Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes note of Quebec’s aspirations. Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Mr. Harper exhibiting the post-Confederation Alberta zeitgeist (Calgary Herald photo); PQ Leader Pauline Marois.
With the PQ back in power in Quebec City, no matter how tenuously, one prays Stephen Harper can overcome his tin Albertan ear for the aspirations of Quebeckers and his Americanized party’s predilection to appeal to the basest instincts in English Canada.
The auguries are not promising.
Face it, “just saying No” is no strategy to save a country. Nevertheless, just saying No is apparently the best Mr. Harper can come up with for dealing with a Parti Quebecois government led by Pauline Marois – which we now have thanks to Jean Charest’s cynical campaign to save his rotten provincial government’s Canadian bacon by pleading national unity.
Prime Minister Harper is generally given credit in the English Canadian media for being some kind of Conservative savant for his ability to use wedge issues and the Karl Rove Republican campaign handbook to cobble together a rightward tilting coalition in English Canada. It was his good luck and the country’s ill fortune that he started this effort at a time the Bloc Quebecois dominated Quebec’s federal ridings, making his coalition possible by shutting non-Tory federalists out of Quebec.
That would change in the great Orange Wave of 2011, but alas that federalist swell crested too soon.
Never mind arts funding, health care, the long gun registry, Ottawa’s “alarming indifference” and a thousand other cuts at the hands of the Conservative Party’s trolls that drove Quebeckers batty, now that we’ve reached a crisis, having a guy with his hand on the national tiller whose idea of navigation is to head for the sharpest rocks in hopes of scraping off a few more votes does not inspire confidence about the future.
Mr. Harper may not have been born in Alberta, but it’s his adopted home and he’s absorbed the self-centred post-Confederation zeitgeist of the place.
This is a corner of the west where a substantial number of folks, though thankfully not all, will look you in the eye and wonder why the hell Quebeckers refuse to speak English like the rest of the world. (Most Albertans have heard this sentiment expressed in the bosom of their own families, and heaven help you if respond by noting that they don’t speak English in China.)
But these are Mr. Harper’s core voters, and it’s a lot to ask that he abandon them when his ability to cling to power a few years hence may depend on their continued loyalty.
This led the Globe and Mail to muse recently that Mr. Harper may need Opposition NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair to hold the country together.
Mr. Mulcair may indeed be up to that task, but one imagines he would be less effective as Mr. Harper’s sidekick than in other possible leadership roles.
It’s fair to suggest the party that now most needs Mr. Mulcair’s leadership is Canada, not the prime minister’s squalid coalition of neocons, social conservatives, gun nuts, union-haters, quasi-separatist states’ rights advocates and pipeline evangelists.
“This is a good moment for Mr. Harper to define his own vision for Canada,” the Globe squeaked in an editorial rushed into print after last night’s PQ victory. But other than creating a globalized neocon dystopia, who says he even has one?
At this point in our country’s journey, we have to ask ourselves: Can Canada afford a national leader with no national vision?
This post also appears on Rabble.ca.
Can Canada afford a national leader with no national vision?
no but we got one
They ran on the motto “we are here for canada”
and it has turned out to be in the sheriff repossession to sell off sort of way
they are not here for canadians
they are for the ultra-right corporations and themselves period.
power is his vision (calgary school of leo strauss) by any means
harper must just consider this as collateral damage, deserving of punishment i bet
9:57 PM – Today
Marois speaks to ‘neighbours’ in Canada
Listen to me carefully. As a nation, we want to make the decisions about the things that are important to us. We want a country. And we will have it. So yes, we will have relationships and we will do this in respect of the other.. I say to our neighbours in Canada: be open about this…. Quebec needs to become a sovereign country
These are strange and difficult times, across Canada.. and in a larger context around the world. Here in the North America we share with the USA we are about to find out if right wing conservatives, stock market pimps, creationists, theocrats, hypocrites, ideologues and petroleum/coal/gambling interests can buy and lie their way into The White House.
Vote suppression via State Law is OK.
We already have a Canadian majority government elected under a vast technological cloud of fraudulent vote moving, vote suppression, and electoral ‘grooming’. (Yes ! Right wing conservatives, stock market pimps, theocrats-evangelists – creationists and petroleum interests !) its been clearly established electorally, that constant and obvious lying or even obstruction by political leaders and their parties results in zero penalty.
Let’s say that one more time. There is no penalty in politics for lying.. then lying-denying abut the lying.
Declaring a conviction re electoral fraud as an exoneration or complete victory.. Wow !
Its whatever the media will swallow or misunderstand.. or fumble
while stunned Indy bloggers, biologists, journalists, citizens step back aghast. then dig/examine/search for more facts
Elections are now trended, modeled, advance polled, fed to the media and completely gamed by PR, spinners, datageeks, robowonks, media sellouts, burnable or disappear-able riding volunteers and never existed partisan war room wingnuts, nicely fronted by party spokespersons and party lawyers.. all black cash funded, and firewalled from the actual electoral candidate. Its all about deniability, baby ….. see you in The Supreme Court – if you can afford it. Since we are the government – we sure can afford it !! And.. we appoint any new judges. Complain to the Senate – we have that in the bag as well. Elections Canada ? Go ahead and complain, in 8 to 10 years they’ll send you a rejection slip, Ethics ? Yes, that’s in the bag too. Truth = Fiction
Mr Harper has defined and is now legislating his singular ‘mandated’ vision of Canada, despite the sycophantic Globe utterings. What ? Are they new ? Since migrating westward, then being allowed to put one resourceful and oily foot back in Ottawa, Mr Harper has clearly pursued and refined-defined a crooked, shallow and oddly juvenile personal view and ideology. Is Canada now wiling to accept the behavior and increasingly bizarre notions and regressive legislation Mr Harper enacts and holds to regarding democracy and honesty.. and nationhood and environment or transparency or accountability? Perhaps he can pontificate, obfuscate and legislate for years to come, while we all watch in complete and helpless shock. Quebec means nothing to him, nor does Maritime Canada. Canada is his abstraction.. a compelling hobby .. one step more important than his breathlessly important book on hockey. Where we once saw Trudeau paddling a canoe on unknown waters, we know see Mr and Ms Harper wearing branded windbreakers with CANADA in 6 inch letters while posturing on a Honda ATV in his northern realms.
Realistically, David.. Mr Harper would prefer to see Canada’s eastern border drawn at Lloydminster. This country is a resource rich ‘territory’ to be plundered in his time, affording him a grand stage complete with armed forces to play with. Born too late to build a railroad or newspaper empire across western Canada, steel pipelines will have to suffice and service his dream. Once again, the ‘national police’ .. aka the imploding but dangerously laughable RCMP.. and at some point ‘the soldiers’ (Canadian Forces) will chase the stubborn Injuns off to new and smaller ‘reservations’ and protect the righteous settlers – aka – the pipeline, the ethical oil players, the frackers, the loggers… the economists … the political animals.
All this to ensure safe petro shipment to foreign markets. Its an odd colonial pastiche of flawed thinking .. dreams of being an oil sheik or emperor with fighter jets and dabbling in foreign wars. Look for him to ensure he gets his very own commemorative postage stamp.. This is the self-aggrandizing or omnipotent level he works in. If he can extinguish all First Nations rights it will encourage jobs, the economy and good government.. pipelines and tankers.. and Chinese resources ownership. … What ? This reflects Mr Harper’s ‘vision’ of some acceptable, useful value ? He wants reciprocity.. ? Investment from China in Canada to stimulate our investment in China ? What ? This is a pudgy idiot tying to tell us – sell us – that he is so brave, he will grab the Chinese tiger (for us!) by the tail.
Asbestos just carries too much criminal exposure, liability & risk for The Harper Government, despite Joe Oliver’s senile willingness to pimp it.. I see Mr Harper writing Quebec off, not enuff oil, anti fracking.. plus they speak French, plus he senses that Quebec sees him for what he is… the essential anglais carpet bagger gone west.. & a faux cowboy. Nobody understands ‘politics’ better than the Quebecois.. or The Maritimes .. Perhaps Stephen Harper thinks he could re-name The Plains of Abraham … or Cape Breton Island ? Sneak his name in there somehow ? a little revisionist Harper history .. hmm.. The Harper-Wolfe Memorial Battlefield of Lower Canada.
Come come David…
Expecting a silk purse from the sow’s ear, are you?
There is no lipstick to disguise this piggly.. Harper Government.
Its not ‘Canada – Eh’ .. or ‘Canada sont la’ …
Its ‘Canada – oink’ … the pigs aren’t just in the trough.. they’re in Parliament.. in charge.. legislating ‘law’
‘All animals are equal.. but some animals are more equal’ (Animal Farm)
Keep up the exceptional & exemplary work… David.. Its highly valued….
Lee Shore
“This is a corner of the west where a substantial number of folks, though thankfully not all, will look you in the eye and wonder why the hell Quebeckers refuse to speak English like the rest of the world. (Most Albertans have heard this sentiment expressed in the bosom of their own families, and heaven help you if respond by noting that they don’t speak English in China.)”
This reminds of the probable young neo-Con sitting behind me in the theatre when Quest for Fire was in theatrical release complaining loudly “They could at least speak English. I can’t understand anything they’re saying.”
And who should we trust Muclair and Quebec horde? He is one, a Quebecer, they are all basically the same. He will pander to Quebec, because that is all he knows how to do……hope you enjoy watching the NDP becoming the new Bloc because that is what is about to happen!
Jack’s legacy indeed.
They knew that it was going to be a minority government but no one was sure which of the two main parties would prevail. This time it was the PQ. Charest lost support everywhere by government involvement in corruption scandals, by hiking student tuition by nearly a third (what was he thinking?), by legislation against legitimate protest. And still, after all that, he trailed the PQ by only a fraction of 1% of the vote.
Of course, the news this morning was the shooting at Mme. Marois’ speech, when a 62-year-old man, not francophone but speaking French with an accent (that would be an English accent) said that the English were waking up, or something like that. He killed one person, injured another and tried to set fire to the place. He was from Mont-Tremblant, about an hour – depending on traffic – up the autoroute from Montreal. Now we have his name, Richard Henry Bain, and he appears to be a fishing outfitter in the Laurentians. Crazy? Drunk? Really, really angry? All of the above? We may find out sometime – or we may not.
A cached webpage of his business site is here. I left all the relevant information in an uncompressed form. His business webpage has been suspended, not surprisingly.
<a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KVnrBg6kyyMJ:www.lesactivitesrick.com/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&client=firefox-a"
While other political leaders expressed their shock and dismay, Harper also had to throw in his views on democracy (oh, puh-leeze) and his secret knowledge of the wishes of Quebecers. Has the man no shame? As he has shown so many times before, he hasn’t got a clue what goes on in the minds of the inhabitants of Canada’s largest province, which could be a large part of the problem.
Now, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.
Mr. Climenhaga’s comment about some of his acquaintances who “wonder why the hell Quebeckers refuse to speak English like the rest of the world” reminded me of some people’s belief that English is “God’s language” because the Bible was written in it. Oh, yeah….
Sorry, I left out a crucial punctuation mark and now the whole last part of my comment is a link. This should be better. Otherwise, I give up.
Les Activités Rick
The PQ barely squeaked in with 30% of the popular vote. So the threat a separatist vote is a non-starter at this point.
If the PQ starts throwing people in jail for speaking English at least they may have brand new prisons Harper wants to build.
A national leader with no vision? Harper has been expressing his vision for years now. One nation united under the guiding hand of the “Markets.”
In the United States, where free market ideology reigns supreme, a separatist movement is already underway where the “one per cent” have their their own gated communities, their own private security forces, their own private schools and hospitals and their own set of laws.
Let us all take a deep, cleansing breath. The Quebec electorate did not vote for the PQ, so much as against the Liberals. The strong showing of the CAQ, and the 1/3 proportion of the popular vote garnered by the PQ (a fraction that likely reflects the hard-core lifelong separatists, not a groundswell of popularity), show that this was a vote against a government that had simply overstayed its welcome, and had allowed corruption in the province’s construction industry to flourish on its watch, even if the public inquiry does eventually absolve the Charest government of actual complicity in the affair.
Mme. Marois does not have a mandate to push her separatist agenda, and if she pushes the more xenophobic policy planks from her campaign, I predict her minority government will be short-lived indeed.
I don’t have a university degree but I did serve in uniform for nearly 30 years. I now work in one of these corporations you speak so lowly of.
During the last federal election, several candidates thru their name on the ballot. The candidates from the NDP probably figured, why not with the slightest chance they would win. The problem is they did win. Not because they were NDP, but more like putting their name on the ballot, kinda like buying that lucky lottery ticket on Friday night at 5pm, two hours before the draw. More like a shrug of the shoulders, “meh”. So was running in a campaign their Raison D’etre? Did these people (especially the young kids) really put their heart and sole into their campaigns because they wanted to run for office and serve their Country?
The young lady who lived in Ottawa, a young Carleton student, whose trip to Las Vegas was more important than the Nation. Why? Can’t blame her, how was she to know she would win. That the “orange crush” would roll into Quebec and win! Now, she is pocketing $170 K a year until the election in 2015. I bet she drops by the local pub she used to work just thanking Stephen Harper (inner voice) that he won a majority, not minority. Now with expenses, entitlements and salary, this young lady will make darn near $1 million dollars. What did my buddy who lost both legs in Afghanistan get? $250, 000 (that was his Raison De’tre).
I have read this article and the comments. Wow! Its not that difficult to see so much hate on this page. I am sure a junior high student reading this would question, why so much negativity and hate in this Nation. Sure, its not perfect but had voter turn out been what people had hoped (the 39% that didn’t bother with their Raison De’tre), maybe you would have received the government you wished for?
Perhaps that Government would have sent the gun nuts to the old & run down prisons? Maybe the union-haters would have been given a choice between Ellesmere or Baffin Island? Perhaps the pipeline evangelists would have been tied to the blades of the wind turbines of Southern Alberta that are owned and operated by GreenPeace? GreenPeace does own wind turbines don’t they?
If this is what your university education got you, I am glad you paid for it and not the public. If they public did pay for your education, you owe the people a refund.
Harper isn’t perfect but neither was the young Pierre Elliot Trudeau back in the World War Two days. You know those days, when he was tossed for is cowardice in 1943. However, the young man had no problem hopping a plane to Paris, France in 1947 (two years after 45,000 of his Canadian comrades had died liberating Western Europe. My Uncle (that I never met) was an AirGunner Sargeant in a Lancaster Bomber. The army wouldn’t take him because of his asthma but the RCAF finally took a chance on him. Well he was killed and now buried in London, England. My French-Canadian Uncle is buried in London, England. My French-Canadian Uncle, who fought to get into the military while PET was fighting to get out of the military.
You might want to get use to the idea that most people in this Nation are whether they know or not, close to the center. To me, I hope that means they look for reason and balance, not the hate propaganda from you guys on the left, just as you accuse your opposition from the right. Both extremities are dangerous. You guys are dangerous? I am not sure. But I am not sure I want to give you the chance. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. So for that reason, I will take my chances on a Conservative or Liberal Government with sound economic policy and a balance of social policy.
Luckily for Canada, provincial and municipal governments have a voice. in Quebec City, they are building an NHL arena, cause that is what the city wants. They want a taste of what Winnipeg just received back. So although things are questionable in this great land of ours, I have hope. I have confidence in the current students who, go to school, plug away and will be the next group to sustain the things we do well in Canada while changing the things we need to improve on.
So you guys keep your hate machine rolling. I think this hate will work our well for you in the next election if you decide to run for office. You won’t be receiving a vote from this soldier who lives in St. Albert and if this hate rhetoric goes on, I will be sure to hit the campaign trail myself just to see you go down in defeat. Hows that for HATE!
This is an interesting take from a former conservative supporter, Allan Gregg. He doesn’t attack the person, rather he outlines the current place & time & reason. There are several areas which he has a point. Others in my opinion are debatable but it’s this language that is worth close examination. I am sure someone like Allan Gregg has the clout to influence some Harper backbenchers if the pendulum does indeed swing too far right. Just my opinion
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/mobileweb/2012/09/10/allan-gregg-speech-assault-on-reason_n_1871658.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-politics