Harper's Gamble ...
Stephen Harper's declaration that the Quebecois constitute a nation within the Dominion of Canada is certainly a gamble and one in keeping with his Reform Party roots and inclinations.
It is also a gamble with the very idea of Canada that Sir John A. Macdonald put forth 139 years ago.
The Foreign Press and News Services are confused and reporting the semantics a little differently.
And now - of course - the separatists are moving quickly to stake out their spin prior to resparking the idea of another Referendum on Sovereignty.
And of course, now the Aboriginals are asking appropriate and dangerous questions.
What of the legal implications inherent in the motion ? The Political implications?
Roy Romanow weighs in here.
What do Canadians think of this gamble - prior to it being played ? See here ...
I like what Historian Michael Bliss has to say about this nonsense.
And finally, my Friend Beaverbrook over at THE MONARCHIST weaves in with his final and potent thoughts.
You will hear more from this old tory later on over the weekend.
Suffice it to say, Harper has really buggered-up this file ...
posted by Aeneas the Younger @ 6:23 am
7 Comments
7 Comments:
Aeneas:
It's a good thing we have a (passably) Tory scholar like Bliss to tear this idiocy to shreds.
But nothing I've yet seen comes close to how ruthlessly a true Tory like George Grant, Donald Creighton, W.L. Morton, Eugene Forsey or Arthur Meighen would impale Harper on long, sharp poles of cold, deconstructive logic.
The Harperoids have been flailing their arms desperately on Red Tory's site. You should take a look.
Quite the show, wasn't it?
You guys did a nice job of eviscerating them. Too bad they were numb to the fact.
RT:
Don't you find it interesting that real Canadian conservatives (tories) have an almost blinding hate for for the CRAP?
There are quite clear & valid reasons why SIB and I feel this way.
It is the reason they cannot get their majority. The (real) tories are sitting on their hands and witholding their votes from these guys. Harper can't figure it out, and most of us believe that his apparent moderation is only based on the fact that his has a minority.
I voted Green in the last Dominion and the last Provincial election. Most of my tory friends disperesed their votes elsewhere, or did not vote at all.
MacKay shut our party down for reasons we do not fully understand, but he is reaping all kinds of bad karma now isn't he?
As long as people like Jaffer and Anders are CPC MPs, I will not vote for them. I cannot vote for them.
The problem with real tories however, is that we have no access to the money needed to compete in the process. For you see Red, being a traditional Canadian conservative puts you at odds with the liberal elite who control all of the corporate cash.
Our anti-Free Trade and anti-continentalist message does not resonate with the liberals of the right or left - both of whom share core beliefs. As well, real tories cannot accept what the NDP has become - a bastion of disloyalty and home for the self-flagellation of our essential British civic culture and values.
So we llive on the margins, with only our remembrance and love for Canada.
Aeneas the Younger,
This may sound a tad stupid but I was mightily impressed with the arguments that were put forward by yourself and Sir Isaac Brock over at RT's place. Somehow I felt far more Canadian reading your comments and retorts to posts from us "younger" Tories!
In a nutshell, I joined the PCP to support Belinda, a decision I now greatly regret. I have had my share of scrapes (post-betrayal by MacKay) with the new leadership...but I remain a card-carrying member of the new incarnation, namely the CPC.
My question to you two learned gentlemen is as follows: how does one square the Quebec circle in your opinion? If my view that Quebec finds itself as a matter of law part and parcel of the Canadian constitution in spite of the lack of its official "signature", how does one proceed to contain and eventually extinguish support for separatist forces in Quebec?
How does one win over the hearts and minds of francophone Québécois whom unfortunately, seem to have very little appetite for Canada, not to mention Canadian nationalism!
Perhaps we are indeed fools (those of us supporting Harper's pending motion in the Commons) but if that is in fact the case, what is the alternate course of action that will serve to diminish if not extinguish the flame of Quebec separation, sovereignty or sovereign-association???
I look forward to your response.
Aeneas,
My apologies. I've muddled it. I joined the PCP to support André Bachand's brief leadership effort. Following the betrayal, I then supported Belinda's blind ambition tour...
Wiz:
NOTHING has to be done. Quebec is part of Canada. There was no signing-on to the Deal. Quebec is part of Canada by Conquest and Constitution. Quebec need not "sign" anything.
The whole issue of a "signature" has to do with the fact that Trudeau repatriated the Consitution and added the Charter of Rights without the support of the Quebec Provincial Government - which he did not need in order to do so.
It of course might have been better if Quebec had agreed to the whole deal, but Levesque was looking for Sovereignty Association at the time, and Levesque would not co-operate anyway as he dreamed of his mext referendum.
The whole point is that we do not have to DO anything. It is the very appearance of wanting to DO something (that is not required) that gives the Seperatists the angle that there is room to negotiate Quebec's place within or without Canada.
Quebec is part of Canada already. That point is beyond moot. Seperatism has been dying-off in the last decade, and if we remain calm and do nothing to create space for the BQ and PQ it will perhaps wither away over time.
It is my belief that Harper would love to provoke a form of Crisis so that he can renegotiate more decentralisation of the Constitution. That gives him the votes he needs in Quebec to perhaps win a majority. He can't get there from here in English-Canada as we (real) tories refuse to vote for the CPC. So, he needs more Quebec MPs.
If he creates a minor crisis and then renegotiates more power for the provinces, then in his view he can garner more votes in Quebec.
That is my view on the matter. Welcome to the world of traditional Canadian nationalism.
http://www.williamgairdner.com/journal/2006/12/1/from-history-to-harper-and-the-nation-situation.html
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