According to Mathieu Bock-Côté, if few people have expressed interest in leading the Quebec Liberal Party, it is because “Canada is indefensible, and the federalists know it.” “Who will dare to wave the Canadian flag and say without laughing that it is the most beautiful country in the world?” asks the columnist.
• Also read: Canada is indefensible, and the federalists know it
Personally, I would have no problem waving the Canadian flag and making such a statement. This claim was essentially confirmed by the American magazine US News and World Report, which ranks Canada as the second best-perceived country in the world (behind Switzerland). On the UN Human Development Index scale, Canada ranks 15th out of 191 countries.
At the same time as the maple leaf, I would wave the flag of Quebec with equal pride. In fact, the Quebec Liberals are nationalists who have Quebec’s interests first and foremost at heart. And because we have Quebec’s interests at heart, we conclude that it is far better for our province to be part of the Canadian federation than to seek its fortunes as a separate country.
Of course, the Canada described by MBC cannot be justified. The problem is that this Canada only exists in the columnist’s imagination. No, the development of Canada does not condemn “the people of Quebec to marginality,” provided that Quebecers fully assume their role within the federation.
It is true that Quebec’s demographics – low birth rate, aging population – are worrying and that Quebec’s political clout may therefore be declining. However, a demographic slowdown would also hamper an independent Quebec, particularly in possible negotiations for a sovereignty association agreement with Canada. In any case, Quebec has all the tools to accelerate population growth, as long as our leaders are not blinded by an “integration capacity” that has never been precisely defined.
Mass immigration?
Following MBC’s bad caricature, Ottawa is “relying on massive immigration” to “ensure its political influence in Quebec.” This accusation shows a complete misunderstanding of Canada, whose migration policy has absolutely nothing to do with Quebec. Above all, Canada wants more immigrants because we rightly see them as a source of dynamism and prosperity.
According to Mr. Bock-Côté, “The next Captain Canada will be a Bonhomme Sept Heures who disparages French-speaking Quebecers by telling them they are incapable of governing themselves.” That is not the Federalists’ argument. The question is not whether Quebec CAN separate, but whether it MUST. Of course, an independent Quebec would be feasible; But would it be as prosperous and stable as Quebec today, reaping the significant economic benefits of participating in a vast integrated market?
Federalist criticism of the Parti Québécois’ recent “first year budget” is described by the columnist as “pathetic.” Frankly, I don’t understand what’s pathetic about questioning the PQ’s happy vision. There is a lack of both seriousness and openness in setting a supposedly strict “budget” while completely ignoring the possibility that the separation will create economic uncertainty in the short and long term. And it doesn’t mean resorting to “fear tactics” to say this; it’s more about realism.
According to the intellectual leader of the Quebec separatists, the role of leader of the Quebec Liberal Party will eventually “degrade anyone who assumes it.” We understand that not many of them apply.” For my part, I am convinced that it is until the beginning of the PLQ leadership contest in 18 months will have several good candidates who will be both proud to be Quebecers and proud to be Canadians – feelings shared by most Quebecers.
And the person who wins this race will have every reason to be proud to lead the greatest political party in our history.
ANDRE PRATTE, Co-chair of the Quebec Liberal Party Revitalization Committee.
ANSWER FROM MATHIEU BOCK-CÔTÉ
André Pratte has set himself a mission that is both comical and herculean: he wants to become the reference federalist intellectual in Quebec, like a Claude Ryan of the 2020s. Every man has the right to his dreams and ambitions, but these are a bit strange.
To achieve this, he multiplies the response rights, he tweets, he writes reports, each time with the same message: the PLQ would be at the same time an essential party serving Canada and a Quebec nationalist. There is no doubt that it is in the service of Canada: it is a submissive and unconditional federalist party that knows no limits to breaking with a federalism that it sanctifies and absolutizes.
However, his claim to be nationalist is a joke, as evidenced by his submission to the dogma of mass immigration, which he justifies by saying that Quebec can increase its population in the federation and secure its political weight by raising the disproportionately high thresholds.
I quote: “Quebec certainly has all the tools to accelerate population growth, as long as our leaders are not blinded by a ‘capacity to integrate’ that has never been precisely defined.” The capacity to integrate would therefore be a myth. Big thing. We obscure reality and fail to change it. And if we are unable to integrate, let us abolish the concern about integration. It is the same logic that pushes Pratte-style federalists to grossly manipulate statistics to make us believe that the situation of the French in Quebec is reassuring.
In a word: to remain federalist in Quebec today, we must move to an invented, hallucinated world in which reality is blocked out.
I honestly admit that I cannot take a man seriously who has reached this point. And I actually don’t take André Pratte seriously anymore.
