La "régression identitaire"

Landry's agenda of resentment

The Gazette
Monday 12 March 2001

Bernard Landry wants a seat at the Quebec Summit of the Americas. He wants the youth of Quebec "to march under their own colours" at the Olympics. He finds it insulting that Quebec should be classified a have-not province, but will take the equalization money, anyway.

It's the politics of humiliation, as distinct from the politics of grievance practiced by his predecessor, Lucien Bouchard. Landry has always walked around with a big chip on his shoulder, never forgetting the linguistic slights of his youth in the army, when someone told him to speak English. He's 64 now. He's premier of Quebec. He really ought to get over it.

More likely, Landry will keep on with his agenda of resentment, because it has always driven him and often worked for him in politics.

No doubt about it, he's a true believer in the sovereignty of Quebec. Just as Bouchard was Rene Levesque's heir in the sense of being ambivalent on sovereignty, so Landry is in the line of Jacques Parizeau in the sense of having no ambivalence at all.

Parizeau often complained, of both Levesque and Bouchard, that they didn't increase support for independence because they weren't out there selling it.

Of course, Bouchard and Levesque were the most popular leaders in the history of the Parti Quebecois precisely because they expressed the pride of Quebecers but also reflected their ambivalence.

Landry made a scripted attempt at ambiguity at his swearing-in ceremony last Thursday when he said his government "wants to settle the national question, while at the same time, unceasingly and every day, improving Quebec." This was an obligatory attempt at being premier of all Quebecers. But based on the fervour of his rhetoric, Landry has clearly decided that he is leader of the PQ first, and head of the government second. It's not that he doesn't understand the difference between the two roles, it's more a reflection of his priorities.

At his investiture as PQ president the previous week, Landry spoke of transforming "a poor province into a rich country."

Landry's acceptance speech, rather than his swearing-in address, was the real deal, reflecting his vision and values. It ran on the twin tracks of ethnic and economic nationalism.

It's a dark vision, and a distorted set of values, but it's the essence of Landry's message. Get used to it.

Quebecers, he said, are a nation just as the Americans and French are, and aspire to building a country "conceived in liberty." Of course, it's a measure of Canada's liberty that the PQ advocates its dismemberment, which would not be permitted in either the United States or France. For Landry, soaring on rhetorical wings, this was a rather inconvenient fact.

But he very cleverly used the ethnic and economic arguments to bolster one another. On a stand-alone basis, he said, Quebec would have the 15th-largest economy in the world, making it an OECD country.

This is an old speechwriter's trick, breaking out statistics on a comparative basis. On a stand-alone basis, Ontario is the U.S.'s second-largest trading partner, ahead of Japan. That never fails to get the attention of the Americans. On a stand-alone basis, California has the world's sixth-largest economy, ahead of Canada.

It makes a point; it doesn't make a case. Landry pointedly referred to some Quebec stars of the new economy, but neglected to say that all of Quebec's world champions are traders that are perceived and positioned as Canadian companies. The Canadian trademark is one of their biggest advantages in global markets. The prime examples are Nortel Networks and Bombardier, Quebec's two largest high-technology exporters.

Which isn't to suggest Landry doesn't understand globalization or the new economy. He's been an ardent advocate of both. He just has difficulty accepting that Quebec, on the whole, benefits from its membership in the Canadian economic union.

He also has a sense of entitlement, on behalf of Quebec, that verges on the absurd. He demanded a seat at the Quebec Summit knowing full well that the provinces have no role in international trade.

Just because Landry promoted free trade, when Jean Chretien was voting against it, does not entitle Quebec to a role at the summit, even if the provincial capital is hosting the event. The appropriate role is for Quebec to offer a cocktail, where Landry would raise a glass and offer warm words of welcome.

Landry, either obstinately or deliberately, picked his first fight with Ottawa over an issue he could not win. The inevitable rejection of his demand was, of course, humiliating.

It's a central theme of Landry's discourse. It's also very tiresome.

- L. Ian MacDonald can be reached at imacdonald@generation.net

Just one of the boys

DON MACPHERSON
The Gazette 4.8.01

If the more hard-line members of the Parti Quebecois pay any more attention to politics in summertime than do most other Quebecers, then they must be growing concerned over the behaviour of their leader.

Not that Premier Landry has been acting strangely or anything like that. On the contrary, in his public appearances he has behaved with exemplary tact and decorum. There have been no manifestations of political Tourette's syndrome, no temper tantrums, no insults, no diplomatic incidents, no need to explain or apologize.

But the hard-liners think of Landry as one of their own. And this summer, the premier has sounded and acted like less of a hard-liner than either of his two immediate PQ predecessors, Jacques Parizeau or even Lucien Bouchard. The recent Quebec premier of whom he has been most reminiscent is a federalist, Robert Bourassa.

On his first trip to Europe as premier, Landry presented himself as a confederalist or a Euro-federalist.

He endorsed Bourassa's concept of a "confederal union" between a nominally "sovereign" Quebec and what would be left of Canada, inspired by the European Union. Bourassa's union - and now Landry's - would be governed by a joint parliament elected by universal suffrage.

And Landry conceded that representation in the joint parliament would be by population, making it "absolutely certain" that Quebec would be in the minority. In that respect, the proposed future parliament would be like the present Canadian one.

Such a proposal may have come as a surprise to any PQ rank-and-file member who was paying attention and who has read the current party program. The program provides for the possibility of a "partnership" between a sovereign Quebec and Canada that would be political as well as economic. But it makes no mention of a joint, elected parliament, much less one dominated by a Canadian majority. And watering down the party program on sovereignty between policy conventions is something moderate PQ leaders are known to do.

Landry did not even seem unduly embarrassed at being publicly praised as a "great federalist" by a Belgian politician who had concluded all the Quebec premier really wants is more autonomy for his region. And Landry agreed he is a federalist - ''in the European context."

As the cherry on the sundae, on the final stop on Landry's tour, a visit to the mayor of Berlin, it was not the Quebec flag that flew atop city hall to honour the premier, but rather the Canadian one. Landry said he had "no problem" with that - ''for the moment."

Apparently, Landry, previously known for chanting that "Quebec is a nation, not a province," had "no problem," either acting like just one of the boys at this week's premiers' conference in Victoria, and not even one of the more important boys at that.

Maybe it was an uncharacteristic bout of shyness on his part. After all, it was his first such conference since he became premier, and he didn't yet have a personal rapport with any of the others, as Lucien Bouchard did with Mike Harris. Still, even sovereignist Quebec premiers usually play a more prominent role at these gatherings, which Quebec initiated in the first place.

As it turned out, he needn't have worried about whether the other members of the premiers' club would like him. Consensus-building is the name of the game at these get-togethers, even if the consensus goes no farther than the traditional demand of more money from the absent feds, and the idea is not to show up any of the participants if it can possibly be avoided.

The others even sent Landry home with a gift, a request that Ottawa at least consider his demand for a transfer of tax points to the province. As all of them knew, there was little chance that Ottawa would actually take any longer to consider such a request than a snowball would last on a Montreal sidewalk at high noon any day this week - let alone grant it.

Nevertheless, this was hailed as a victory for Landry in the Quebec media. The sovereignist hard-liners, however, may not have been so impressed.

Separatists just can't get the masses riled up

What ever happened to the separatist movement? It's over, and I say that with all due respect to those who make a living pretending sovereignty's still a credible threat.

The National Assembly may not be in session, but Quebec Premier Bernard Landry is still at it. Missing out on all the summer fun, he's been hard at work in Victoria perusing important documents as he schmoozes with the provincial premiers. Maybe he's showing them all pictures from the European jaunt where some dizzy official described him as a great federalist.

Recently, Landry maintained a perfectly straight face as he announced that he has not spent a single penny of taxpayers' money to promote sovereignty.

Had that been true, of course, the aging Parti Quebecois hard-liners would have been livid. These days, the PQ has far more pressing problems. The militants are worried that there aren't enough militantes.

Women have always been leery of the PQ's antics. They see Landry pushing a twice-rejected option and subsidizing rich corporations while he ignores cash-strapped hospitals.

Female voters have been known to show more sympathy for people than for billion-dollar companies, which explains why they are certainly not going to fall for Landry's Mother Teresa act as the separatist party's well-paid image makers desperately try to paint the man as caring and compassionate.

The members of the nurses' union still remember that it was former PQ leader Lucien Bouchard who charmed their union leadership out of a much-deserved and overdue raise. That strike turned out rather well for the PQ government, which made a tidy profit if you add up how much they saved by docking nurses' salaries and collecting hefty fines.

Landry's afraid to call an election right now because the polls don't look so hot. When he finally does dare to call an election, Liberal leader Jean Charest shouldn't waste time concocting constitutional positions. Instead, he should spend all his time reminding voters that the PQ does not make decisions in the interests of Quebecers. Every calculated move is designed to promote the sovereignist cause.

Take the elderly, for example. Since they tend to vote against separation, they are routinely treated with total disdain. The ill-advised and improvised drug plan has forced many of them to choose between food and medication, while long-term-care facilities for needy seniors are desperately short of money.

Former health minister Pauline Marois didn't think the elderly needed the luxury of being bathed more than once a week. Regulations for their protection are routinely ignored

Not surprising when you consider that it was Landry who said, "Logically, the simple passage of time gives 0.5 per cent more to the sovereignty option each year because with the fatalities, the oldest don't vote any more.''

While Landry is savvy enough not to spit on the Canadian flag while he is out in Victoria, B.C., he is in a complete conflict of interest. He cannot and will not co-operate, because his sole goal is to prove that federalism does not work.

But much to their chagrin, separatists can't get the masses riled up as well as they used to. After the passage of the clarity bill, they were comparing Canada to everything from Albania to the Soviet Union.

Not a peep from the populace.

As Cap'n Lucien Bouchard bailed out from the sinking ship of sovereignty, he pointed out that Quebecers were "astonishingly impassive in the face of federal offences like the social union, the millennium bursary program, the creation of university chairs, the adoption of Bill C-20."

Perhaps Quebecers just aren't offended by massive cash grants and the sensible requirement that Quebec ask a clear question if it ever again attempts to break up the country.

Recent polls on the island of Montreal show the Liberals with 54 per cent of the vote with the PQ at less than 25 per cent. Liberal support will be nowhere near as impressive in the unilingual hinterland, but the Liberals could well improve their standing as voters yearn to hear about something other than sovereignty.

Watch for Landry to delay the election as much as possible because he really loves his job.

He does not want to lose all the trappings of power when he has barely had a chance to enjoy his luxurious new digs in the "national" capital, Quebec City.

Poor Bernie.

In Europe, he was treated like a national head of state. In British Columbia, he's just another premier.

Landry's national dream

Lying is such an ugly word, so ugly that parliamentary rules forbid members from using it against each other.

And since Premier Bernard Landry has been getting a bit of a rough ride in this space lately, let's give him a break today. Let's just say that when he spoke in Toronto this week, he told his audience a couple of things that were, ah, contrary to the truth.

One is that Quebec is a nation. The other is that Quebec sovereignty is not an ethnic project.

These are things Landry says all the time back home. But if he actually believes them, then he is indulging in wishful thinking. And wishing does not make it so.

Let's start with the idea that Quebec sovereignty is not an ethnic project. It is not just coincidence that while many provinces have grievances against Canadian federalism, the only one with a separatist movement worth taking seriously happens to be the one with a non-English-Canadian majority.

Mostly French Canadian

Nor is it coincidence that four decades after the birth of the modern Quebec independence movement, it is still made up overwhelmingly of ethnic French Canadians, and draws negligible support from other groups. The very purpose of Quebec sovereignty has always been to give French Canadians a national state of their own. It is a project of French Canadians for French Canadians.

As for the Quebec nation, Landry defines it as comprising all inhabitants of the province except for the aboriginals.

Why does he exclude the aboriginals? Because they belong to their own nations, formally recognized as such by the National Assembly. And for Landry, one can be a member of only one nation at a time.

That's why he has referred to Canada as "another nation," different and separate from the Quebec nation. And that's why he said in a speech to the Parti Québécois national council recently that the Cree are neither Quebecers nor Canadians (and never mind, for now, his presumptuousness in telling the members of another nation what they are not).

So, if it were true that Quebec is a nation, as Landry defines it, one would expect that almost all Quebecers would define themselves exclusively as such, and almost none would define themselves as even partly Canadian.

But that's not the case. In a survey conducted last month by Léger Marketing for the Toronto Globe and Mail and Le Devoir, only 15 per cent of Quebecers said they considered themselves solely Quebecers. That's not even a fifth of francophones who would be members of a Quebec nation as Landry defines it.

Another 32 per cent of respondents said they were Quebecers first, then Canadians. That's a total of less than half of the members of Landry's "nation" who thought of themselves as even primarily Quebecers.

An additional 32 per cent said they were both Quebecers and Canadians. And a significant minority, 20 per cent, said they were primarily (13 per cent) or exclusively (7 per cent) Canadian.

In all, 85 per cent of Landry's "nation" considered themselves members to at least some degree of "another nation." And a slight majority, 52 per cent, said they were at least as much Canadians as they were Quebecers.

Insecurity

Now, these findings have been attributed at least partly to Quebecers' feeling insecure in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States and turning to Ottawa for protection.

But while there had been a shift in favour of Canada, a similar pattern was already in place before Sept. 11.

Back in February, the Léger firm asked Quebecers the same question. Even then, only 24 per cent answered that they were solely Quebecers and another 25 per cent that they were Quebecers first, then Canadians. Twenty-six per cent said they were equally Quebecers and Canadians, 15 per cent primarily Canadians and 8 per cent exclusively Canadians.

Now, even if something is contrary to the truth, if it goes unchallenged, and you repeat it often enough, people will start to believe it. But as often as Landry has repeated that Quebec is a nation, apparently he has not repeated it enough, because Quebecers themselves don't seem to believe it.

A difference in style

WILLIAM TETLEY
Montreal Gazette
Thursday, November 29, 2001

One of the constant complaints about Robert Bourassa, particularly by the Parti Québécois, was that he was wealthy and did not know the slings and arrows suffered by common people, whom the PQ presumably represented. Yet Bernard Landry has recently established himself in a new official residence at the top of the tallest building in the walled city of Quebec. His mentor Jacques Parizeau also created a large ostentatious residence for himself when he was premier. René Lévesque and Lucien Bouchard, to their credit, were satisfied with the bedroom behind the premier's office in the cement office building on Grande Allée, better known as "the bunker."

But what of Bourassa? He was first elected as a backbencher in 1966 and spent the next four years in a room in the ancient Hotel Victoria in the old quarter at $8 per night and was still there in 1970, when he replaced Jean Lesage as leader of the opposition.

Claude Wagner came in second at the nominating convention, and Bourassa met privately with him in order to get his co-operation. Wagner chose Bourassa's hotel, where he was surprised to be offered a seat on the bed or on the only chair. Wagner, who claimed to be a populist, wondered how the future premier of Quebec could have such a residence.

The answer was that Bourassa cared little for personal comfort but genuinely liked to talk to people on all levels of society, including the patrons of the Victoria. When Bourassa was elected premier in April 1970, he continued to live contentedly there, only moving later into the bunker for security reasons, particularly during the October Crisis.

Bourassa, who was of modest means, married into a wealthy family and he and his wife lived well, but not ostentatiously. He never learned to drive a car, but always took taxis or had a driver, because that was more efficient. In fact, his public life was based on efficiency. Once, when having a haircut at the Ritz in Montreal, the barber noted that his hair had seemed disordered on TV the night before. On-the-spot, Bourassa hired the assistant barber, who was also to act as bodyguard and filing clerk.

Trudeau once called Bourassa a "mangeur de hotdogs," and it is true that he could eat four or five at lunch on the roof of the bunker, like a ravenous schoolboy, but late every evening he had a fine dinner with staff and friends at one of Quebec's best restaurants. He was a very generous host and every year he and his wife gave a dinner dance in a private country hotel for the entire Quebec Liberal caucus.

Bourassa was cerebral and never spent time in developing a public persona, which in my view was unfortunate because, one-on-one, he was very charming and genuinely interested in other people.

Is the residence of the premier of Quebec important? Probably not, but it is indicative of priorities. Landry feels the apartment is necessary for Quebec's prestige, of which he speaks often and at times unwisely. Bourassa did not deal with symbols and was more circumspect, rarely making pronouncements, although once, to the consternation of his advisers, he promised the creation of 100,000 jobs in his first year in office. He nearly pulled it off, however, by his James Bay hydro-electric project.

Landry's official residence and occasional outrageous declarations are driven by his first priority - not only separation from Canada at some time in the future but the trappings and grandeur of independence right now.

- William Tetley was minister of financial institutions in Bourassa's cabinet from 1970-1976. He now teaches law at McGill University.