The Parti Québécois was once a party of big ideas. Regardless of what one thinks of its defining project — breaking Quebec away from Canada — the PQ has been a progressive force that enacted necessary reforms in the province.
Judging by the performance Thursday by PQ leader Pauline Marois and two of her MNAs, its transformation to a party of narrow minds is now complete.
Ms. Marois called a news conference in Montreal to discuss “the Quebec identity” and let loose what the party described as a cry from the heart. “What will remain of us as a nation if we let the French language decline without reacting, if we let our values be trampled upon?” she asked. She urged Quebecers “to affirm loud and clear our shared values, our identity. There is absolutely no reason to be ashamed of what we are.”
And who exactly is trampling all over Quebec’s cherished values and subverting its language? The PQ’s prime culprits are immigrants who aren’t quick enough to learn French and cling stubbornly to their religious practices.
“It’s at the point where the niqab, the kirpan and all the religious signs are permitted everywhere by Canadian multiculturalism, but Christmas is not allowed,” Ms. Marois said. “Absurdity has its limits.” She made a point of ending her prepared statement by wishing Merry Christmas to Quebecers “of all origins.”
A charitable explanation would be that she recently received a fright watching the Grinch sneak off with the Whos’ Christmas trees. The truth is the PQ has calculated that a scare-mongering appeal to the lowest common denominator will bring electoral success — or at least political survival.
Carole Poirier, the party’s secularism critic, lashed out at those who would mess with “traditions inherited from our history.” She called it “totally unacceptable” for people to want to banish Christmas trees, the cross on Mount Royal or the saint-filled names of Quebec villages. The thing is, nobody is proposing doing away with those reminders of Quebec’s past, and even the crucifix hanging in the National Assembly has been deemed untouchable.
The PQ claims to be in favour of a strict separation of church and state but displays great tolerance for symbols associated with Christianity. Ms. Poirier said a PQ government would prohibit all government staff, even those who never deal with the public, from wearing “conspicuous religious symbols.” That would cover the Jewish kippa and the Muslim head scarf. But a small crucifix worn around the neck would be fine, she said, as would a discreet Star of David or Hand of Fatima.
PQ language critic Yves-François Blanchet said tough action is needed to stop the decline of French. Bill 101 requires the children of immigrants to attend French school, but he said that does not go far enough. A PQ government would extend the requirement to pre-university colleges and it would send the immigrants themselves back to school to learn the language.
“It is necessary that immigrants who arrive in Quebec, if they are not francophone when they arrive, all learn French, that it not be optional and that it be measurable and verifiable,” he said. If they failed, they would repeat until they became “functional.”
The PQ is clearly hoping to cash in on language and cultural insecurity that seems to be on the rise in Quebec. And if that means inventing false threats and blaming minority groups for “trampling” Quebec values, so be it.
But in going down that road, it is betraying the vision of its founder, René Lévesque. When he was elected premier in 1976, he famously declared, “We are perhaps something like a great people.” Today, when Ms. Marois affirms Quebecers’ status by urging them to stand up and declare their pride “loud and clear,” it is closer to jingoism than to Mr. Lévesque’s modesty.
Last year, former PQ premier Lucien Bouchard broke his customary silence on Quebec politics to warn Ms. Marois that the party was veering toward “radicalism” in its approach to religious and ethnic minorities.
“I think of René Lévesque,” Mr. Bouchard said at the time. “René Lévesque was a man of generosity. He did not ask such questions. He was not afraid to see immigrants arriving.”
Ms. Marois heard the message but has chosen to keep on the radical path. Somebody has to save those Christmas trees.
National Post
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