Checking in on Quebec: two leading analysts try to free the province from old ideas.

Checking in on Quebec: two leading analysts try to free the province from old ideas. Aux pays des merveilles: essai sur les mythes politiques quebecoisAndre Pratte VLB See VL-bus. VLB - VESA local bus editeur 153 pages, softcover ISBN ISBNabbr.International Standard Book NumberISBNInternational Standard Book NumberISBNn abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m2890059332 Eloge de la richesse: Des idees pour donner au Quebec les moyens deses ambitions Alain Dubuc Alain Dubuc is a Canadian journalist from Montreal, Quebec and an economist. He is a columnist for Montreal's La Presse, Quebec City's Le Soleil and five other dailies in Quebec. Voix paralleles 334 pages, softcover ISBN2923491017 In 1970, the French sociologist Michel Crozier Michel Crozier (born 6 November 1922 in Sainte-Menehould, Marne) is a French sociologist and member of the Acad��mie des sciences morales et politiques since 1999. He is also an officer of the L��gion d'honneur and a commander of the Ordre National du M��rite wrote an academictreatise, La Societe Bloquee, about a France unable to change, evenafter the general strike and near collapse of order in May 1968. Itbecame a best seller--and a third edition came out in 1999 arguing whyFrance is still "bloquee." Last October, a manifesto deploring the "situation deblocage" in contemporary Quebec was issued by the awkwardly namedgroup Pour un Quebec Lucide, led by Lucien Bouchard Lucien Bouchard, PC, B.Sc, LL.B (born December 22, 1938) is a Quebec lawyer, diplomat and politician. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001. and others. Theyargued that a "kind of global refusal to change is hurting Quebecbecause it risks turning into a republic of the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. , a fossil ofthe 20th century." The manifesto led to a flood of comment and reaction. Pour unQuebec Solidaire quickly issued its own counter-manifesto. And, forlighter reading, the blogosphere The total universe of blogs. See blog. offers the delightful manifesto of Pourun Quebec Morbide. These clashing manifestos are interesting for their arguments, butalso as a reflection of current debate in Quebec. Their emphasis is onwealth creation and distribution, on models of globalization globalizationProcess by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation and on theenvironment. Independence for Quebec is merely noted as something onwhich there is no consensus by the lucides and, in a passing reference,as an ultimate goal by the solidaires. Moreover, the historical concernabout the place of francophones in Quebec appears nowhere--it isyesterday's business. The one journalist who signed the lucide manifesto is Andre Pratte,chief editorialist at La Presse La Presse can refer to La Presse (Canadian newspaper) La Presse (French newspaper) La Presse (Tunisian newspaper) . He and Alain Dubuc, the paper'sleading columnist, share the best media bully pulpit bully pulpitn.An advantageous position, as for making one's views known or rallying support: "The presidency had been transformed from a bully pulpit on Pennsylvania Avenue to a stage the size of the world"in Quebec. Despitetheir opportunities to influence public opinion, frustration has ledeach to lay out book-length arguments on Quebec's myths, mood andmodel. The books are complementary but very different. Paradoxically, itis Dubuc who has developed the lucide economic manifesto into a book.Pratte is more overtly political in attacking the myths of the large,nationalist consensus in the province. While Quebec's economy has significantly closed the gap withOntario and has some real strengths, Dubuc shows, in Eloge de larichesse, that its wealth is near the bottom of jurisdictions in NorthAmerica North America,third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. . He concludes that Quebec's economy is not a catastrophe,but is "somewhere between mediocre and ordinary." The problem is less past performance than future prospects. Quebec"is heading straight toward decline, a drop in its relativestandard of living, which could become clear within five or tenyears." The greatest risk is the demographic shock, which hasspecialists "demonstrably terrified ter��ri��fy?tr.v. ter��ri��fied, ter��ri��fy��ing, ter��ri��fies1. To fill with terror; make deeply afraid. See Synonyms at frighten.2. To menace or threaten; intimidate. ." (Economist PierreFortin, a lucide signatory, says Quebec's working-age populationwill drop from 70 percent today to 40 percent in 2030, slowing growthand burdening the state.) Furthermore, Quebec is poorer than other provinces, spends more andtaxes more, and has an exceptionally high debt, which renders itvulnerable. Refreshingly, Dubuc does not think the federalgovernment's correcting the "fiscal imbalance Fiscal imbalance is the term used by governments to describe a monetary imbalance between the national government and smaller, subordinate governments, such as those of states or provinces. " will domore than address a small part of the problem. Dubuc argues that Quebec is in many ways paralyzed par��a��lyze?tr.v. par��a��lyzed, par��a��lyz��ing, par��a��lyz��es1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic.2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. at a time whenthe status quo is not an option. This paralysis reflectsQuebeckers' ambivalence about wealth, their loser complex, powerfulunions and politics aligned along the constitutional divide. He isespecially scornful of how Bernard Landry Jean-Bernard Landry (born March 9, 1937) is a Quebec lawyer, teacher, politician, who served as Premier of Quebec, Canada, (2001–2003), leader of the Opposition (2003–2005) and leader of the Parti Qu��b��cois (2001–2005). made the Parti Quebecoisbeholden be��hold��en?adj.Owing something, such as gratitude, to another; indebted.[Middle English biholden, past participle of biholden, to observe; see behold. to union interests in exchange for their support. The Quebec model, "and the cult that inspires it," iscentral. Hard to define and difficult to make the subject of calm,rational debate, Dubuc sees it as including a social doctrine, aneconomic strategy, a culture of governance and a quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby"quest after, go after, pursuelook for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the identity--andgoes on to up-end received wisdom on each. In particular, he finds thevaunted vaunt?v. vaunt��ed, vaunt��ing, vauntsv.tr.To speak boastfully of; brag about.v.intr.To speak boastfully; brag. See Synonyms at boast1.n.1. social model to be a variation on the Canadian model (and oftenindebted to "Canadian initiatives"), and neither especiallyeffective nor generous. His proposals include urgently addressing the fiscal challenge,creating a more competitive tax regime (more tilted to consumption taxesand less to personal and corporate income taxes) and promoting thefundamental role of education and research (on both of which Quebec hassome real strengths). While sound, the more interesting parts of Dubuc's argumentaddress some of the sacred cows that are part of the blocage in Quebec.High on the list is electricity pricing, and he argues that Quebecshould break with its long-time subsidized rates for such industries asaluminum and its exceptionally low rates for households (based on thehistoric cost of capital). Instead, Quebec should move to maximize itsrevenues by selling into the U.S. and Ontario markets at the highestprice available and charging domestic consumers on the same basis. Hesees Quebec's policy as equivalent to Alberta's selling itsoil and gas to local consumers at below market rates. The stakes arehuge: potentially $8 billion in additional revenue for the province. Healso wants the province to move aggressively to exploit the remaininghydro potential in the north of the province. (Interestingly, in thefederal-provincial debate on fiscal imbalance virtually no one outsideQuebec has raised this sensitive issue.) Dubuc also takes on Quebec's obsession with job creationbecause increasingly the issue will be labour shortages and the qualityof the labour force, not subsidizing jobs. An egregious example of thelatter was the Gaspesia case, a hopeless paper mill into which BernardLandry (a particular bete noire b��te noire?n.One that is particularly disliked or that is to be avoided: "Tax shelters had long been the b��te noire of reformers"Irwin Ross. of Dubuc's) sank hundreds ofmillions before Jean Charest John James Charest, PC, MNA, known as Jean Charest IPA: [ʒɑ̃ ʃɑʀe](born June 24, 1958) is a Canadian lawyer and politician from the province of Quebec. pulled the plug. He deplores theunderfinancing of Quebec's universities, in part because of theuntouchability of frozen tuition fees. And he sees the refusal toproceed with public-private financing of infrastructure as furtherevidence of Quebec's outmoded consensus. He underlines that Quebecmust dramatically improve its productivity to offset declining labourforce growth. The problem is that Quebeckers wrongly see "greaterproductivity" as code for squeezing more out of workers throughharder work or longer hours while, in fact, productivity rises by makingworkers more effective, through better education, skills andinvestment--not more effort. Dubuc calls for a debate on the priorities and approach of theprovincial government (Etat), which could lead to a second quietrevolution and a "mobilizing project" on wealth creation as away to secure Quebec's identity and values in the 21st century. Andre Pratte voted yes in both referendums and placed himself for along time in that large group of Quebeckers who are uneasy about thefederation but lack a deep need to be citizens of an independent Quebec.His personal conversion came the night of the 1995 referendum, when hewas revolted by Jacques Parizeau's blaming the defeat on"money and the ethnic votes." The next day he wrote thankfullyof Quebeckers' narrow escape from letting Parizeau and his clique (mathematics) clique - A maximal totally connected subgraph. Given a graph with nodes N, a clique C is a subset of N where every node in C is directly connected to every other node in C (i.e. C is totally connected), and C contains all such nodes (C is maximal). construct a country "for 'nous' and not the others."Even though Parizeau resigned and excuses were made, he and his thesisremain extraordinarily popular within the PQ. In Aux pays des merveilles, Pratte starts with the tired, butfundamental, question: What does Quebec want? He fears thatQuebeckers--federalists as well as sovereigntists--are so caught up in amartyr complex In psychology, a person who has a martyr complex desires the feeling of being a martyr for its own sake, seeking out suffering or persecution because it feeds a psychological need. , while the rest of the country is so frustrated with pastfailures to accommodate Quebec, that we have a false and sterile debate.His answer is that "first and foremost, Quebeckers want to berecognized." While the great failure in this regard was the defeat of MeechLake Meech Lake is located within Gatineau Park in the Municipality of Chelsea, Quebec, Canada (about 20 km NW of Gatineau). The lake was named after Reverend Asa Meech, an early settler in this area. , Pratte attacks the martyr complex by finding that both sides carryresponsibility for the string of failures. In particular, he points outthat it was Quebec that rejected the Fulton-Favreau formula The Fulton-Favreau formula was a proposed formula of amendment of the Constitution of Canada developed by federal justice minister E. Davie Fulton and Quebec Liberal Guy Favreau in the 1960s. The Fulton-Favreau formula would have achieved the patriation of the Constitution. forconstitutional amendment and the Victoria Charter, it was Quebec thatbadly misplayed its hand during the constitutional round of 1981 (givingbirth to the myth of the "night of the long knives Night of the Long Knives(June 30, 1934) Purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization's leaders, including Ernst Röhm. ") and itwas Quebec that dismissed the Calgary declaration The Calgary Declaration, also known as the Calgary Accord[1], was an agreement made between most premiers of the provinces and territories of Canada regarding how to approach future amendments to the Constitution. of 1997 when the othernine provinces recognized "the distinct character of Quebec'ssociety" and the Assemblee Nationale's role in protecting andpromoting it. Despite the constitutional failures, Pratte sees that Quebec'sdistinctiveness has been recognized implicitly in many ways and thatspecific demands for autonomy have usually resulted in agreements,including those on labour market training, immigration immigration,entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. , the new nationalhealth council (in which Quebec cooperates from outside) and parentalleave parental leaven.A leave of absence granted to a parent to care for a new baby. . He also recognizes that Canada is one of the most decentralized de��cen��tral��ize?v. de��cen��tral��ized, de��cen��tral��iz��ing, de��cen��tral��iz��esv.tr.1. To distribute the administrative functions or powers of (a central authority) among several local authorities. federations in the world (tipping his hat to Stephane Dion'sarguments) and that the Quebec government has not been notably brilliantin executing some of its responsibilities. "So why do Quebeckers always seek more power for theirprovincial government?" Pratte asks. "Because that is how theyexpress their demand for recognition." However, for him, fullindependence would make sense only as a means to an end--but it is notneeded given that Quebec has been successfully transformed within thefederation. He also argues that the current PQ leadership haseffectively dropped "association," thus breaking with thepositions of Levesque and Bouchard. He sees the supposed advantages ofindependence as unrealistic and risky--a "black hole." Pratte is impatient too with many federalists, especially those whovaunt a Canada of perfect harmony, tolerance, prosperity and liberty. Heaccepts that Canada is exceptionally prosperous and peaceful, but"for Quebeckers, even many federalists, it is also the country thathas always refused to formally recognize their distinctiveness, and thathas long shown mistrust toward them and resisted their slightest stepsforward." The Canada that many federalists describe is notrecognizable inside Quebec and therefore has not seduced Quebeckers. This brings Pratte back to the constitutional impasse. This mattersbecause a country is more than prosperity and governmental programs: itmust rest on a common vision. "A constitution's function is toentrench en��trench? also in��trenchv. en��trenched, en��trench��ing, en��trench��esv.tr.1. To provide with a trench, especially for the purpose of fortifying or defending.2. this shared vision." While attracted to British politicaltheorist Michael Foley's view that constitutions are made up notjust of written principles and unwritten conventions but also of"constitutional abeyances"--unresolved issues that are toointractable or dangerous to bring to a written resolution--Pratte stillconcludes that Quebec will always be tempted by separation if it doesnot receive formal recognition of its distinctiveness. Pratte is discouraged by the federalist fed��er��al��ist?n.1. An advocate of federalism.2. Federalist A member or supporter of the Federalist Party.adj.1. Of or relating to federalism or its advocates.2. defence of Canada. While hebelieves that the debate over the rules of secession that culminated inthe Supreme Court decision and the Clarity Act The Clarity Act (known as Bill C-20 before it became law) is legislation of Canada's federal parliament that established the conditions under which the Government of Canada would enter into negotiations that might lead to secession following such a vote by one of the was "notuseless," he concludes that this approach, the so-called Plan B,was essentially a failure and marginal. He deplores the silence offederalists on the ground in Quebec, while the sovereigntists areactive, especially in cultivating the young at CEGEPs and universities.A new federalist culture is required that recognizes that sovereigntistideology is deeply anchored in Quebec and that re-engages in truedebate. The poor prospects for achieving Quebec's constitutionalrecognition make it even more of an imperative to have a dialogue basedon the "real" Canada. The new federalist strategy must bebased on the premise that the unity of Canada can never be taken forgranted Adj. 1. taken for granted - evident without proof or argument; "an axiomatic truth"; "we hold these truths to be self-evident"axiomatic, self-evidentobvious - easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind; "obvious errors" . Pratte's "real" country is the opposite of the bleaksovereigntist vision of the French language in peril, a rigid federalismand a Quebec subject to the will of others. It is also one wherefederalism is a "good idea" for reconciling diverse groups,accommodating plural identities, enriching democratic life and providingbetter service to citizens. (A good idea in need of rescue: he pointsout that only 33 percent of Quebeckers call themselves federalist, while75 percent say they are proud to be Canadian.) Canada's federalismalso includes a degree of asymmetry, which Pratte would like to seedeveloped carefully. Alain Dubuc and Andre Pratte wrote these two important books infrustration with the powerful consensus that stands in the way of theviews they advocate, but also in frustration with those who should bestronger allies. The Charest government has not lived up to many of itspromises to reinvent the Quebec model. And the federalist camp has beendistinguished by scandal, silence and drift, with a lack of energy andleadership. Pratte's book, in particular, is being hailed asmarking the arrival of the most articulate defender of federalism inQuebec since Claude Ryan. Both books wobble wobble/wob��ble/ (wob��'l) to move unsteadily or unsurely back and forth or from side to side. See under hypothesis. wob��blen.1. on their prescriptions, although Dubuc'sless, because he has well-argued views on many specific policies. Hisweakness is in the idea of wealth creation as the rallying cry for asecond quiet revolution. He well recognizes that wealth cannot be an endin itself, but his scant formulation of a "mobilizing project"on wealth creation is more crass than his sophisticated argument merits,perhaps because going further in elaborating such a project would drawhim into the swamp of federalism versus independence. He also neglectsthe growing disparities in wealth in most industrialized in��dus��tri��al��ize?v. in��dus��tri��al��ized, in��dus��tri��al��iz��ing, in��dus��tri��al��iz��esv.tr.1. To develop industry in (a country or society, for example).2. countries andhas remarkably little to say (although mostly positive) about the roleof federal policy in shaping Quebec's economy. Pratte has made a long voyage from his two yes votes to hisdefinitive defence of federalism. His emphasis on the "real"country is welcome because any federalist strategy must count on thereal nature of Canada being known. Unfortunately, he scarcely touches onthe nature and drivers of Quebeckers' self-identity patterns as"Canadian" or "Quebecker" in varying degrees.Identity is a key predictor of a voter's position on theconstitutional question and an understanding of the experiential andsocietal forces behind identity should shape the development of anystrategy. Pratte rightly underlines the symbolic importance of theconstitution, but is he right to put so much emphasis on constitutional"recognition" as such? Surely the central issue is that theQuebec government, Assemblee Nationale or population has never endorseda package of constitutional amendments agreed on with the rest of thecountry, which symbolically for many puts Quebec "outside" theconstitution. Pratte seems to suggest that just getting the right wordsof recognition into the constitution would do the trick. In practice,Quebec's political class is likely to want much more than words ofrecognition. A constitutional settlement may reduce the country'svulnerability to a wave of separatist sentiment, but no one can see howto get there. Pratte acknowledges this, so he wants a dialogue on the"real" country in the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified"meantime, meanwhile . It would be welcome to see thefacts and arguments he has put forward find their proper place inQuebec's dialogue, but the organized federalist political forcesare sadly weakened for now. Even if Canada avoids another constitutional crisis, Quebec'squandary is important for the whole country. The province could become adrag on Canada's performance and require further transfers becauseof the imbalance between its working and non-working populations. Ofcourse, some other provinces, especially in the Atlantic region, facesimilar challenges. This goes to the lucide phenomenon. Polls suggest Lucien Bouchardis still by far Quebec's most popular politician. He and othercredible voices--including Pratte and Dubuc--are working to move theprovincial debate away from the stale constitutional impasse to morematerial challenges. The lucide group has made addressing these issuescentral and has deliberately separated them from the question ofindependence. The surprising success of the federal Tories in becoming areal option in Quebec has also shifted the ground and put thesovereigntists on the defensive. Finally, Quebec's left has splitoff and formed its own political party, Quebec Solidaire, which will sapsupport from the PQ. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently , Quebec is showing some interesting fluidity for asociete bloquee. It will need it. George Anderson is president of the Forum of Federations. He was afederal deputy minister for nine years, six of them at IntergovernmentalAffairs.