Sunday January 29, 2006
An independent Quebec might not be hostile
The Canadian election is over. We have a new government.
Commentators of all political shapes and stripes have speculated endlessly on what kind of a prime minister Stephen Harper will make, how much he can accomplish as a minority government, what direction he will take Canadian society, and on whether he will impose his own right-wing social values on a generally left-leaning population.
I haven\’t heard much commentary about a subject that occasionally loomed large during the campaign – the potential secession of Quebec.
They don\’t call it secession, of course. Nor separatism. According to some of my contacts in Quebec, Paul Martin damaged his cause during the campaign by referring to “separatists.”
The acceptable term, I gather, is “sovereigntist” – one who wants Quebec to be sovereign over its own affairs, in or out of Canada.
Suspicious statistics
Perhaps the subject is no longer discussed because the Bloc Quebecois failed to win 50 per cent of the popular vote in Quebec. Therefore, the reasoning goes, a referendum on independence would not get the necessary 51 per cent either.
I think that reasoning is faulty. It compares apples and oranges. This vote was for representatives to a federal parliament. That would seem to presuppose some value for federal institutions. In no way would it predetermine how one might vote on a different question – such as whether to have a federal institution at all.
I\’m somewhat surprised, by the way, that no one has commented on the clout wielded by Quebec voters.
If I read the figures right, about 15 million Canadians voted. The Conservatives garnered 36 per cent – about 5.3 million votes – and won 124 seats. The Liberals, with 30 per cent or around 4.4 million votes, won 103 seats. The NDP — 17 per cent, 2.5 million votes, 29 seats. The Bloc – 10 per cent, about 1.5 million votes, 51 seats.
Do some math on those figures, and you find that Liberal and Conservative candidates needed about 43,000 voters for each seat they won. The NDP needed roughly 88,000 voters for each seat.
But the Bloc Quebecois needed only 29,000 voters for each seat.
Would that suggest that, under our present electoral system, each BQ vote carries about twice the weight of a Liberal or Conservative vote, and about four times an NDP vote?
Increasingly autonomous
Nationally syndicated columnist Richard Gwyn suggested, long before the campaign, that Quebec had already achieved sovereignty in all but name.
I expect that reality will grow under a Stephen Harper government.
Whatever his convictions about same-sex marriage, gun control, and abortion, there is no doubt that Harper believes in less government. He will reduce Ottawa\’s authority over provincial policies.
Therefore, Quebec cannot help becoming more autonomous.
Does that mean Canada will disintegrate into two hostile nations?
I don\’t think it needs to. The question itself presumes George Bush\’s anti-terrorism sentiment: “If you\’re not with us, you\’re against us.”
Comfortable co-existence
But I just came back from a week\’s vacation in the island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean. Or Sint Maartin. Because it has two names. And two languages. And two governments.
Saint Martin/Sint Maarten claims to be the world\’s smallest island shared by two countries. (Other examples: Haiti/Dominican Republic, England/Scotland, Borneo, Cyprus, and New Guinea.) Half the island is French, half is Dutch.
The interesting thing to me was that I sensed no animosity between to the two sides of the island.
The whole island consists of just 36 square miles and 70,000 people. The north part speaks mainly French, uses European-style licence plates, and prides itself on its culture and gourmet cuisine. The south part speaks mostly English, uses American-looking licence plates, and concentrates on commerce and industry.
There is a border on a map, but none in reality. Cars and people cross from one side to the other as freely as fleas hop from dog to dog.
From what I could see, people know which geographic area, and which culture, they belong to. But they are all equally proud of their island.
And they don\’t seem to feel that the other group should became more like them.
By contrast, consider a remark I heard on U.S. radio a few years ago. The speaker announced that the country faced a crisis. As a result of increased immigration, he said, “More than 30 percent of the population now speaks a language other than our own.”
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For a lighter look at ethics, faith, and life, I recommend Ralph Milton\’s weekly e-newsletter Rumors. You can subscribe to it at the Wood Lake Books home page in Ralph Milton\’s Site, or by sending a note directly to [email protected].
It\’s also worth pursuing Richard Fairchild\’s United Online site. Another site worth visiting is David Keating\’s \”SeemslikeGod\” page.
Where and how, I wonder, do we start believing that anything different from ourselves must be inferior?
Why does any religious faith other than Christianity have to be misguided, incorrect, or threatening?
Why is any economic system other than free-enterprise capitalism necessarily faulty?
Why is any language other than English not worth learning?
During my years as a student, I recall writing essays that expected me to “compare and contrast” poets, cultures, or technologies. Compare is fine; contrast presumed that one must be better than the other.
I spent hours arguing that Shakespeare\’s blank verse was more intellectually challenging than Alexander Pope\’s rhymed couplets, that Michelangelo was a better artist than Leonardo da Vinci, or that African tribal chiefs represented a more democratic social structure than European colonial government.
I hear the same distinctions applied today to arguments about nuclear power plants versus wind, tidal, geothermal, and hydro generation. If one is right, the other must be wrong.
That\’s a long way around to expressing my conviction – a sovereign Quebec need not be a hostile body splitting Canada apart.
The fears fanned during the electoral campaign were, in my opinion, a red herring, a straw figure set up so that it could be knocked down.
The Dutch and French on Sint Maarten/Saint Martin get along together in the confines of a very small island. I see no reason why English and French cannot get along equally well on a much larger continent.
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Copyright © 2002 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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