During the referendum held in Alberta on October 18, 61.7% of citizens voted in favor of withdrawing the principle of equalization from the Canadian Constitution. For Jason Kenney, the bullshit of Canadian federalism, the main purpose of this referendum was to keep the pressure on the federal government and to provide Alberta with a negotiating tool with the latter. However, Jason Kenney’s “strategic operation” did not end with the strong mandate he wanted. All in all, the result of the referendum on equalization remains rather lukewarm or modest, despite the impression that many Albertans still have of subsidizing so-called poor provinces too generously. This impression is nonetheless pure demagoguery, the latter being nourished by a certain political class.
Equalization is a mechanism or system based on federal transfers, allowing wealth to be distributed within the Canadian state. It allows less prosperous provinces to provide public services at a level of quality and taxation appreciably comparable to that of the more affluent provinces.
While the very principle of equalization is indeed provided for in the Constitution and is therefore relatively intangible, the calculation of equalization payments is for its part determined by Ottawa, most often unilaterally. It is not therefore said that Jason Kenney will not one day obtain changes to the equalization formula in a way favorable to his “flock”. From this point of view, the referendum in question could well bear fruit.
Demonization exercise
In any event, what emerges from this referendum is that Quebec has been targeted again, in an exercise of demonization that has become commonplace in Canada. Precisely, what is called the Quebec bashing, in French it is the denigration of Quebec. This stems from a real incomprehension of Canadians with regard to the federal principle in its concrete application, from an underestimation of the value that Quebec’s identity represents in the Canadian space and from the lack of leadership of the federal order. government.
Indeed, in what it has universal (or international), federalism postulates the sovereignty of the provinces in the exercise of the legislative competences attributed to them by the Constitution. It also lays down the principle of respect for the diversity intrinsic to any country, whatever it may be, while promoting the pooling of resources, powers and values.
Many Canadians ignore the essential characteristics and virtues of federalism. Rather, they maintain a unitary vision of Canada and consider this country to be mono or uninational rather than multinational. Worse still, they believe that the particular identity of Quebec constitutes an obstacle or a brake on the building of a true Canadian nation.
In large part, this misconception of Canada stems from the controversy once sparked by the recognition of Quebec’s distinctiveness in the Meech Lake Accord, a controversy carefully fueled by public interventions by opponents of the Accord. As a result, many Canadians felt that the specificity of Quebec was an anomaly, an avatar, a discordant element or factor. From there to thinking that Quebec particularism must be eliminated, there is only one step that a certain number of Canadians do not hesitate to take.
In recent years, the Canadian government has done nothing to correct the poor perception many Canadians have of the originality of Quebec. On the contrary, the participation of this same government in the legal challenge to Bill 99, relating to the exercise of the fundamental rights and prerogatives of the Quebec people and of the State of Quebec, and the potential challenge to the Secularism Act of the State, only feed prejudices against Quebec and its collective choices.
However, Quebec has been at the heart of the Canadian federative project and ideal since its inception. In fact, in 1867, the founding fathers opted for federalism mainly because of the distinct character of Quebec. The Supreme Court itself has already recognized that Quebec was, in fact, one of the essential reasons for the creation of a federal structure when the country was born.
The Canadian government must take decisive leadership to counter the denunciation of Quebec. Indeed, we firmly believe that the rehabilitation of Quebec’s credibility in Canada is, among other things, a federal responsibility! This credibility has, moreover, been altered in large part over the years due to the action or inaction of federal political actors, whether for example in the context of the patriation of the Constitution or in that of the failure of the Meech Lake accord. Quebecers have a duty to remember in this regard, just as they have the right to demand that their collective identity and their official and common language be more respected throughout Canada.