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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.
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