Sammy's Dot

Now that I’ve more or less stopped fuming over the proroguement of Parliament, I want to get down my thoughts about the Bloc Quebecois and the perception of their place in the coalition.

I don’t agree with the Bloc’s goal of sovreignty for Quebec, and I think the Bloc is incorrect in their argument that sovreignty will improve the situation of the the Quebecois both on the world stage and in North America. I think that despite the intense regionalism across Canada, most of our individual regions are stronger together than they are separately.

This is illustrated particularly strongly in some of the Bloc’s campaign material. In this pamphlet (PDF), for example, although every section ends with a declaration that things would be better in a sovereign Quebec, the platform consists almost entirely of asking for federal funding from Ottawa while demanding that Ottawa allow Quebec greater freedom to chart its own path.

Demanding a raise of federal transfers for post-secondary education (college and university) and social programs of 2.75 billion $ over three years for Quebec.

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Continuing to demand the abolition of loopholes in the income tax system allowing Canadian businesses to pay less than they should by settling in Barbados, a tax haven.

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Becoming the relay to the federal government of the initiatives coming from within that are common ground in Quebec’s regions.

Despite their advocacy of Quebec sovreignty, it’s pretty clear that the Bloc Quebecois is now essentially a regional party, dedicated to promoting their province at the federal level. This can be grating for the rest of Canada when it seems as though the Bloc is arguing that Quebec is special and the rest of us are not, but it is hardly treasonous, particularly when the requirements for separation from the country are now written into law.

But by insisting that any government which is supported by the Bloc officially is of necessity illegitimate, the Conservatives are not just reopening a painful debate about whether or not Quebec should separate. They are arguing that a party with a great deal of support within Quebec, and strong representation in the House of Commons, essentially does not count because of their sovreignist platform. It cannot be repeated enough that support for sovreignty is not illegal, and is not illegitimate. I may not like that platform, but I don’t think that calling the Bloc the devil is going to lure its supporters to me. I think that it’s quite likely that the Bloc will actually be strengthened in the next election by the not unjustified feeling that the rest of Canada is ganging up on Quebec and discounting the status of their elected representatives. This will make it hard for any party to gain a majority in Parliament, and makes it all the more important for politicians to take the long view and remember that they will be working together for the foreseeable future.

As a group, we Canadians need to work harder on reaching across our regional and linguistic divides. I dislike the Bloc’s intense regionalism because it works to strengthen those divides. I would argue that the solution is for our members of Parliament to acknowledge the importance of regional advocacy and to recognize that we have many common fears and hopes across regions as well.

I’ll end by saying that, as an anglophone, my knowledge of Quebec is obviously limited; I’ve visited the province but do not live there. I speak French more or less fluently, and attended French immersion schools, but my analysis of the situation vis-a-vis the Bloc and their position in the House of Commons is coming from the outside. For a position quite different from mine, one could check out this post by AngryFrenchGuy, which argues that Gilles Duceppe is going to be hurt by his willingness to sign on with the NDP and the Liberals. I’m not convinced, particularly after the way Quebec voters perceived the arts funding cuts in the previous election, but his post raises a valid point.