A MODEST PROPOSAL

I'm going to pivot from the usual political rant today with A Modest Proposal I have.

When Jonathan Swift penned his “A Modest Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the Publick”, commonly referred to as A Modest Proposal, he was being sarcastic and possibly even facetious. 

I want to assure the reader that I am being neither.  My idea is delivered with the greatest degree of seriousness I could ever hope to provide for indeed I am absolutely convinced that I am indeed on to something great and wonderful.

My Modest Proposal is this: “I would be the best and most effective leader the Bloq Quebecois could ever hope to have.”

If you know me you have now likely had a stroke of some sort, at the very least your eyebrows have just shot up in surprise and you are no doubt convinced that I am joking.

And why wouldn’t you?  When one thinks of the Bloq Quebecois they think of a rabid separatist.  An old-stock Quebecker, someone who can trace their ancestry back to the regime of New France.  What they call Québécois de souche. 

Or someone who feels strongly possessive about Quebec staying French, and not that foreign French, the real ‘true blue’, ‘dyed-in-the-wood’ original Québécois pure laine.  

I am neither.  I wasn’t born in Quebec.  I’m not even acadienne, or franco-canadienne, franco-manitobaine, franco-ontarienne or fransaskoise.  As near as I can tell there isn’t an ounce of French blood in me, and I’ve had my DNA done!

I can’t even speak the language.  Oh sure, I know a few words but even then my efforts at pronunciation have been directed at fitting in with Paris, not la belle Province.

On that level one can’t imagine a less likely leader for the Bloq Quebecois than a middle-aged, born on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River, Anglo who believes in a strong, united Canada.  A person who grew up in the west where Quebec hating was nearly doctrine.  A person who barely passed the first two semesters of High School French and completely failed the third.  A person who then spent 5 years living in Calgary.

Yet here I am.  Making this absurd claim.

And the reason I remain convinced I am the best person for the job is this:  I KNOW WHAT QUEBEC WANTS AND HOW TO GET IT.

Quebec doesn’t need another passionate Quebecois speaking Quebec-centric dogmatic thinker, trying to threaten and bully the rest of Canada into concessions from their narrowing vantage point. 

When you break what Quebec wants down to its philosophical core it’s not really any different than what Alberta wants.  And at its core that’s a message that could also translate to New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland.  It’s a very simple platform and the clue comes from what the people who have argued against Quebec Separatism have called themselves.

Federalists.

See, Canada isn’t the only nation which has had Federalists on one side.  People arguing for a strong, central government that exercises excessive control over the various components of the collective.  Canada isn’t the only nation where parts of it are in opposition to that idea.  America has them.  American practically invented them. 

And down there the opposite of Federalist isn’t Separatists.  The technical term is Anti-Federalists, people who argue that the US Constitution gives too much power to the federal government while taking too much power away from state and local governments. They are the people who feel that the federal government is too far removed to represent the average citizen. 

They exist to this day.

Ultimately Quebec doesn’t want to leave Canada. 

Every so-called Separatist’s proposal has included the idea of continuing to use Canadian money, Canadian passports and benefiting from the various Federal social service plans (CPP, EI, etc).  Quebec doesn’t need the hassle of creating their own version of these and the mechanism for removing their contributions from them would be ridiculous to work out.  They just want more control of immigration and how their participation in Canada affects them and the society they want to create.

In short they want the Canadian equivalent of STATES’ RIGHTS.

Provinces are a form of State.  A sub-state in Confederation.  So when you think about it that way then the opposite of Federalism isn’t Separatists, but Self-Determinists.  And what Separtists are seeking for Quebec boils down to the Canadian version of the difference between States’ Rights and Federalism.

And Alberta wants in.  Which basically boils down the same thing, self-determination. 

Canada allows freedom of movement, so if the Albertan electorate votes in and supports a government that wants two-tier healthcare, why shouldn’t they be allowed to incorporate it?  Alberta, BC and Ontario charge healthcare premiums so it’s not like the playing field is even across the land.  What’s wrong with Albertan having the type of healthcare they want?  What’s wrong with Quebecois having the type of immigration they want?  If you don’t like it then there are 8 other provinces to choose from, or stick around and work to change the system from within.

That’s what every Canadian has to grasp with anyway.  When a Provincial government is elected they don’t like, one that insists on dismantling the established structure, the disgruntled voters shouldn’t be able to pit the Federal government against them.  The Constitution wasn’t written with that in mind.  That’s why our Charter of Rights permits the right of mobility – to move from an area you don’t like to one you do. 

The most important thing in healthcare is that anyone travelling anywhere in Canada can get basic medical help in an emergency and that this care is comparable no matter where they are in the country.  Why shouldn’t we provide the provinces with more power to determine their needs and priorities?

But to do that, proponents of Provincial Self-Determinism must get more members elected.

And since there’s strength in numbers, the best way for Quebec to get what’s important to Quebec is to open up their tent.  Spread beyond their borders, first by changing themselves to BLOQ FRANCOPHONE and recruiting and running candidates in areas where there are sizeable metis, acadienne, franco-manitobaine, franco-ontarienne and fransaskoise populations.  Then by promoting the common issues for franco-canadiennes across the country.

And then expanding the franchise throughout Canada on a broader Provincial Self-Determination platform under the BLOQ PROVINCIAL/PROVINCE BLOCK party banner.

But to do that they’re going to need someone who understands the concepts behind States’ Rights and who is a quick, passionate speaker that can address British Columbians, Albertans (and others in the Prairies), Ontarians and those in Atlantic Canada (even those in PEI) as someone who understands their local needs because he has lived among them, knows their regions, loves the things that differentiate an Alberta from a Manitoban; a Newfoundlander from a Nova Scotian. 

They’re going to need someone who wants their voices heard in Parliament, returning the House of Commons to a body where Representatives represent their voters; and are free to argue issues from the perspective of what their Members of Parliament should be doing for them and their region. 

Someone who wants to see MP’s promote the needs of the Provinces and regions that sent them in the nation’s capital – not as part of a Federalist agenda, but as part of an agenda of provincial self-determination.  And can do so by finding the common ground of each argument, not one about immigration or healthcare, but one about self-determination.  About the rights of each Canadian to elect a government that addresses their needs and concerns.

And because you catch more flies with honey than vinegar that person is going to have to be an Anglo. 

Self-determination is the core of what the Bloq Quebecois stands for and I believe that Members of Parliament should get back to the pre-party partisan days of voting behind Federalist agendas just because they are Federal parties.  That we need to return to MPs being Representatives of those who elected them, and that debating these ideas in the Commons is the best path to finding common ground and the compromises that will benefit of all regions, not uniformly but each according to the wishes of the voting electorate.

And because of this my modest proposal is that the person leading the Bloq Quebecois should be me.

Which by now shouldn’t seem like that wacky an idea after all.

VOTE GARY