I am writing to you from Paris, splendid with this history engraved in stone for the generations to come. I am writing to you from this France where General Charles de Gaulle came from. The one who dared to tell us, in 1967: “Long live Quebec!” Long live the free quebec ! »
At the time, this little insolence towards the Empire and the Americans received a thunderous reception; she had electrified us. In the Quebec of that time, bubbling with hope, enthusiasm and audacity, we were preparing to tame the power of our great rivers to build these dams which still arouse our pride today and supply our innovations with clean energy.
In the Quebec of that time, all hopes seemed possible. These Quebecers bequeathed to us the emancipation of the Church, the creation of health insurance, the reform of electoral financing, Bill 101, the founding of the Caisse de dépôt et placement. And so much more. It was during this effervescent era of promises and hopes that the institutions were established which to this day allow us to present ourselves with our heads held high before the world. We felt it in the air at the time, “yes, and it was becoming possible”.
Members of my generation did not know this era. At 25 years old, I was born three years after the referendum failure of 1995. I saw the light of day in Quebec of the winning conditions and the consolidation of public finances of Lucien Bouchard. I grew up under the morose and wait-and-see Liberal Party of Jean Charest. I entered adolescence during the PQ parenthesis which ended with the sad emergence of questions of identity. Then, I experienced the beginnings of adulthood accompanied by the businessman Philippe Couillard and the complacent François Legault.
To hell with the immense promises of yesteryear, I lived in a flat and routine world marching at the pace of consensus and satisfaction. If it weren’t for the history that was, members of my generation — and it breaks my heart to say this — would have the right to despise their country. We look back on the last 25 years and the only question that comes to mind is this: what happened? Why have we lost the taste for living?
But things don’t have to be this way. We are a rich, fiery country, filled to the brim with talent and potential. We have the tools. And if we don’t have them yet, we have the talents to create them. Our problem is not one of resources, but of ambition and character. Character can be corrected. Ambition can be found and stimulated. This is why it is criminal for us to stop hoping.
I would like us to declare, in Quebec, a new era of big projects and big dreams. I would like us to say to each other that we have had enough of being satisfied with what is, and that we ask, under penalty of going into the streets, for will and splendor. . Gone is the “we are there, let’s be there” of Réjean Ducharme. Finished, The winter of strength. Gone are the complaints of Daniel Bélanger and the depression of the Roommates.
I would like a new planning code that would give tax credits to beautiful and sustainable buildings. I would like a TGV network that would connect – the demand, we will then create it – all the cities of Quebec. I would like us to build a metro network in Montreal whose terminus would not be (yet) another shopping center. I would like us to rediscover the taste for legacy, rather than the delegation of our skills to private and foreign companies. I would like us to be bombarded with long-term projects and to push the threshold of our hopes ever further.
Ah! what I would like for someone to emerge in the public square and shout: “Enough is enough. We are tired of having enough! » Let’s start dreaming again. Let’s stop working to remain ourselves, let’s desire the future, let’s desire what we could become!
The parenthesis of the last 25 years is not inevitable. I am certain that we will be able to get out of the current slump. Let us draw inspiration from the strength of the St. Lawrence and navigate together towards new possibilities. Places of success that will make our grandchildren proud, as I am proud of my grandparents. There is so much to do. Let’s get to work.