There was something powerfully symbolic in seeing François Legault and Justin Trudeau jointly announce the installation of a Moderna factory in Montreal.
After the SOS launched to the Canadian army, assistance to which Mr. Legault resigned himself in despair cause to help CHSLDs in the spring of 2020, the vaccination campaign was a shining illustration of the virtues of pandemic federalism. If equalization, with its mysterious calculation formula, remains a relatively nebulous concept for a large part of the population, the advantages of collaboration in all its forms with Ottawa during the health crisis have been fully understood.
Politics being what it is, there have been a few skirmishes here and there, but many Quebecers are surprised to think that federalism could still be good. It even creates “paying jobs”, as Mr. Legault likes them.
The Prime Minister could not help but show off. “Quebec has won the battle for Moderna. A $180 million factory, and it won’t be in Ontario, it’s going to be in Quebec, Doug. It sounded almost as good as eliminating the Maple Leafs.
Clearly, this is not the time for major questioning. We no longer hear about the updating of the “new project for Quebec nationalists” that the CAQ made public in 2015 to dispel the unfortunate impression that it was wallowing in constitutional limbo.
Last Wednesday, during the study of the budgetary appropriations of the Executive Council, the PQ member for Joliette, Véronique Hivon, was surprised for a second year in a row to see that the document published by the Couillard government in June 2017 under the title Quebecers, our way of being Canadians still appears on the site of the Quebec Secretariat for Canadian Relations and therefore officially remains Quebec’s constitutional policy.
The Minister responsible for Canadian Relations, Sonia LeBel, responded with a play on words, explaining that her government preferred action to writing. In other words, rather than following the game plan that was drawn up in 2015, we are building a new plane in midair.
In fact, his department did draft a document last month, but it is more of a policy on relations with francophone communities outside Quebec, entitled For a strong, united and committed Francophonieaccompanied by Government action plan 2022-2025which specifies how Quebec should play its role as the “main center of the Canadian Francophonie”, as presented by the Pelletier report, another Liberal document, published 20 years ago.
Everyone recognizes that Quebec has a duty to support francophones outside Quebec, who are courageously fighting to preserve their identity in an ungrateful, not to say downright hostile, environment.
It is nevertheless surprising that a government that calls itself autonomist has chosen to favor a mission that has the effect of further integrating Quebec into the Canadian whole rather than favoring its emancipation.
From this perspective, we understand better why Mr. Legault chose to entrust the Canadian relations file to Sonia LeBel, one of his ministers clearly identified with the more federalist wing.
Last Wednesday, during the study of the budgetary appropriations of the Executive Council, she felt the need to point out that a sovereign Quebec would experience serious economic difficulties. An argument that the Prime Minister is careful not to use, he who argued the opposite when he was in the Parti Québécois. He is well placed to know that the future is unpredictable, particularly in politics.
Be that as it may, the next election campaign will perhaps give rise to a first. Until further notice, the document Quebecers, our way of being Canadians is also the only point of reference for anyone wondering about the Liberal Party’s constitutional position, and Dominique Anglade certainly does not need to add to his many problems by reopening this Pandora’s box.
It may seem crazy to find on the site of the current government the text which illustrated so well the admission of powerlessness of its predecessor. In reality, beyond the croaking, Mr. Legault dares no more than Philippe Couillard or Jean Charest to officially submit requests to Ottawa, the rejection of which would force him to cross the Rubicon or crash.
In its “new project” of 2015, the CAQ presented a long list of additional powers that it intended to wrest in matters of language, culture, immigration, taxation, etc.
However, for four years, no letter to this effect has been sent to Ottawa. “I speak, almost every time I need to, to my interlocutor, Dominic LeBlanc. We can work by text message too, ”explained Mme LeBel. What, let’s talk!