The Pain of the Gain
How grating on the nerves it is to know that the Bloc Quebecois is thrilled with the results of Jim Flaherty's new budget. Not for Canada, but only for Quebec. Gilles Duceppe made little secret of the reason for his support, in contrast to the opposition from Jack Layton and Stephane Dion. It isn't perfect, he said, Quebec deserves an even larger helping of the fiscal pie, but: "We can't let $3-billion get away. We'll take the money."
Sure you will, Mr. Duceppe. Just as the Canadian taxpayer hefts the bill to permit the Bloc Quebecois to represent the 'best interests of Quebec' in the Parliament of Canada. A party whose sole purpose is to oversee and hasten the separation of Quebec from Canada. Where fervently preaching secession at one time would be viewed as a grave offence against the well-being of a federated country, now we are so exquisitely civilized that we pay all expenses to enable a determined separatist party to represent the goal of sovereign-nationalism.
Talk of bending over backwards to effectively stab yourself in the back... But the Conservatives now enjoy a good deal of popularity in Quebec, thanks in large part to the Canadian taxpayers' generosity as evidenced by our fiscal generosity. On the other hand, they're following in a grand tradition long the hallmark of the Liberals. Mario Dumont has great praise for Mr. Harper as a wonderful statesman; Andre Boisclair whose party is hard-wired to that of the Bloc in separatist-idealism also praised the budget.
The Parti Quebecois and the Bloc celebrate the Canadian taxpayers' generosity to their province, while at the same time labouring mightily to persuade the population of their province to separate from Canada. To become true masters in their own house. If they are so convinced that French-Canadians must become citizens of their very own autonomous state one wonders why they are so dependent upon the financial avails of confederation.
And once cut off from all further funding by the rest of Canada how will the nascent state fund and administer itself? Mr. Duceppe's statement that "a sovereigntist government will know how to use that money to realize its program and ensure that Quebec is better positioned to become an independent country" might be seen in some countries as tantamount to hypocritical blood-sucking, but not in Canada.
Quebec is so obviously wedded to its financial dependency upon the rest of Canada, yet so obliviously determined to have its own way as an independent state one cannot but help come away with the impression that this conflicted view of self is the product of a people who have been too long coddled and cossetted. Through this new money granted to the province Premier Jean Charest is able to promise substantially reduced income taxes, helping his re-election in tandem with the federal Conservative agenda.
There's something fundamentally wrong with a population unwilling to agree to letting a portion of its population exercise the kind of free will that we are ourselves agreeing they can have under our federation, when we're actually funding their ability to exercise it. In response, we fund them royally to enable the separatists to make their case for a final break with the country time and again. Yet we continue to pull out all the stops to persuade Quebec that we love it despite its lack of reciprocation.
We're allowing ourselves through this never-ending push-and-pull to be manoeuvred into the state of fear engendered by the very real threat of separation. To stave off that threat no concessions to Quebec's incessant demands are enough. Each time the government of Canada submits to yet another demand for autonomy within the union, Quebec rests on its laurels in temporary satisfaction.
Before launching the inevitable next step. The question here is, when will the rest of Canada become so utterly fed up with the never-ending complaints and demands that we will be prepared to stand back and say, "go!"? Haven't we funded Quebec's disaffected irritation with its presence within the federation for a long enough period? Haven't attempts been made time and again to convince francophones how valuable their presence is to the rest of Canada?
Do we really enjoy all that much the constant pressures and challenges that come with having to deal with the juvenile-inspired demands of a population that really doesn't know exactly what it wants?
Sure you will, Mr. Duceppe. Just as the Canadian taxpayer hefts the bill to permit the Bloc Quebecois to represent the 'best interests of Quebec' in the Parliament of Canada. A party whose sole purpose is to oversee and hasten the separation of Quebec from Canada. Where fervently preaching secession at one time would be viewed as a grave offence against the well-being of a federated country, now we are so exquisitely civilized that we pay all expenses to enable a determined separatist party to represent the goal of sovereign-nationalism.
Talk of bending over backwards to effectively stab yourself in the back... But the Conservatives now enjoy a good deal of popularity in Quebec, thanks in large part to the Canadian taxpayers' generosity as evidenced by our fiscal generosity. On the other hand, they're following in a grand tradition long the hallmark of the Liberals. Mario Dumont has great praise for Mr. Harper as a wonderful statesman; Andre Boisclair whose party is hard-wired to that of the Bloc in separatist-idealism also praised the budget.
The Parti Quebecois and the Bloc celebrate the Canadian taxpayers' generosity to their province, while at the same time labouring mightily to persuade the population of their province to separate from Canada. To become true masters in their own house. If they are so convinced that French-Canadians must become citizens of their very own autonomous state one wonders why they are so dependent upon the financial avails of confederation.
And once cut off from all further funding by the rest of Canada how will the nascent state fund and administer itself? Mr. Duceppe's statement that "a sovereigntist government will know how to use that money to realize its program and ensure that Quebec is better positioned to become an independent country" might be seen in some countries as tantamount to hypocritical blood-sucking, but not in Canada.
Quebec is so obviously wedded to its financial dependency upon the rest of Canada, yet so obliviously determined to have its own way as an independent state one cannot but help come away with the impression that this conflicted view of self is the product of a people who have been too long coddled and cossetted. Through this new money granted to the province Premier Jean Charest is able to promise substantially reduced income taxes, helping his re-election in tandem with the federal Conservative agenda.
There's something fundamentally wrong with a population unwilling to agree to letting a portion of its population exercise the kind of free will that we are ourselves agreeing they can have under our federation, when we're actually funding their ability to exercise it. In response, we fund them royally to enable the separatists to make their case for a final break with the country time and again. Yet we continue to pull out all the stops to persuade Quebec that we love it despite its lack of reciprocation.
We're allowing ourselves through this never-ending push-and-pull to be manoeuvred into the state of fear engendered by the very real threat of separation. To stave off that threat no concessions to Quebec's incessant demands are enough. Each time the government of Canada submits to yet another demand for autonomy within the union, Quebec rests on its laurels in temporary satisfaction.
Before launching the inevitable next step. The question here is, when will the rest of Canada become so utterly fed up with the never-ending complaints and demands that we will be prepared to stand back and say, "go!"? Haven't we funded Quebec's disaffected irritation with its presence within the federation for a long enough period? Haven't attempts been made time and again to convince francophones how valuable their presence is to the rest of Canada?
Do we really enjoy all that much the constant pressures and challenges that come with having to deal with the juvenile-inspired demands of a population that really doesn't know exactly what it wants?
Labels: Canada
posted by Pieface | 11:42 AM
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