CHAPTER 15
The Parti Québécois and the Two Question Referendum
What is the one thing you want to say
to members of the sovereignty movement and the Parti Québécois regarding the Two
Question Referendum?
A Quebec with a Bill 101 will never, ever become an independent nation. Only a
free, mature Quebec which treats all its citizens equally will become the nation
that it is. Quebec isn’t a third world country and shouldn’t act like one.
Getting rid of Bill 101 will mean that Quebec has joined the family of
responsible, civilized, nations.
And don’t wait for independence; when you next form the government, repeal Bill
101. If you do that, you’ll be surprised at how quickly independence follows.
For if you start acting like a real nation who will be able to stop you becoming
that nation?
Whenever you have to force a language or culture on a people, that language or
culture ceases to be a legitimate language or culture. The Bill 101 within
Canada scenario has trapped Quebecers into becoming Canadians, not a nation.
And the most vile form of Canadians: human rights violators dependent upon the
equalization teat. Is this the kind of province you want to live in? Is this the
kind of nation that you want to celebrate, that Stephen Harper pushes and
encourages? Laws of coercion and restriction on free expression of language and
culture have over the past thirty years been introduced, passed, and become law
in Quebec as a province within Canada. Support and promotion of such great
Canadian laws keep Quebec within Canada.
As Daniel Latouche observed:
Provinces and states can have such restrictive language and cultural laws (such as Bill 101 and Bill 178), but full-fledged nation-states, those who aspire to play among the big boys (and the big girls) of international relations, cannot afford to be caught with such restrictions on their hands.[120]
What will the transition costs from a
province to an independent state be like for Quebecers?
Costly and rough. Let’s not mince words: there will be a heavy price to pay to
become an independent nation and the transition to that state will be tough
economically and emotionally.
You said earlier that the Two Question Referendum concept can only work if
the Parti Québécois adopts it.
Without the PQ's co-operation, the entire concept is unworkable.
Will they see the merits of the proposal? Will they feel that the Two
Question Referendum is as beneficial to them as it is to the non-Francophone
community?
I believe so.
Let's start with the obvious reason: the PQ may not be able to win a majority
"yes" in an independence referendum without the neutralization of the 20% no
block vote. I believe this will be the main motivating factor behind the PQ’s
adoption of the Two Question Referendum concept.
The PQ will compare what they can gain against what they can lose.
They gain a "yes" on the independence question.
They lose control over the civil rights and self-determination of the
people that occupy the few hundred square kilometers of land that will make up
the province of Quebec West ... territory and sovereignty that they may not have
much control over once Quebec becomes independent any way.
How's that?
Several reasons:
1) The territorial question. Partition becomes that much less of a threat when
the people and area threatening partition vote for independence.
2) Geo-political divisions -- such as provinces -- may occur in an independent
Quebec. It is only natural for a country to be subdivided into two or more
politically-delineated regions commonly known as states or provinces.
Even without considering the Two Question Referendum, it is possible that
provinces would have been considered. Perhaps a province of Quebec West along
the lines of what is proposed here would naturally manifest in an independent
Quebec. The Two Question Referendum is an opportunity for the PQ to gain
something from a phenomenon that may occur regardless.
3) The PQ has, time and again, promised to give Anglophones the individual and
minority rights in an independent Quebec that are currently enjoyed within
Canada. The PQ may not currently see eye-to-eye with what is proposed in this
book vis à vis language and individual rights for Quebec West but at least there
is common ground:
A sovereign Quebec intends to respect its commitments to its minorities in the light of existing conventions and pacts. Quebec also intends to respect and protect the acquired rights of its English-speaking minority.[121]
4) With the transfer of all the federal
powers to Quebec City currently controlled by Ottawa, the majority will feel
less threatened. Although official PQ policy still holds that French is to be
the only official language, it is hoped that there will be no need for a Bill
101 in an independent Quebec; certainly not in a Quebec West within an
independent Quebec.
5) Separatists will need representatives and goodwill ambassadors to sell the
idea of an Independent Quebec internationally and, in particular, to the
Americans. Who better to do the job than Quebec’s Anglophones, a task made
infinitely easier when Anglophones will support the venture. Like it or not,
Quebec Anglophones are a minority. Like it or not, the world will be watching to
see how this minority is treated as independence comes.
Anglophones voting for independence, giving them their own province, and ceding
full individual and minority rights will go a long way towards cementing the
international approval that the new Quebec will seek.
Will non-Francophone support for independence via the Two Question Referendum
have benefits in addition to just neutralizing the 20% no block vote?
In both the 1980 and 1995 referendum, non-Francophones' support for the "yes”
side was, as we have seen, virtually non-existent. I have to imagine that the
absence of non-Francophone support had to have had some effect on the voting
preferences of some Francophones who must have questioned how good independence
could really be if there wasn't even one credible voice from the non-Francophone
community supporting the "yes" side.
As far as significant voices from the Anglophone community supporting Question
#1, there will probably not be many -- and there doesn't have to be in order for
the Two Question Referendum to be successful (see the next section for an
in-depth discussion of this issue).
However, if the vote on Question #1 on Day #1 results in a majority “yes“, this
will be viewed by the residents of Quebec Proper as having only occurred as a
result of significant “yes” votes by Quebec West’s non-Francophones. This will
become apparent once the results are announced a few hours after the polls are
closed and the tallies announced. Political pundits and media commentators will
be carefully monitoring the polling stations and subdivisions in highly
concentrated Anglophone areas. When it becomes clear that Anglophones have voted
in significant numbers for independence -- and this will be the case if Question
#1 carries the day -- then the concern that many Francophones had the last time
out that no Anglophones supported the option will be allayed and votes for the
"yes" option will be obtained from this sector.
And this will be particularly important because the Two Question Referendum is a
“hard question”; that is, a straight, no nonsense “do you want an independent
Quebec, yes or no” hard question. If anglos vote in significant numbers for a
hard question it will be that much easier for fence-sitting Francophones to also
vote “yes” on Day 2.
There is another very important reason why the PQ should adopt the Two Question
Referendum.
What is that?
The next referendum may be their last chance.
If the separatists lose the next referendum they may not get another crack at
independence.
And if immigration continues to erode Francophone numbers the chance may never
come again. No matter how successfully the Quebec Government may be in
integrating and assimilating members of the cultural communities into the
francophone milieu, "les autres" will, for the most part, always be pro-Canadian
and will vote as such in any independence referendum. The demographic pattern of
voting by Quebec’s non-Francophones in separation referendums has been well
established.
Therefore, the next referendum should be an all-out effort. Neutralizing the 20%
block vote just may be the one thing that will bring the vote over the top. It
will also, in a sense, allow francophone to decide the separation question by
themselves.
What do you mean?
Even after the 1980 referendum, there was some grumbling that, had it not been
for the non-Francophones, the "yes" side could have won. This was, of course,
even more true for the 1995 referendum.
Had Francophones, by themselves, had the opportunity to decide on their future
without interference from the non-Francophones with their no block vote,
self-determination and true "maitre chez nous" could have been realized.
By effectively neutralizing the no block vote of the non-Francophones and
segregating the vote-taking of the two communities, the Two Question Referendum
allows the issue of independence to be decided by Francophones alone.
What if the PQ rejects the Two Question Referendum?
All of the reasons why the Quebec West and Two Question Referendum concepts
should be adopted by the nationalists are reasonable, sound, and timely. They
beg to be embraced.
To not want to consider them would be unreasonable. For a movement aspiring
towards nationhood, the rejection of the Two Question Referendum proposal will
raise concerns as to the real motives behind the nationalists towards their
treatment of the non-Francophone minority, now and in the future.
After all, what greater concession could the non-Francophone community give to
the cause of preserving and promoting the French language and culture than their
country? If a proposal whose success means the sacrifice by the non-Francophones
of their beloved Canada isn't enough to get the nationalists to make
concessions, then what possible credibility can they have?
You seem to be asking the PQ, in turn, to sacrifice.
The non-Francophones give up their attachment to Canada, and the PQ gives up
their attachment to French supremacy through language legislation. The Two
Question Referendum requires a new paradigm on the part of both non-Francophones
and Francophones. Quebec nationalists much learn to forget about the politics of
the ”scorecard", forget all the past perceived injustices and the
non-Francophone must let go of his irrational attachment to a country that has
sold him out at every turn.
There is a new world order: globalization of trade and communication. It is this
that will demand the command, familiarity, and comfort with the English
language. Quebec West Anglos will provide the bridge for Francophone to the
world at large -- as a sort of North American Hong-Kong of Quebec.
In addition to this necessary embracing of Quebec Anglophones, I believe that
the next step in the evolution of the Francophones of Quebec is to embrace
individual rights, learn and know English, and free themselves from the control
of their elite. This can only happen in an independent Quebec. It could have
happened in a Quebec within Canada scenario but since Canada compromised on its
English Canadian tradition of individual rights and decided to kowtow to Quebec
nationalism and collectivism, Quebecers were never provided that opportunity
and, as a result, Canadians will ultimately lose their country.
Aspiring to nationhood is a complete, self-contained desire that doesn’t require
any justification other than itself. However, the aspiration can be compromised
and missed altogether by advocating false and trumped up rationales such as the
threats from the “Sea of English” and crying humiliation when the merest slight
is allegedly rained down upon you by English Canada. Such diversions ultimately
demean and sabotage both the integrity of the independence movement and the
ability to achieve the goal itself.
Don’t rely on bullshit to have your country because it won’t work and it’s not a
good foundation upon which to start a country. It‘s good enough just to want
your own country. The desire for your own country is its own justification; it
is all that the people of the aspiring nation need. Separatists have to stop
being angry and relying on silly myths for wanting both independence and
language legislation.
It’s enough to want, to aspire to be a nation simply because you want it,
because you feel yourselves to be a nation.
Only then will it come.
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