What does it mean to be a nationalist in Quebec today? This is a question that could not be more relevant, at a time when all our politicians claim this label in one way or another. By dint of being hackneyed, the term risks losing its meaning and becoming a sterile political formula that embodies nothing at all. Let us think of Dominique Anglade, who presents a candidate explicitly making the leap in politics to fight the nationalism, and which contests the “monopoly” of nationalism at the CAQ the next day.
In fact, since at least Father Lionel Groulx, Quebec nationalism has been organized around a key idea: the State of Quebec must act like a nation-state by getting involved in collective life to defend a certain idea. of French Quebec, with distinct traditions and customs. This central axis, which Groulx defended in National Action as early as the 1920s, inspired Jean Lesage’s “Maîtres chez nous”, and even Bill 101 of the Lévesque government. For Lesage and Lévesque, the Quebec state should defend the unique cultural identity it bears, without having to apologize for it.
Above all, to be a nationalist, you have to dare to say the Quebec difference, by emphasizing what makes this small French-speaking nation unique in North America, what makes Quebec neither English Canada nor the United States. . This is an exercise that many politicians and intellectuals refuse, for fear of falling into a so-called “exclusion”, but the fact is that whoever does not dare to define the nation he claims to defend finds himself faced with a great void. However, it is obvious that our collective adventure draws its roots above all from New France, while enriching itself with multiple contributions over time.
In the same way, it is a question of noting the vulnerability of this inheritance resulting from four centuries of resistance. Quebec being the only French-speaking state in North America, we must take into account our situation to cherish as the most precious of treasures this uniqueness that still lives through us. Without this awareness of our precariousness, the motivation to act is lacking.
It would be wrong to forget that before François Legault’s victory in 2018, very few of our politicians called themselves nationalists. It is the positions of the CAQ leader on three major issues, in line with this idea of Quebec as a nation-state, which have defined the heart of today’s nationalism: the French language, secularism, immigration. Unquestionably, an assumed Quebec nationalism requires a defense of French that is not afraid to resort to the law, solid support for Bill 21 and the will that immigration thresholds be lowered.
While these debates bring out an intense polarization between the parties, it would be illusory to claim that all Quebec political parties are nationalist, no offense to those who try to appropriate this label without taking into account what it implies. . What difference do the Liberals defend when they try to fit Quebec into the Canadian mould?
The fact is that there is nothing nationalist about opposing Quebec legislating more to protect French. No more than opposing Quebec defining its own model of secularism. Or considerably increase the number of immigrants we receive each year without the slightest concern for our capacity for integration, which is already exceeded. To be a nationalist today is to fully assume that Quebec is building its identity outside of Canadian multiculturalism and in all fidelity to a centuries-old francophone heritage.