Contribution to Place du Canada/ Canada Place

by Matt Sanger

I am very glad to see an initiative by ordinary Canadians to discuss how to reach an accommodation with Quebec. I have no hope that the federal government and the premiers are capable of reaching one.

One reason is the very weak performance of Chretien -- he was disastrous in the No campaign and his post-referendum speech was almost as frightening for its lack of any substance as Parizeau's was for its intolerance and bitterness. And who can believe the more recent comparison of the No victory with a ninth inning victory?. I felt throughout the referendum campaign that it was wrong for the No side to stick to the position that a Oui is a vote for outright separation. Now I fear that position is helping to feed the backlash in other provinces against Quebec.

The other reason I have no hope that our elected leaders can solve the problem is that provincial premiers are more inward looking than ever. None seem capable of bracketing their particular provincial interests in order to reach a compromise for the national good. The federal government's cuts to transfers and decentralization of spending responsibility reinforces the political pressure on premiers to always put their own particular provincial interests first.

I think some kind of popular initiative by individual Canadians is the only way we will ever reach an accommodation with Quebec. I was in Montreal during the Place du Canada rally but was reluctant to attend because I felt the No side had not given Quebeckers any positive reason to vote no (and because I had got my fill of jingoistic flag waving at a Yes rally in Verdun a couple of days earlier).

In the end I did go and I was warmed by the presence of so many fleurs de lis, as well as maple leaves, and by the very strong message of tolerance and willingness to reach an accommodation that I sensed in the crowd (I couldn't hear anything any of the speakers said! ) . I hope I am not naive in thinking there is a large reservoir of ordinary Canadians who want to reach some accommodation with Quebec, and whose views are not represented by our elected leaders. Obviously a large share of Quebeckers also want to retain very close links with Canada, inside our outside confederation.

For me, the vital questions are not whether or not Quebec takes on the trappings of a sovereign country. In any case the effective sovereignty of nation states is being diminished by economic forces. What matters are the real, practical day to day links between Canadians and Quebeckers. Can we maintain collectivist institutions and social programs which support a way of life that is different that in the US? The pressure to accelerate decentralization of powers to the provinces, in order to keep Quebec in confederation, points in the other direction. But because our political leaders seem incapable of getting beyond the sterile constitutional conflicts over "distinct society" etc. the national debate has never connected with these social concerns.

So ... I think initiatives like this one are the only glimmer of hope we have. I hope we move towards discussion of constituent assemblies and other ways of breaking the current logjam.