The Fire of Discontent
His family roots are in Quebec, although he is dedicated to Canada. As leader of a federal party that's an interesting combination, since he knows Quebec's underside and sense of aggrieved entitlement in a way that none of the other party leaders do, from both perspectives; that of an Anglo whose father was politically involved and of an individual growing to maturity in nationalist Quebec.
He believes he knows Quebecois intimately, and he also believes that his ticket to a possible future as leader of the country lies in articulating Quebec's desires and promising to fulfill them. The current Conservative-led government's majority win in the last election, however, has demonstrated aptly that a political party can win a majority government without the votes always thought requisite in Quebec.
And the unwritten compact that prime ministers should evolve alternately out of Quebec and the rest of Canada has been put to rest, we hope firmly. Still, Jack Layton is a native son of Quebec. And he believes that the NDP, his party, the party that he has managed to pull out of its third-run status into the Official Opposition, is capable of out-running the first-run party.
To allow him to cap his political career as Prime Minister, one fine day. And Quebec is his key to unlock that future.
With that double agenda, he saw no conflict in promises to Quebec that comfortably fit their demands and aspirations. Restrictions on the use of English for federally regulated industries in Quebec; favouring the implementation of a law that would see the appointment of only fully bilingual judges to the Supreme Court of Canada; opposition to allowing some students to acquire a right to public English schooling in the province.
He is in complete sympathy with Quebec's wish to secede "If you are absolutely convinced that there is no place for you in Canada and you don't see your future within the Canadian federation..." making voting for the Bloc a sensible course of action. But that course of action could be far better achieved through voting for the NDP, because the Bloc hasn't delivered, and the NDP can.
"What constitutes a majority is 50% plus one", he has finally admitted publicly at a news conference, where he unveiled his shadow cabinet. The NDP has succeeded in obtaining a 103-member caucus, with the near-demise of the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois. "It's in our official policies. It's been adopted in our Sherbrooke declaration. That's been crystal clear for 5 years as official policy of our party."
French Canadian voters have demonstrated in the clearest possible manner how impetuous they can be in arriving at a decision. By voting en masse for political candidates about whom they know nothing whatever, who never even bothered to show up in their riding, who decided not to take part in all-candidates' meetings, who have had no experience whatever in politics, they showed the extent of their naivete.
Having failed to secure the most basic knowledge of what would result in voting for extremely young, unprepared, uncommitted candidates, they are fully capable of exercising the same kind of spontaneous, politically infantile behaviour that might result in their separating from the rest of Canada, without fully understanding what that might accomplish.
Considering a majority to consist of 50-plus-1 is not the clear majority that the Supreme Court advisory of 1998 represented in the Clarity Act, which allows the House of Commons to decide whether a referendum question is sufficiently clear and understandable, and what would constitute a majority. To break up the unity of a country is serious business and it should be treated seriously.
Jack Layton's cavalier attitude to possible secession in his eagerness to satisfy Quebec also demonstrates that he either chooses to ignore or not recognize that Quebec enjoys playing games with the rest of Canada, holding its petulant little diatribes and demands as an immoral, unethical blackmail that invariably result in its receiving its unbalanced and unfair demands.
The point is, the rest of Canada is fed up with all these games. And Jack Layton is simply adding fuel to the fire of discontent. Pity, that. Immoral, too.
He believes he knows Quebecois intimately, and he also believes that his ticket to a possible future as leader of the country lies in articulating Quebec's desires and promising to fulfill them. The current Conservative-led government's majority win in the last election, however, has demonstrated aptly that a political party can win a majority government without the votes always thought requisite in Quebec.
And the unwritten compact that prime ministers should evolve alternately out of Quebec and the rest of Canada has been put to rest, we hope firmly. Still, Jack Layton is a native son of Quebec. And he believes that the NDP, his party, the party that he has managed to pull out of its third-run status into the Official Opposition, is capable of out-running the first-run party.
To allow him to cap his political career as Prime Minister, one fine day. And Quebec is his key to unlock that future.
With that double agenda, he saw no conflict in promises to Quebec that comfortably fit their demands and aspirations. Restrictions on the use of English for federally regulated industries in Quebec; favouring the implementation of a law that would see the appointment of only fully bilingual judges to the Supreme Court of Canada; opposition to allowing some students to acquire a right to public English schooling in the province.
He is in complete sympathy with Quebec's wish to secede "If you are absolutely convinced that there is no place for you in Canada and you don't see your future within the Canadian federation..." making voting for the Bloc a sensible course of action. But that course of action could be far better achieved through voting for the NDP, because the Bloc hasn't delivered, and the NDP can.
"What constitutes a majority is 50% plus one", he has finally admitted publicly at a news conference, where he unveiled his shadow cabinet. The NDP has succeeded in obtaining a 103-member caucus, with the near-demise of the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois. "It's in our official policies. It's been adopted in our Sherbrooke declaration. That's been crystal clear for 5 years as official policy of our party."
French Canadian voters have demonstrated in the clearest possible manner how impetuous they can be in arriving at a decision. By voting en masse for political candidates about whom they know nothing whatever, who never even bothered to show up in their riding, who decided not to take part in all-candidates' meetings, who have had no experience whatever in politics, they showed the extent of their naivete.
Having failed to secure the most basic knowledge of what would result in voting for extremely young, unprepared, uncommitted candidates, they are fully capable of exercising the same kind of spontaneous, politically infantile behaviour that might result in their separating from the rest of Canada, without fully understanding what that might accomplish.
Considering a majority to consist of 50-plus-1 is not the clear majority that the Supreme Court advisory of 1998 represented in the Clarity Act, which allows the House of Commons to decide whether a referendum question is sufficiently clear and understandable, and what would constitute a majority. To break up the unity of a country is serious business and it should be treated seriously.
Jack Layton's cavalier attitude to possible secession in his eagerness to satisfy Quebec also demonstrates that he either chooses to ignore or not recognize that Quebec enjoys playing games with the rest of Canada, holding its petulant little diatribes and demands as an immoral, unethical blackmail that invariably result in its receiving its unbalanced and unfair demands.
The point is, the rest of Canada is fed up with all these games. And Jack Layton is simply adding fuel to the fire of discontent. Pity, that. Immoral, too.
Labels: Canada, Crisis Politics, Culture, Economy
posted by Pieface | 2:10 PM
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