Liberals are not in the habit of carrying out great reflections and introspections on who they are and what they have to offer. We were also able to perceive this malaise during the general council last week. We do not know why the activists were gathered since there was neither debate on resolutions, nor presentation of the conclusions of the Pratte-Cadet committee, nor unveiling of the rules of the next leadership race. Nothing. It is therefore in the corridors of the general council, rather than in the main room, that the most interesting exchanges took place.
The Liberal Party of Quebec, its deputies and its activists seem uncomfortable with nationalism. It’s like a hot potato that they pass from hand to hand, trying not to burn themselves too much while handling it. However, they have only to dive back into the history books to see how the Liberals of yesteryear were proud Quebec nationalists, without in any way diluting their attachment to Liberal values. Nationalism was then embraced, assumed and a source of pride.
Indeed, Quebec nationalism was expressed within the liberal troops in the social and economic orientations. “Maîtres chez nous” is what the very liberal Jean Lesage and his team of thunder had clearly declared. Robert Bourassa, another Liberal, added in 1990, after the Meech Lake accord: “Whatever we say, whatever we do, Quebec is, today and forever, a distinct society, free and capable of assuming its destiny and its development”. Nationalism has also expressed itself through very concrete actions and accomplishments, in terms of identity, notably in 1974, when French was proclaimed as the official language of Quebec, or when the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms was adopted in 1975.
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The long march of secularism in our nation does not date from the last heartbreaking debates. It was a Liberal government that commissioned the Parent report, which led to the creation of the Ministry of Education and therefore the secularization (secularization) of our education network by removing these responsibilities from the Church. This major change follows debates that rocked Quebec during the 1950s, when there was concern about the under-education of Francophones and French Canadians, and the impact that this could have on Quebec identity.
Like what the liberals could speak identity and defense of the French language without having cold sweats in the back and by assuming themselves fully.
Economically, the PLQ carried out major projects that allowed Quebec to develop at breakneck speed. The nationalization of hydroelectricity is in this sense the best example of economic nationalism.
Today, the PLQ is not a shadow of itself. The opposing parties succeeded in affixing him with the label of enemy to Quebec nationalism and in making people forget his accomplishments. At the same time, the liberals of today have opened the doors wide to them by being timid about social and economic proposals, by being absent from major societal debates and by hiding behind federalism as if that summed up the whole its identity and positioning. However, the PLQ was founded long before the birth of the sovereigntist movement.
Today’s Liberals have not betrayed Quebeckers. They did not betray the francophones, whatever we say or do. Above all, they betrayed Bourassa, Lesage and the legacy of many other proud Quebec liberal nationalists.