R.I.P. Divisive Sovereignty

"We will go and sit at the table, but we will go there to once again talk about Quebec, to show and remind them to what extent our specific character is part of the very nature of the Canadian fibre, and that we want to act to create jobs and prosperity in collaboration with all our colleagues from Canada."
"We are all attached to French, and the French face of Quebec is absolutely crucial to our identity, which by the way I want to be shared by all Quebecers from all origins. This being said, for anybody to say that it's not advantageous to someone to become bilingual, or for our kids to be bilingual, is nonsense."
"There is not a single parent in Quebec that doesn't want this. [Young voters are turned off] by anything that limits us or prevents us from having broader horizons."
"I really felt during the campaign that the young generation, the youth of Quebec, is not at all attracted by anything that limits us or prevents us from having broader horizons."
Philippe Couillard, Leader, Quebec Liberal Party, premier-designate

Quebec's Premier elect Philippe Couillard gestures as he speaks during a news conference at the National Assembly in Quebec City, April 8, 2014. (REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger)

This is the new face of the provincial government in Quebec. Liberal Party leader and premier-designate Philippe Couillard has replaced the demagogues of separation, as a man committed to federalism, seeing the practical value of English alongside French, and accepting and revelling in the fact that all Canadians are fully supportive of Canada being a pluralistic, socially progressive country, in all of its provinces.

"A significant change in politics is happening in Quebec and it's not over. I think this will carry on in the coming years. So, politicians better be realigning themselves on the new reality. So, there's generational change, there's a regional change, it's going to be quite interesting... We're not going to do anything -- anything that goes even close to job discrimination."

But that was precisely what former premier Pauline Marois promised the electorate; that those religious minorities in their secular society who insisted on wearing visible symbols of their faith would no longer find jobs with the civil service. From medical/health practitioners to teachers, police forces to municipal workers and day-care workers, anyone thinking they could wear a kippah, a turban, a hijab, could think twice before losing their employment.

And should anyone think they would be permitted to speak a language other than French in public, on the job, that too was forbidden. The proposed charter of values that the Parti Quebecois government was prepared to impose into law along with the strengthening of the language laws would be certain to persuade business leaders they were making the wrong choice establishing themselves in Quebec.

The perpetual national unity crises brought forward repeatedly by the Pequistes, threatening national security and the economy is over for the present.

Pierre Karl Peladeau is likely to present as a successor to the rejected Pauline Marois, who for all her bubbly assurances that Quebec would be further ahead as a sovereign country, carrying its debt and deficit and high taxes along with costly social services that would no longer receive their annual infusion of $6+-billion from federal taxation coffers courtesy of the "have" provinces, was soundly rejected, losing her own seat in the process.

He has vowed "to defend the interests of Quebecers, and of the country", while Bernard Drainville, the champion of the values charter promised "our values will be defended", declaring pathetically, "We want a country!" Not to be outdone, Jean-Francois Lisee more nationalist even than Madame Marois, predicted "Tonight is not the end of the story".

Here's hoping they're wrong. The majority of Quebec voters trusted their instinct of fairness and self-preservation to give them that instruction. At the very least, however, Quebec and Canadians in general will have at least four years of peaceful interaction and an opportunity to boost the economy in an atmosphere of unity and mutual appreciation.