the Québécois. For many of them, they don't understand why they should be part of this thing called Canada when it doesn't really recognize that they exist. These feelings have been exacerbated and strengthened with the success of Bill 101. I think, at this point, that a cultural move towards isolation and a single french language may be a necessary development, a reaction to over 100 years of inequality.

However, I think it is a failure and a loss for Canada and Quebec, to let this trend continue. Despite the powerful cultural differences of language, French-Canadians in Quebec are deeply Canadian, far more than they realize. I've lived for 11 years in the states and I spent a lot of that time noting differences between American and Canadian culture. I can tell you that if we had some language machine and sat down some hoser from Merritt with some tabernaco bonhomme from Chicoutimi and a redneck from Mendocino, CA in the same basement with a case of beer and a hockey game, the two Canadians would bond a lot quicker with each other than with the American.

Politically speaking the hoser doesn't really care about the french situation, though he'd certanly gripe about the taxes he's paying the feds. The bougon probably doesn't care too much about the language situation either, except that he's paying taxes to some english government out in Toronto. I guess there must be some working class people in Quebec who feel strongly about the protection of the french culture, but most of the noise seems to come from the educated classes, as far as I can tell.

I feel like the Bloc and the Parti are both hitting the separationist card really hard right now because they know it appeals to the emotional side of a lot of older, voting quebecois. I suspect that a lot of them (Boisclair in particular) don't really believe that strongly in true independence for Quebec. They just want to get as much power as possible, as do most of the other provincial leaders, and they just happen to have a very significant cultural and historical reason to fight for it.

I think it's a shame. I think it's the same as the Conservatives still harping on and on about gay marriage. There are real problems in Canada and the federal government needs to be addressing them. The environment, our education system and our health care are crucial and all three are seriously jeopardizing the future of the country. Why can't the Bloc use their power to make some changes for all of Canada. Fight for their platform of social welfare and a clean environment? Ally themselves with the NDP to push for those kinds of changes. Hell, they could even ally with the tories to push for some of this anti-corruption legislation (like the tories even give a shit about that other than as an election issue with which to attack the Liberals). Build up some capital with the rest of the country. Do something!

Then they can turn around and start pushing for independence. When the rest of Canada sees that the Bloc is not just a bunch of whiners whose only position is to gain power in the House so they can leave it, they may be that much more cooperative. They may even get some votes.

Instead, they keep pushing to become a separate nation. They don't even know if their own populace is behind them. And in pushing, they further the divide between cultures of a great country. It's destructive and irresponsible and hurts themselves worse than anybody. I offer myself, an anglophone resident of Quebec who a month ago was seriously considering supporting a sovereign Quebec, simply because they have the right to it. But I'm certainly not going to vote for independence if the leaders of that movement can't demonstrate that they actually care about anything other than independence. Or their own power.

3 comments:

Buzby said...

I agree with you that the seperation of Quebec would be a shame. But when you look at the bigger picture you can't help but think that the entire country will soon go its seperate ways. British Columbia and especially Alberta are not fond of the Federal government but for different reasons and they are both sufficiently resource rich nations to make in on their own. You have nicely analyzed the Quebec situation in your various posts. Cultutally many of the Maritime provinces are closer to New England than Canada. The problem provinces are in the north and central Canada. Within 10 years Canada will only mean a loose confedration of indpendent nations much like the Commonwealth or the EU.

Many people think that the seperation of Quebec will be marked by widespread political and economic turmoil. I agree with the former but not with the latter. Quebec will have no choice - for its own economic survival - to maintain its economic ties with Canada. So, while there will be no shortage of political upheaval the predictions of recessions or depressions are exagerated.

Olivier said...

I guess there are two things here with wich I disagree:

a) What cultural isolation? Independence just isn't geared that way. Heck, Québec at all just isn't geared that way. Protection and developpment are two very important aspects of the independentist discourse on culture, but isolation isn't.

b) "Why can't the Bloc use their power to make some changes for all of Canada. Fight for their platform of social welfare and a clean environment? Ally themselves with the NDP to push for those kinds of changes. Hell, they could even ally with the tories to push for some of this anti-corruption legislation (like the tories even give a shit about that other than as an election issue with which to attack the Liberals). Build up some capital with the rest of the country. Do something! "

That's an important plea, and it certainly isn't without echoes troughout Québec. But there is no use into adressing it to the Bloc, they are independentists. That should be adressed to the feds, or, even better, to the provincial liberals.

It is an important call to these guys. There is that absolutely insane strategy that was developped and stuck to trough every single thing that happened since Charlottetown was sunk: the federalists, in Québec, just stopped talking about the Québec-Canada situation, unless it's to say "Booo! We are all gonna die! Oh, and I'm proud to be Canadian!". Why is it so? Beats me, I'm just a separatist intellectual living on the Plateau...

It's not like the Bloc is that unstoppable Juggernaut. That would rather be the cynicism of a majority of Quebeckers toward federal power.

Olivier said...

Oh, one last thing:

The whole separation theme is still a pretty important card for the Liberals too; I'd guess Duceppe wouldn't talk about independence if he had the choice.