[A-List] Sovereignty supporters debate Quebec's post-election prospects

["Richard Fidler" <rfidler_8@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following article appears in the May-June issue of
Relay, a magazine published by Socialist Project in Canada.
An on-line version appears in Socialist Voice, together with
a companion article on the Québec solidaire campaign, at
http://www.socialistvoice.com/index.htm

The author of both articles is a member of Socialist Project
and a contributing editor of Socialist Voice. Currently
based in Ottawa, he is a long-standing observer of and
sometime activist in the Quebec left.

-- Richard

Sovereigntists Open Debate on Quebec?s Post-Election
Prospects
Despite Low Vote, Québec Solidaire Registers Important Gains

By Richard Fidler 

[A table indicating electoral scores of the parties, omitted
in this plain-text version, appears in the on-line article
at
http://www.socialistvoice.com/Soc-Voice/Soc-Voice-121.htm]

Quebec has entered a new period of political instability in
the wake of the March 26 general election. For decades, the
province?s politics have been polarized between the
federalist Liberals (PLQ) and the sovereigntist Parti
Québécois. Now the sudden ascension of a relatively new
right-wing "autonomist" party, the Action Démocratique du
Québec, has reduced the governing Liberals to minority
status in the National Assembly. The PQ, which entered the
campaign with polls giving it a credible chance to regain
power, is now the third party. The PQ?s share of the popular
vote is its lowest since the early 1970s. 

Elections in capitalist democracies reflect the underlying
trends within society with all the accuracy of a fun-house
mirror, especially in an undemocratic first-past-the-post
system like Quebec?s. All the more so in a period when the
nationalist and labour mobilizations that have periodically
shaken Quebec since the Sixties are in ebb. What if anything
do these elections tell us about the evolution of Quebec
society, and the state of the sovereigntist movement? 

The end of "separatism"?

The parliamentary geometry is clear. The makeup of the
National Assembly has shifted further to the right. There
are now two federalist parties for voters to choose between.
As Canadian Prime Minister Harper was quick to note, the
results likely rule out the prospects for a new referendum
on Quebec sovereignty in the near future. 

But PQ losses do not necessarily translate into gains for
the federalists. The ADQ is nationalist albeit not
pro-independence. Its federalism is conditional. The ADQ was
allied with the PQ on the yes side in the 1995 referendum.
It arose out of the split in the Quebec Liberals in the
early 1990s when ADQ leader Mario Dumont (then the PLQ youth
leader) joined with senior party members led by Jean Allaire
in support of a proposal to give Quebec exclusive
jurisdiction over 22 areas of government policy, taking over
many areas now assigned to the federal government under the
existing Constitution. 

The ADQ platform in this election highlighted its proposal
for "Quebec affirmation without separating", calling for
"reopening of constitutional dialogue with the federal
government and the other provinces", the adoption of a
distinct "Quebec Constitution" and Quebec citizenship,
designation of Quebec as the "Autonomous State of Quebec",
defence of "our areas of jurisdiction" and strengthening
Quebec?s "financial autonomy". Quebecers must overcome their
"minority complex", the party said.

The legislative agenda of Charest?s Liberals is now
dependent on the votes of either the autonomist ADQ or the
sovereigntist PQ. And ADQ leader Dumont has expressed the
hope "that we could rally some kind of unanimity at the
National Assembly around an autonomist vision."

Harper sought to shore up the Quebec Liberals and defuse
demands for constitutional change through shoveling money to
Quebec in the federal budget just a week before the election
? "the mother of all sponsorship campaigns", wrote one wag.
But will tactics like this satisfy those favouring more
substantial changes in Quebec?s relationship to Canada? They
are a majority in Quebec. During the election campaign,
polls registered popular support for sovereignty at well
over 40% with or without a formal association with Canada.
Evidently, the ADQ tapped into some of that sentiment.

The fact is that the ADQ proposals, whatever their specifics
(and they are vague) are likely non-starters in the rest of
Canada. It is one thing to pay lip service to recognition of
Quebec, or the Québécois, as a "nation" as the federal
Parliament did in November. It is quite another thing to
give that notion some substance through real constitutional
reform. Any serious proposals to alter the framework of
federalism will most probably encounter a cold reception
from the Canadian political establishment, including the NDP
leadership.

The likely prospect, then, is for renewed confrontations
with Ottawa in Quebec?s ongoing quest for national
affirmation and self-determination.

Labour, social movements in retreat

With three more-or-less neoliberal parties dominating
politics and media attention, there is a danger that too
much will be read into the shifts in voter preference,
especially when the re-allocation of parliamentary seats
exaggerates the actual change in the popular vote. 

The ADQ?s gains were largely at the expense of the Liberals.
The ADQ platform sounded most of the social themes so dear
to right-wing ideologues: family allowances in place of
state-subsidized childcare, school autonomy and job-oriented
curricula, an increased role for private healthcare, tougher
law and order, lower taxes, etc. But in most respects, this
program does not differ qualitatively from Charest?s agenda.
Québec solidaire leaders Françoise David and Amir Khadir
were probably correct to state, in a post-election news
release, that the PLQ and ADQ "will be as thick as thieves
when it comes to privatizing health care, increasing student
fees, refusing to index social assistance and imposing
[worse] working conditions on public sector workers."

In fact, public disaffection with the Liberals was generally
attributed to precisely this policy direction, which the
Charest government had been pursuing since its election in
2003 in defiance of mass opposition. 

In their first year in office, the Liberals unveiled
legislation dismantling healthcare unions, restricting and
even denying bargaining rights to many public sector
workers, increasing contracting out to non-union employers
and removing minimum wage standards in some industries. This
legislation was rammed through the National Assembly in the
face of massive protests by workers throughout Quebec ? the
largest union mobilizations since the general strike that
swept the province in 1972.

On May Day, 2004, 100,000 workers marched in Montréal, many
of them demanding a general strike to defeat the government
offensive. The union leaderships worked to cool the growing
confrontation, however, frustrating and ultimately
demoralizing many militants. 

In December 2005, faced with escalating strikes and rallies
by a union common front of half a million public sector
workers who had been without a contract since June 2003, the
Charest government successfully imposed a takeback contract
to run to 2010, with stiff fines for any further strike
action. These and other antilabor moves were accompanied
during Charest?s term in office by substantial cuts in
childcare funding, higher fees for publicly funded daycare
and threats to remove a freeze on post-secondary tuition
fees. In 2005, students struck colleges and universities and
marched in tens of thousands in the largest such actions in
Quebec history.

However, these powerful mobilizations by workers, students
and others were unable to defeat the Liberals? assault,
although they did force some retreats on the government. A
major obstacle facing the government?s opponents was their
lack of a political alternative. The Parti québécois offered
at best tepid opposition to Charest?s agenda and the new PQ
leader André Boisclair refused to commit to re-opening
public sector contracts or repealing much of the Liberals?
anti-union legislation. The last year saw a sharp decline in
mass actions while PQ support slowly declined in opinion
polls.

With no major party presenting any perspective for reversing
these setbacks, Quebec?s political discourse became
increasingly dominated by symbolic issues that fed on
insecurities over national self-definition and identity. The
ADQ proved particularly adept at exploiting this trend.

ADQ works the "identity" theme

Until recently, the ADQ?s electoral base was in Quebec?s
largely rural hinterland. But its support increased
dramatically when ADQ leader Mario Dumont began attacking
policies to accommodate the right of religious minorities,
mainly Muslims, to express or practice their faith in public
(for example, dress codes allowing hijabs or kirpans in the
public schools, or the provision of prayer space for Muslims
in unoccupied classrooms). Most of the incidents around
which these issues arose have occurred in Montréal, but the
ADQ?s reactionary claim that "reasonable accommodation" of
such practices challenged Québécois identity seemed to have
its greatest resonance outside the metropolis. The ADQ
appears to have tapped into some deep-seated discomfort
among many Québécois, to whom cosmopolitan, multiracial and
socially tolerant Montréal seems alien to their perception
of Quebec culture and sense of personal security.

The ADQ?s opposition to religious minority practices meant
that it campaigned in favour of "secularism" ? in sharp
contrast to the staunchly Catholic right-wing forces of the
past such as Maurice Duplessis? Union Nationale or Réal
Caouette?s Créditistes. This opened the way to support from
urbanites for whom religion plays little or no role in their
sense of national identity.

Although the ADQ exploited these largely symbolic issues to
its advantage, all parties have in fact played on fears of
minority contamination of Quebec values. One of the first
manifestations of such concerns came in the form of a joint
Liberal-PQ motion, adopted unanimously in the National
Assembly in 2005, condemning a proposal (in Ontario!) to
extend legal recognition of private arbitration of family
law disputes to Moslems ? even though Quebec?s Civil Code
already bars such private arbitration. (See Socialist Voice
#78) And during this election campaign it was PQ leader
André Boisclair who insisted that women with burkas would
have to unveil in order to vote!

Has PQ forgotten its raison d?être?

Issues of national identity have featured prominently in
post-election commentary by sovereigntists as they assess
the PQ?s electoral debacle. The party?s left-wing "club" of
trade-unionists and progressives, SPQ-Libre, attributed the
cultural insecurity it sees in Quebec primarily to
capitalist globalization and its devastating impact on the
province?s regional economy and social structure. It said
the PQ?s response to the ADQ "identity" campaign should have
emphasized "the defence and promotion of the French language
and culture", issues "at the heart of the Quebec national
movement". 

Others echoed this theme. Jean Dorion, president of the
nationalist Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society, says the PQ is the
party that talked least about language during the campaign.
When in government, it failed to implement legislation
adopted in 2003 that proclaimed French the sole language of
government communications.

"Dumont roused consciousness of identity in a very unhealthy
way," says Dorion. This distracted people from some really
important questions "such as the bilingualism in our society
and the hegemony of English". He cites the fact that half
the new megahospital infrastructures being built in Montréal
will be administered in English.

Pierre Renaud, a former leader of the RIN, the PQ?s
independentist predecessor, argues that the PQ has focused
too exclusively on its promised referendum on sovereignty.
"Instead, we have to talk to them about the reasons for
achieving independence. It was never for reasons of money,
but we kept talking about how profitable it would be. That
was a mistake. We want to form a country for issues of
culture, language, pride, identity, history, etc."

Former PQ minister Yves Duhaime agrees. "We just talked
about the referendum, we didn?t talk about sovereignty....
Yes, we have to put the figures on the table, but achieving
sovereignty is not an accounting exercise, especially when
Mr. Charest himself said Quebec had the means to do it."

Historian Éric Bédard, who headed the PQ youth organization
at the time of the 1995 referendum, says Boisclair left the
issue of Quebec identity to the ADQ. He draws an interesting
historical parallel: in 1969, the Union Nationale lost the
election after it had enacted "free choice" of language in
education (Bill 63). Similarly, he says, the PQ?s
pro-sovereignty views have become "denationalized".

French language still under pressure

In fact, the question of French language rights continues to
be front and centre in the consciousness of many Quebec
working people. Just days after the March 26 general
election, the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ) held a major
symposium on Quebec?s stalled language law reforms and the
ongoing problem of anglicization of business and industry in
the province. The FTQ released studies showing that about
one out of every two Francophones working in both languages
in the private sector must communicate primarily in English
with Anglophone superiors, colleagues and subordinates.

Former PQ cabinet minister Louise Beaudoin, a featured
speaker, said it was unacceptable that 30 years after the
enactment of Law 101, the Charter of the French Language,
language transfers in Quebec were still predominantly toward
English; given the option, immigrants, Anglophones and even
some Francophones tend to choose English instead of French
as their language of choice. A major problem, she said, is
that "there is still no real francization program in firms
with fewer than 50 employees", where most immigrant workers
are concentrated.

And Beaudoin was scathing in her criticism of PQ leader
André Boisclair for not raising the issue of language and
culture in the election campaign. "How is it," she asked,
"that in a two-hour debate of the party leaders, in which
all the major issues in Quebec society should be aired, not
a word was said about the French language and Quebec
culture?"

The FTQ had motivated its endorsement of the PQ in the
election on the basis of the party?s formal commitment, in
its published platform, to "promoting identity, language and
culture", promoting the right to "work in French" and
"achieving the sovereignty of Quebec". At the same time, the
FTQ criticized the party?s demand for a new referendum on
sovereignty and Boisclair?s recent call to end the
"copinage" (cronyism) between the PQ and the unions.

A new sovereigntist coalition?

Interviewed by Le Devoir on his reaction to the election
results, Gérald Larose, a former leader of the Confederation
of National Trade Unions (CSN) and now chair of the Conseil
de la souveraineté, the umbrella council of pro-sovereignty
organizations, noted that the PQ could no longer be said to
monopolize the sovereignty movement. He called for creating
a "new sovereigntist coalition", much broader than the PQ
and its supporters. 

But to be successful, many argue, Quebec sovereignty must be
linked to a progressive "projet de société", a social agenda
that holds out the promise and hope of a "new and different
Quebec" that can do away with social inequality and poverty.
The PQ?s inability to promise that social change, starkly
evident after its record in government, means that it cannot
provide adequate leadership for this projected coalition.

The nationalist movement is continuing to suffer the effects
of its political hegemony by the PQ, which held office for
18 years between 1976 and 2003, many of them years of
neoliberal austerity, "zero deficits" and cutbacks in social
programs. Part of the legacy as well are the two failed
referendums on sovereignty-association (1980 and 1995), the
1982 unilateral federal patriation of the Constitution,
etc., the defeat of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown rounds
of constitutional negotiation and reform, etc. 

Offsetting these setbacks, of course, were the major reforms
enacted by both PQ and Liberal governments since 1960 under
the pressure of powerful and sustained labour and
nationalist struggles over several decades. These reforms
greatly enhanced the status of the French language and of
Francophones in Quebec, modernized its education system and
established social welfare programs that to some degree
reduced economic and social disparities with the rest of
Canada including Ontario, the province with a comparable
industrial development. Quebec?s relative success in these
areas may have undermined to some degree the sense of
urgency behind the sovereigntist movement.

Increasing class stratification

These reforms have also increased the stratification of
Quebec society, with the growth in recent decades of many
middle layers of relatively well-off Francophone
professionals and highly educated workers. The much vaunted
"Quebec model" of the welfare state is less appealing to
them now; many are attracted by the lure of neoliberal
individualism. The ADQ?s electoral inroads in urban and
especially suburban areas of Quebec may reflect these
sociological changes. 

Issues of language and culture are still important to these
layers, but they are less inclined to see solutions to their
insecurities in meta changes, including constitutional
reforms. However, they may want more than what Charest?s
milquetoast brand of pragmatic cooperative federalism was
able to yield (which was not much). In any event,
nationalist consciousness has not been immune to the overall
context of defeats and relative demobilization of the unions
and social movements. In a political landscape dominated by
neoliberal parties, allegiances were easily shifted among
three parties distinguished by little more than their
respective positions on the national question.

For almost five decades, class politics in Quebec have
unfolded in a predominantly nationalist framework in which
the contending social forces have operated within a broad
consensus on the need to promote French-language rights and
Francophone identity whether within or without the
Confederation. That consensus remains, but new issues of
identity, arising mainly around the challenges of
integrating immigrants and non-Francophones within Quebec
society, intersect with initial signs of a growing class
differentiation within the broad nationalist movement. The
PQ?s rightward shift has opened space to the left for
sections of the workers and social movements to begin to
break from bourgeois nationalism. The formation of Québec
solidaire reflects this, although still incompletely and not
altogether coherently.

Likewise, the open rifts within the PQ will favour a renewed
debate in Quebec over the road ahead for the social
movements, including the trade unions whose members have
long been the bedrock of support for that party.

This, and not the overnight ascension of the ADQ, may well
turn out to be the most important result of the 2007
election. Historically, national and class mobilizations in
Quebec, while not in lockstep, have tracked each other
closely. New battles lie ahead, opening new prospects for
beginning to build a broad working-class political
alternative to capitalist exploitation and national
oppression.