The Real Culture of Entitlement: Quebec Nationalism

Federalists in Quebec are divided. Tories and Liberals alike are federalists but they share drastically different solutions to the problem. Tories want to appease Quebeckers by slowly giving them goodies. The hardline Liberal position is that Quebec is entitled to no more than any other province.

It is a clash between idealism and pragmatism. The idealist Liberals believe in equality of opportunity. A Quebecker is worth the same as an Ontarian, an Albertan and a Nova Scotian. This concept of equality of opportunity runs through the veins of Liberal ideology since the party’s founding over 100 years ago.

Tories prefer to give goodies to Quebec in hopes the separatists will quit bitching and come on board. This pragmatic view is similar to appeasement. The separatist beast is a threat to the very core of Canada. The Tories simply want the problem to go away.

For decades, the PLQ, Quebec’s provincial Liberal Party has adopted the pragmatic solution as well. They have lost to a party whose first priority was sovereignty. Losing to the PQ is not an option as it will lead to a referendum.

I believe in the Liberal view of federalism for Canada, called symmetrical federalism. Every province should be offered the same thing by the federal government. If only one province takes advantage of the offer, then so be it. Every province should have equal treatment by the federal government. No province, not even Quebec is entitled to anything.

What is a culture of entitlement?It is when a person feels they are entitled to something simply because of who they are. Frankly, I have never heard a more accurate description of Appeasement Federalism.

PLQuistes accuse me of not understanding Quebec when I say the Quebec government should not be allowed to speak with its own voice at UNESCO. Firstly, it undermines Canada’s voice at the table. Secondly, it reinforces the notion many other Canadians have that Quebec feels they are entitled to something the rest of Canada is not.

Quebec nationalists such as Jean Charest and Benoit Pelletier believe they must squeeze every privilege away from Ottawa because Quebec is distinct and “entitled” to protect its culture. What about the rest of Canada? Do they not have a culture of their own? Some Quebeckers laugh at that question. If you laughed at that question, that arrogance is pitiful.

Jacques Parizeau called the concept “milking the federalist cow”. I compare the two only because they lobby Ottawa for privileges they do not want other provinces to receive. I mean, would Benoit Pelletier be in favor of Ontario having a seat at UNESCO? One for Saskatchewan too, but not for Quebec?

The Liberal Party moved toward the pragmatic view under Paul Martin and it is imperative that we move back the other way. Liberals have to stand on principle and ask Quebeckers a very hard question: Do you want to be treated as a child or as an adult?

Treated as an equal who is not entitled to anything special is the harder answer to accept. Think about it, how many spoiled children are gonna say “you know what, I’m spoiled. Please stop spoiling me.” Not many!

I ask Quebeckers to put themselves in the shoes of other Canadians. Imagine seeing Quebec receive all this special treatment. What happened to equality of opportunity? Apparently the law doesn’t apply to the “special” provinces. I say this as a Quebecker receiving all these privileges.

For those with short memories, anger towards appeasement federalism was the heart of the Reform movement. The original Clarity Act was the idea of Reform MP Stephen Harper. (Dion simply made the idea stronger, good for you Stephane!) Quebeckers are the biggest believers in equality. Whether it be because they fought so hard to be equal to the anglos or because they are most progressive province in Canada, either way, they should support equality of citizenship more than anything else. If it is in the interest to protect French-Canadian culture, then it is the responsibility of all Canadians to protect that culture. That is why the voice at UNESCO that defends must be a Canadian one, not a Quebec one.

This leadership race will require a strategy to rebuild the federalist vision the Liberals will offer Quebeckers. I believe we must preach equality of citizenship, telling Quebeckers the reason they do not get special privileges is because they would be the first ones to complain when an unfair deal was made with another province, such as the Atlantic Accord. It will be hard, no doubt about it. However, unlike the Tories and the PLQ, Liberals have the high ground as we preach equality rather than favoritism. Quebeckers must understand that the only federalist option is too see other Canadians as equals, not Anglos because if they spend the rest of their days in Canada thinking they are better than everybody else, they won't leave, they'll be thrown out.