Canadian polarization further entrenched
Quebec, Alberta on collision course with Confederation
Four days in October were all it took for the Canadian federation to begin to totter. Well, it has been tottering for a while, but the landslide victory of the Coalition Avenir Quebec in the Quebec provincial election and the ascent of Danielle Smith to the premiership in Alberta have put two major provinces on a collision course with Confederation. At this point, it is difficult to see how it will end well.
First, Quebec. The rise of Quebec nationalism in the 1960s was a predictable reaction to the long history of oppression of the Quebecois. A people can only be held down for so long before eventually they rebel. The rebellion began with the election of the Lesage government, a seemingly positive event, expanded with the terrorist bombings and kidnappings by the FLQ, and reached a high point with the election of the separatist Parti Quebecois government in 1976.
With the imposition of the first of the language laws, anglophone Quebeckers began to leave the province. The separatist government refused to sign an agreement to patriate the Canadian constitution, an initiative intended to remove a major vestige of colonialism – the necessity of having Canadian constitutional amendments approved by the British Parliament. Constitutional stalemate ensued, a situation which persists to this day.
When the Parti Quebecois fell from favour, nationalism did not. In fact, it grew in intensity with the CAQ’s repression of religious minorities. After an election campaign with racist overtones, the CAQ now has a mandate to thwart the immigration of those who do not meet its standards of religious and linguistic purity.
This is the thing about nationalism. Free to develop by its own logic, it leads to government-supported racism and even fascism. Less than 50 years after the election of Parti Quebecois, the story of expanding nationalism is not over. The federal government has allowed nationalism to grow unchecked, perhaps because of a realization of the legitimacy of Quebec’s historic grievances but certainly because of negative political consequences for any governing party which attempts to put a brake on nationalist power.
Alberta has historic grievances of its own, some of which should have been put to rest by the province’s rapid economic expansion following the discovery of a massive oil deposit in the late 1940s. However, money doesn’t buy happiness. Any attempts by the federal government to share Alberta’s oil wealth with less privileged parts of the country have been met with strong resistance. Opposition to the federal government is now a necessary condition for any political party in Alberta which has hopes of forming a government.
Smith’s ascendancy to the premiership reveals a major intensification of provincial alienation. While the federal Reform Party of the late 1980s and 1990s campaigned on the slogan “The West Wants In,” Smith’s United Conservative Party’s unspoken slogan is “Alberta Wants Out.” Her proposed sovereignty act which would empower the provincial legislature to reject the implementation of federal laws and court decisions in Alberta was the driving force behind her election as UCP leader.
Unlike Quebec, however, the UCP opposes overreach not just by the federal government but by any government. What constitutes government overreach is an open question. Smith opposes the use of public health measures to control a pandemic. More than that, she gives every indication of wanting to replace public health with quack medicine and legitimize paranoia about conspiracies by shadowy elites who seek to control the planet.
It is worth noting that Smith has no mandate for the sovereignty act. It will take a UCP victory in next May’s provincial election to give her that. But what her ascent to the leadership has done is to steer those who oppose the act toward voting for the NDP, a decision which some will find unpalatable.
A Canada with a government in Alberta which claims sovereignty and one in Quebec which exercises it as if by right represents an existential threat to the nation. This threat has not arisen suddenly but has grown inch by inch over decades in both provinces. Its growth has also been aided by the lack of statesman-like leadership at the federal level.
One thing that could help would be the rise of a leader of Lincolnesque proportions who would tap the better angels in the hearts of Canadians. Sadly, more than 150 years after Lincoln’s presidency ended, the polarization in the American republic is as great as it ever was. Polarization, once entrenched, is not easily eradicated.
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Really thoughtful, appreciate the work that went into such clear, balanced and intelligent writing.