François Legault likes to claim Maurice Duplessis. In September 2021, in an exchange with Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, he said this of the Unionist leader : “he had many faults, but he defended his nation”. The Prime Minister replied to Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who had candidly admitted his lack of interest in defending Quebec’s jurisdictions. Legault had accused him of being a woke.
We understand the latter wanting to compare himself to Duplessis. If in some respects its record is eminently questionable, it shines on the charts for the defense of our autonomy. He introduced the provincial tax in 1954, forcing Ottawa to back down on this issue. Two years earlier, Duplessis had forced our universities to refuse subsidies from Ottawa, education being an exclusive provincial jurisdiction. These subsidies were “unconstitutional”. How does Legault compare to his predecessor?
Let’s stay with the example of higher education. For several years, Ottawa has been showering our researchers and universities with millions of dollars, on the condition that they study systemic racism. For example, the 2021 federal budget provides $12 million for a program called the “Gender, Race and Diversity Initiative.” In addition, the federal government grants research chairs that allow universities to obtain money and hire people. However, Ottawa imposes methodological criteria and intervenes directly in the hiring process.
Two examples. At Laval University, a position related to a chair in history has recently been posted. Only individuals who identify as Aboriginal, disabled, racialized or even women can apply. Université Laval explains that it is required to do so because of the federal government.
It states that to obtain a chair, institutions “must be proactive in identifying systemic barriers (racism, ableism, sexism, discrimination) and eliminating them from their policies and workplaces”. In short, Quebec universities must officially recognize the existence of systemic racism within them to get the money from the feds.
The chair program is also accompanied by a guide on diversity to which researchers must comply, failing which they will lose their chair. They must not commit “micro-aggression”, that is to say offend minorities, in particular by “minimizing the effects of race”.
All the rectors of Quebec universities comply with these requirements, even if they are incompatible with academic freedom and with the scientific method, which has made the success of the West. This situation is ironic since these same rectors denounce the Quebec government’s intention to protect academic freedom in higher education.
In his time Maurice Duplessis had brought the rectors to heel. If a university accepted one dollar from Ottawa, it was cut by one dollar from the money paid by Quebec. All complied. Today our universities are under federal ideological influence, which threatens the standards of research.
Hand on heart, Legault talks about defending the nation and slaying woke ideology. Except that it does nothing to defend our autonomy in education.
As our Prime Minister says, the Unionist leader had his faults. But his defense of Quebec jurisdictions was not limited to speeches.