Imagine a researcher who should describe Quebec, but without setting foot there and without knowing anything about its economy, its culture or its demography. It should describe Quebec based on its international presence. He should, in fact, deduct it.
The cultural imprint
According to cinematographic news, he would notice that almost every year for ages, a Quebec film or a film directed by a Quebecer has been nominated for the Oscars, the Golden Globes and the Cannes Film Festival and that it is no longer rare that he leaves with a prize. He would know that HBO, Netflix and other broadcast giants are flooding with scripts from directors born not far from the St. Lawrence. He would see that the Quebec logo appears almost systematically at the end of major superhero and space travel productions.
Continuing his cultural research, he would note that people from Quebec City were recently commissioned to reimagine the greatest productions in the history of the Opera at its New York temple, the MET. He would learn that other Quebecers have long dominated the Las Vegas scenes and that a singer from here regularly occupies the top of the French and, in one case, English sales markets. Our researcher would know, because he has comparables, that Quebec is not a cultural superpower, because it is neither Hollywood nor Paris. But he would conclude that Quebec is a cultural power.
The economic footprint
He should also fill his notebook with economic ratings. He might not be surprised to learn that Quebec is a giant in the pulp and paper industry and in an aluminum sector which, here, is taking a spectacular green turn. But he would learn that in aerospace, the Quebec metropolis is on the podium of the three major world places and that Quebec helicopters and planes criss-cross the skies of 100 countries.
It seems to him that the Quebec metropolis is a world center in artificial intelligence, video games, visual effects and animation, big data, life sciences and health technologies. And that it is the first city on the continent for international congresses.
He would also note that Quebec is a reference in terms of cooperatives and that the first private employer in Quebec is not Wal-Mart, as elsewhere, but Metro. We also say that the Chantier de l’économie sociale du Québec is a world reference point in this area.
The political footprint
Continuing his investigations, our researcher would be interested in the political weight of Quebec. In Washington, he would learn that one of the greatest free trade agreements in history, NAFTA, would not exist without the political weight placed in the balance by Quebec nearly 30 years ago. In Brussels, it would be explained to him that another historic agreement, between all of Europe and Canada, only exists because of Quebec’s desire to see it emerge.
In San Diego, it seems to him that the alliance between California and Quebec was essential to reduce polluting emissions from cars across the continent and that this alliance today forms the basis of the only carbon market in force on the continent. . In New York, it would be explained to him that Quebec electricity is one of the keys to the ecological transition of the American Northeast.
In Paris, people would say to him that Quebec’s strength of character was decisive in the conception of an international convention protecting the ability of states to support their national cultures. In several African capitals, he would learn that Quebec is one of the most influential governments of an organization that has 88 members, the International Organization of La Francophonie.
The Footprint in Education and Science
In Boston, she seems to know only one rival, in terms of the number of universities, local and foreign students: Montreal. Interested in science, we would explain to our researcher that the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in artificial intelligence (AI), the Turing Prize, was awarded to Quebec researcher Yoshua Bengio, considered one of the three sponsors of the ‘Artificial intelligence in the world, that Montreal is one of the planetary poles, not only of research in AI, but in the development of the ethical rules that must apply to this new universe.
We would explain to him that Quebec scientific excellence is not new because a Quebecer, Pierre Dansereau, is the father of ecology, that another, Hans Selye, was the first to describe stress. That Jacques Beaulieu, in Quebec, took a giant step forward in the use of the laser. And that today we are inventing the most efficient batteries for electric cars.
It also seems to him that Quebec is used to being in orbit. The Canada Arm of the International Space Station is being built in Saint-Hubert. Quebecers have not only been astronauts, but a former Quebec tightrope walker was one of the first space tourists and a Quebecer, for NASA, remotely controlled the machine that is now walking on Mars.
An imprint on public policies
Our researcher would also find Quebec’s fingerprints in the public policies of other countries. We come from Europe to study our social economy policies, from Catalonia to borrow our linguistic legislation, from the United States to find out about our child care centers or our union investment funds, and the legendary American activist Ralph Nader is inexhaustible on our Drug insurance. France and Canada were inspired by our laws on election financing. The practice of mediation developed in Quebec to remove disputes from the slow legal process is of interest to several countries.
He would understand that Quebec is present in the world, which repays it well: 350 European companies and 350 American companies have chosen Quebec, as have 65 international organizations. He would smile when he learned that the wealthy Qatar tried to move the prestigious and imposing headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO. But the member countries overwhelmingly preferred to stay in Montreal.
We could also talk to him for a long time about athletes from Quebec, who regularly climb the Olympic podiums, especially when the time for the Winter Games has come.
If he is interested in war and peace, he will know that Quebecers shed their blood for the American Revolution, then on Lincoln’s side in the Civil War. 130,000 volunteered to push back the Nazis. Twenty died in Afghanistan against the Taliban. But they are particularly proud of their role in peace missions. It seems to him that it was in Quebec that Roosevelt and Churchill planned the liberation of Europe, then laid the foundations of the UN. That it was in Montreal that one of the world’s largest demonstrations aimed at refusing to engage in unnecessary conflict, the American invasion of Iraq, took place, and more recently one of the world’s largest climate demonstrations , in the presence of Greta Thunberg.
Back in his office, with all his notes, what would our researcher remember? Hard to say. But it’s easy to imagine what he wouldn’t deduce. He would not believe that a people of only eight million people were responsible for all this radiation. He would not believe that the GDP of these people does not hoist them, at least, in the G20. He would have great difficulty understanding that these people are not members of the United Nations and that they can hardly ever vote in the forums where major issues are decided, in which they nevertheless have so much to say and to offer.
No, from everything he would have learned, our researcher would draw in his report the contours of a strong, proud and, certainly, independent nation.
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