“It’s ten years later and still I haven’t a clue” – Collective Soul.
It’s ten years after the last referendum.
The PQ, energized by several years in opposition, is electing new leadership and is gearing up for a post-election victory referendum. We could be less than two years away from the next battle to save Canada.
Where the hell are all the federalists?
The sovereignty movement is ready. Student groups, unions, youth groups, political groups, artists and musicians and businesspeople and rabble-rousers and just about everyone else on the separatist side are organizing. They’re fundraising. They’re unifying. They’re strategizing. They’re recruiting volunteers and getting ready for the fight.
And on the federalist side? Well, we have Michaelle Jean, our new Governer-General, who seems 99% separatist anyway. Besides, nobody cares about her, unless they’re trying to use her to discredit the Canadian government.
The point is, there’s nobody left to fight. There are less Jean Charest fans in Quebec than there are Korn fans in a nursing home. The Federal government is weakened, devoid of any true leadership, and handcuffed thanks to the Sponsorship Scandal.
Grassroots organizations such as Alliance Quebec are so destroyed as to be nonexistent. Only a dozen people showed up to a federalist “rally” downtown last week to commemorate the massive 1995 unity rally that many say saved Canada at the eleventh hour.
I did a Google search looking for websites, citizens’ groups, hell, even a weekly Federalist poker game. Nothing. Nada. Zip. The few links I did find were woefully out of date and mostly defunct. Even the Quebec Liberal Party can’t be bothered to spend two words on federalism on its website (though they were sure to remind us to turn our clocks back this weekend).
And outside of Quebec? The situation is even bleaker. An alarmingly high percentage of Canadians have a “good riddance” sentiment toward Quebec. If they held another unity rally, would anyone come?
It seems incredible to think that only a couple of years ago, we thought Quebec had moved past sovereignty, that it was no longer a “big deal”, and that the threat of another referendum was as laughable as the threat of a hurricane coming to wipe out half of New Orleans. Well, we all know how that turned out.
See, the thing is, I’m not content to sit back and watch my country face the brink of destruction yet again. I value it too much. I happen to think that being Canadian is a pretty wonderful thing… and that keeping this country together is worth fighting for. And if I’m right, there are an awful lot of people out there who feel the same way.
We need initiatives. We need to get organized. We need ideas. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t exactly trust Charest, or whoever his successor will be, to take care of it all for us. I’m thinking it’s time for us ordinary Canadian federalists to get up and do something.
So, at risk of sounding like Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off… “Anyone? Anyone?”
If you’re a federalist and you’re proud of it, clap your hands. Better yet, post a comment here if you want to get involved. Post your ideas. And watch this site for news in the coming days.
It’s the SWIK No Campaign, to be launched right here, real soon. Keep it locked to this station.
SWICK?
Is Ben Stein related?
So many questions; so little time…
SWIK = segacs’s world i know.
Ben Stein = no relation.
So many acronyms; so little time…
I’m finally going to ask (I can’t bear it any longer), what or who is “segac’s”?
Sari, did you see the clips from the pro “yes” side commemoration that were shown on the news yesterday?
I simply can’t understand why this is still an issue. Québec’s economy is on its knees, the population is rapidly ageing, the birthrate is non-existant and any demographic growth we see comes from immigrant “communities” generally hostile to our way of life.
A week or two ago Bouchard poured his little heart out about the dangers facing the province – even stating that separation or not the situation was disastrous – yet the province’s elites refuse to react.
And then there’s Duceppe dreaming about a Québec armed forces…..and navy once the “oui” passes. Apparently that LSD taken back in Expo ’67 is still working its magic.
It IS depressing particularly because many francophone quebecers have unrealistic and emotion-charged expectations…messianic ones…concerning the benefits of separation.
It’s an attitude that reason and words of wisdom simply cannot bring to heel; a mindset impervious to logic and ignorant of consequences.
In fact, we’re not even really talking politics here; rather what we have is an eschatological desire for paradise, for a return to eden, to the golden age of “pre-conquest” French Canada.
It,s a bubble of escapist fantasy that only tragedy can pierce.
Sounds like zionism.
Sounds like Tre…
It would be make a great comparative essay. Quebec nationalism and language rights vs Israeli nationalism and religious rights. You will tell me that there is freedom of religion in Israel, but of course, that is only so since it won’t allow its former non-Jewish inhabitants to return (while allowing any Jewish person to immigrate).
Glad I left Quebec. I couldn’t really care anymore about these blind elitist seperatists trying to perpetuate the artificial nation of ‘Quebecois’.
I think of Québécois as an ethnic group. They are certainly not French, nor are they French-Canadian (this includes other francophone minorities who don’t share the same cultural baggage/experience).
The notion of a Québécois antion is only as fantastic as that of a Jewish nation. Like I said, it would be an interesting study. Many similarities and, of course, many differences.
That was Québécois nation not antion.
Tré any attempt at establishing an Israel/Québec analogy is ludicrous!
As I was writing the post above I half expected you to pop in and come up with just such a lame comparison. So I want you to know, Tré, that I went to great pains to avoid employing the term “promised land”….knowing the impact it could have on your adrenaline levels
Québec nationalism’s secular messianic tendancies are a ghost of French Canada’s Catholic past. Nationalist “heretics” have taken the traditional Québecois religious narrative and tansposed it onto a secular goal; Québec independance. They’re in a rush to get to the secular “the end of days”; a pie in the sky independance of cushy social programmes and equality for all.
They wish to create a state where none has ever existed inspired by religious ideas and theological speculation about what is supposed to happen, IN the future, IN the hereafter.
A mythical divine realm will be regurgitated as a new temporal realm. This deluded, “fallen Jesuit” pattern of thought has more in common with Nazism and Communism than it does with a certain secular democracy in the ME.
Dream on French Canada!
Israel, on the other hand, wishes to re-establish a state that DID exist and which prospered for a very long time.
Israel votes, thus, for the continuation of history and is in no rush to “get to the end-times”
Their orientation is from old temporal realm to new temporal realm.
An entirely reasonable goal motivated and inspired by the FACTS of history, woven and crafted in a secular manner.
You’ll have to do better Tré!
Don’t you find it so odd that the timing of all of this nationalist crap coincides with the release of The Gomery Commission report? It’s a stretch,but, not really.I wouldn’t put it past the ignoble libs who have perfected the art of selling out to anyone or anything to stay in power,to have authored some kind of backroom deal with the Quebec Separatists to turn on the Nationalist tap.Scare tactics courtesy of Paul Martin and friends.Even Indiana Jones couldn’t write a better script.
It’s also coinciding with the PQ leadership race and the runup to the next provincial election. You can see a conspiracy theory if you like, but I just see smart planning… on their part. After all, it was bound to happen; these things go in waves.
A wave of nausea maybe.
John, there is a comparison to be made even though, as I stated, there are many differences.
Israel did exist in biblical times but to claim this as the justification for ethnic cleansing (of the more likely descendants of the ancient kingdom’s inhabitants) and expect the world to agree to it is more fantasy than fact. Israel’s religious discrimination can also be compared to language discrimination in Quebec. Who is a real Québécois? Would a sovereign Québec be founded on the “pure-laine” culture with second class staus for everyone else? Etc. etc.
Monophonic tre!
I see it like this:
Like the Jews before them, the native Americans lived in the land long before it was invaded and were ‘ethnicly cleansed’ from the land.You asked “Who is a real Quebecois?” The answer is” There are no true ‘Quebecois’ unless they are aboriginals. Likewise, there have been no ‘true’ palestinian people in the middle east, save for the native Jews who were once referred as’ Palestinian’ by their Roman conquerors.Your arguements to this point are moot, as usual! To add insult to injury, the aboriginals were then treated like second class citizens or worse.Sound familiar tre? Maybe you should get off of that high horse of yours and devote some time to the real discrimination and war crimes now being perpetrated in iran, Darfur, and saudi arabia and just about everywhere where islam rules, instead of fabricating stories about ‘Judaism’, and comparing it to nazism.Ho hum.
The Palestinians, as they are referred to today, are as likely to de descendents of the inhabitants of ancient Israel as is any Jew today.
To bring up the issue of natives in America to counter Québécois sovereign aspirations is the height of hypocrisy given that Canada was built throught her ethnic cleansing of the native population.
tre, you just don’t get it do ya? Your hate is visible for all to see save yourself..You are a hopeless case.
You are entitled to your ipinions, but I believe you hallucinate hate whenever you don’t agree.
Are you psychotic Tre? The Arabs who call themselves “Palestinians” are indigenous only to the Arab countries. Did you get your history lessons from hamass 101?
You should be the last one to talk about hallucinations or fantasies.
Cliff,
You are right as usual.
Tre,
Anglophone Canadians do not regularly blow themselves up on Quebec school buses, they don’t shoot pregnant woman and their small children at close range, they don’t engage in honour killings, they don’t constantly threaten to throw every last Quebecor into the sea, they don’t spread mountains and mountains of anti French propaganda, and they’ve never ever threatened to “wipe Quebec off the map”.
I still want to know why Tre’s getting paid. (and I’m not…)
😉
Somewhat true Jonny (I have to disagree with `they don’t spread mountains and mountains of anti French propaganda`)! But there has been a lot of nasty, brutish violence between Francos and Anglos on this continent in the past. And had the Anglos decided to not allow the Francos to keep their language and religion or had they, for instance, decided that the Francos should all move to New Orleans or to France, there would have been much more violence. You can`t expel people from their homes because you want to create a new state free of their kind and expect them to just say OK and walk away.
Again tre, your lack of moral recompense doesn’t surprise anyone, least of all ,me!.May I say that ‘hate’ becomes you tre! You write ‘You can`t expel people from their homes because you want to create a new state free of their kind and expect them to just say OK and walk away.’ Well tre, so which is it? What side are you on? Your double standard on anything Jewish speaks volumes here! So what you are actually saying is that you think it’s perfectly acceptable for your greedy islamic brothers and sisters to expel and kill the Jews from the land they lived on for thousands of years (I call that stealing and genocide in the real world) Not to mention that the bigots and racists try to do their best to de-Jew the Jews that are left,with nary a whimper from the likes of you? Shame on you.
Tré, it would seem that the best and most honest comparison would be one involving Israel and Poland.
Both were in existance for a long period of time, both were subsequently wiped off the map by invaders, and both ultimately came back into existence thanks to perserverence and a strong sense of history.
We won’t get into where the majority of the Holocaust took place.
JOhn, it all misses the point. I have no problem with the existence of Israel. I do have a problem with ethnic cleansing, dispossession, and occupation.
Oh man, this merry-go-round is making me nauseated.
There’s no point in trying to convince Tre of anything; she’s absolutely convinced that she understands the way the world works (in real life as opposed to the fantasyland of University Sociology and Anthropology classes).
Lesson #1 – Contrary to what you’ve learned in school, Tre, ‘Might IS right’.
Dan, always turning to condescention and/or name-calling when he can`t think of anything intelligent to say. Happens quite a bit, doesn`t it.
Theoretical models or at least some conceptualization are a neccessary part of any understanding, reasoning, and articulation of any world view. Get them from poli. sci., soc, anth, religion, psych, or economics, doesn`t matter, and the more cross-over you have, the more of the elephant you can see.
Did you, by any chance, study engineering?
No. I just observe.
tre 101
Here tre shows us how a troll loses an argument.Well done tre.So what else did you do at Concordia aside from attending anti-Israel demos?
Here Cliff and Dan show us the name-calling-and-put-down-while-avoiding-any-serious-discussion technique so finely tuned by Hillelniks.
ahem,looks like the only name caller is you tre.I just state facts, you make up lies!
I was not then nor am I now a Hillelnik, but thanks for the compliment, Tre.
Serious discussions are greatly overated.
`Serious discussions are greatly overated.` Agreed Dan. Serious was probably not the right word. Intelligent? I know you are capable of it when u tries.
I thought you left already…
(left as in gone, not as in loony Marxist)
My oppressive capitalist bourgeois boss caught me trying to sneak out early….Now I`m outta here til Monday! Ciao!
Dearest tre,
hum, so let’s see.You lose the argument and true to form,resort to juvenile accusations and name calling, trolling around long enough to render your unsolicited judgement on our collective intelligence. You are boorish, to say the least.