Are there any major political parties in Quebec that are not nationalist? The answer is simple. No, there aren’t.
All parties in Quebec are nationalist. Staunchly federalist parties can arrange to have their meetings in a phone booth.
The Parti Québécois, of course, needs no introduction. It is a separatist party that is ashamed to promote its very raison d’être. That is why it has returned to baiting immigrants and minorities.
Pauline Marois’ latest ravings about Quebec citizenship requirements and oaths of allegiance were so over the top, they were even denounced by former premier Bernard Landry.
Can you imagine that?
Landry is the man who would address minorities by referring to them as “our brothers and sisters from the cultural communities.”
This was a man given to yelling at immigrant hotel clerks on the night the Peqs lost the 1995 referendum. And even Landry was appalled by La Marois.
Then there is the Liberal party of Jean Charest. This is the party that is responsible for setting up the Bouchard-Taylor Bigotry Roadshow. Always unpopular with francophones, the Liberals have taken to bolster their nationalist credentials by selling immigrants down the river.
It was not Marois and it was not Mario discussing the possibility of assimilating immigrants by moving them into francophone areas. That scheme came courtesy of Liberal immigration minister Yolande James.
When caught via a leaked cabinet document, she insisted that immigrants would not be forced to integrate into the francophone majority, they would merely be encouraged to do so.
Isn’t that a relief? At least we can save on the salaries the government would have had to pay the resettlement police.
Liberal MNA Lawrence Bergman, who has demonstrated a loyalty to Charest unseen since Tonto rode with the Lone Ranger, was instrumental in helping the Liberals raise considerable sums of money. How was he repaid for his devotion? Bergman, I mean, not Tonto. He was unceremoniously tossed out of cabinet. There’s not much room for advancement for Bergman, or any anglo for that matter, within the Liberal Party,
Bergman and the other token anglos should quit the Liberals and move over to the ADQ.
Isn’t Mario Dumont’s party also nationalist? Of course it is. Like I said, all parties in this province are nationalist. Dumont, however, has unlimited credibility among francophones. Dumont does not have to demote anglophones to make himself look like a nationalist. That may explain why Dumont had no problem making Tom Pentafountas president of the party even though his ancestry is not pur laine.
Don’t forget it took Richard Nixon to go to Communist China.
Anglophones can make the ADQ more responsive to their needs by joining the party in droves.
The Reform Party’s Preston Manning was once addressing a Jewish group in Montreal a few years ago when he said, “If I had questions about what Jewish people were like, I would ask Jewish people. If you want to find out about the Reform Party, don’t ask our adversaries, ask us.”
The same thing applies to the ADQ. If you want to find out about the ADQ, ask the ADQ.
Some pessimists insist that the ADQ won’t be any better for anglophones than the Liberals.
True enough. They might not turn out to be all that better. But they certainly couldn’t be any worse.
The Tommy Schnurmacher Show can be heard weekdays 9 a.m. until noon on CJAD800. His e-mail address is tommys@vdn.ca.
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