Spinning Its Wheels

Interestingly, while the Conservatives failed to make a dent in Quebec and the left-leaning NDP swept the province, a 'unite the right' sort of movement is taking shape here. Namely with Francois Legault's 'Coalition for Quebec's Future' and the ADQ.

Legault is tackling issues very little people want to confront because of A) the massive self-interest in the public sector and B) the accepted mantra that a public oriented society is the only option. He's fighting an uphill battle in a province psychologically not that friendly to private interest and business.

Quebec is like running on a treadmill. We come up with all sorts of expensive social programs ($7 dollar a day care, Bixi etc.) with little real wealth to back it up - wages, productivity and innovation are stagnant.

A new wave of thought is sweeping through the province one in which a call for a slow down in the welfare state is recommended. This mostly comes from right of center politicians. First among them now is former sovereigntist Parti-Quebecois member Francois Legault who, among other things, asserts:

« Actuellement le revenu moyen des Américains est 45 % plus élevé que les Québécois, on ne peut pas vivre avec ça, on a des réseaux publics qui ne fonctionnent pas, il faut faire des changements au Québec. Est-ce que Pauline Marois, Gérard Deltell et Jean Charest sont prêts à les accepter? »

Translation: The average revenu earned by Americans is 45% higher than Quebec and he claims this must not go on. Of course, although Legault would like to change this, we'll never come close to it but we can work towards it. I don't know why he's using the Americans as an example. He just had to compare it to British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. Next to our fellow Canadians, we under perform...badly.

It's no secret Quebec is the "sick dog" or "black sheep" of Canada - to borrow a term by the Irish and Scottish who once described themselves in Europe. Charest's Plan Nord is set to help this out (9000 jobs are expected to be created) but that's all in a resource based setting. An economy should be far more diversified. At the moment, Quebec's economy is fonctionnaire or resource oriented.

Legault argues we should let go of the sovereingty option for now but it doesn't mean it shouldn't be monitored:

« Je ne suis plus souverainiste, mais c'est une option qui doit être gardée. Il faut envisager soit un fédéralisme renouvelé ou la souveraineté. Ce que j'ai ressenti lors de la dernière élection, c'est que les Québécois étaient rendus ailleurs. »

I completely disgaree with this. It's a false dichotomy. "Renewed federalism" is a vague term that threatens another round of boundless Canadian bickering and political sclerosis. Quebec has no leverage any more as the West continues its upward march. It is Quebec that will either have to accept Confederation - which we did in 1867 - or consider reinventing itself within the nation called Canada. The option of independence will only be viable when Quebec is a legitimate economic entity. At the moment, I can't see in its current state how we can be independent.

Fix Quebec first and then we'll talk. Enough of useless "nationalism."

I don't believe nationalism and rationalism work well together.