François Legault dreamed of a four-year mandate devoted exclusively, if not primarily, to economics. Of course, he knew that if Laws 21 and 96 were challenged in the Supreme Court, the identity question would catch up with him. But he thought he had a few more years ahead of him. He was wrong.
Less than a month after his election, it exploded in his face after Ottawa decided to take in 500,000 immigrants annually.
Let’s not be surprised: Canadian elites have dreamed of this scenario for several years, hoping to make Canada a country of 100 million people by the end of the century. You just went from dream to action.
demographics
These 500,000 immigrants per year correspond to Canada’s vision of itself as a post-national country with no common identity other than the Charter of Rights and a façade of bilingualism in which the English language dominates.
The thesis of the two founding peoples, to which some Quebecers still refer, was long kept in the attic of dead ideas in English Canada.
Ultimately, Canada’s only identity is its cult of multiculturalism, which it presents as a celebration of diversity, which might even lead it to celebrate the niqab. He is involved in an unprecedented ideological experience.
For Quebecers, the situation is radically different.
Quebec is a nation and has a future only insofar as the historic French-speaking majority that compose it retains a clear demographic preponderance.
This is the only way she can succeed in making immigrants too French.
His position is already in jeopardy. The current thresholds of 50,000 (ignoring “temporary” and illegal immigration) are already leading to a radical decline in French.
If Canada raises its thresholds as expected, linguistic and demographic regression will gain momentum.
These thresholds of 500,000 per year are illusory and herald a demographic drowning of Francophones, to use René Lévesque’s term.
Our integration and Frenchization capacities are not infinite.
Within the Canadian framework, Quebec is caught in a deadly trap.
Either they raise their thresholds to keep up with the rest of the country and avoid their political weight loss. But then he suicidally agrees to an erasure of his French-speaking character.
Either he rejects the raising of the threshold values, but then he is doomed to political marginalization.
federalists
In Quebec itself, the weight of the Francophones has begun to decline to the point where a party like the PLQ can become the official opposition with less than 10% of the Francophone vote.
François Legault’s autonomy is hitting a wall. He has no way of impeding this movement.
Many federalists will have to ask themselves this question.
When will they judge that Quebec’s situation in the Federation is demographically unsustainable?
If they don’t even have the courage to ask, it’s because they already agreed to our disappearance.
