re. PQ: Don't Forget Who You Are Dealing With

Reminder for those tempted to play separatist-nationalist-laïciste game. There is nothing they won't do, including rigging the rules and the referees and even then, repressing the democratic rights of the citizens they are supposedly so intent on liberating. Move along, nothing to see here, except for silly folk like Macpherson & Webster ranting about scandal and fraud, but they're anglos, so they're biased and anyway, what do they know? Though anyone who knows how to read Massicotte remembers these piquant phrases:
"Par contre, dans l'annulation abusive de milliers de bulletins de vote, il ne voit qu'un «accroc» et semble être inquiété moins par la fraude que par l'impact négatif possible de cette fraude sur l'image internationale du Québec et la crédibilité de son processus référendaire.(...) Quelques phrases de trop écrites dans un rapport dans le but de conforter l'image de la démocratie québécoise en conduisent plusieurs à se demander si l'activisme intempestif du Directeur général des élections n'en est pas devenu la principale faiblesse."

These guys really are serious, in case you were wondering. They think of themselves, unconsciously, as revolutionaries, quiet revolutionaries, but revolutionaries all the same; we would have done better to call it "Le Grand bond", or "L'Évolution bruyante", as words do have weight, and consequences. Like all revolutionaries, they believe every and anything is permitted to defend and advance the revolution on its necessary path to an earthly paradise, a new Jerusalem in Montreal, QC, Chicout, etc.. And so they are willing to do absolutely anything, no matter how seemingly contrary to the liberal ideals which propulsed the Quiet Revolution and which they will claim to uphold. If the French Revolution could lead to the ethnic cleansing and mass murder, not to say genocide, of those troublesome Bretons with their archaic desire to remain true to their faith, these people believe the Quiet Revolution is also justified in extremely coercive and illiberal conduct, "for the good of the Revolution, la Nation, le Peuple, etc.", though incomparably less brutal in their methods. Even a pro-revolutionary novelist like Hugo could not justify the campaign in Bretagne, the best he could do is throw his hands up in the air, and say "that's history, it's tragic, but it had to be done...perhaps". And that is the best you'll get from these folk on laïciste campaign, ranking some rights above others, breaking the Charters and invoking the notwithstanding clauses, etc.. And of course one of the main aims, beyond first degree bigotry, is to delegitimise any obstacles to their own logic. If you can overthrow the Charters & Constitution on these matters, then surely there are many other matters on which it is legitimate to overthrow established standards of liberal and legal democratic conduct, non? If "le gros bon sens du peuple" is sufficient grounds to beat on minorities and overthrow the law, then what other implications?

I remember the two polls done right after the referendum, one for CROP and one for SOM I believe, though maybe one was Léger, which indicated that over 20% of QCers thought only French Canadians should have the right to vote in referendums. Of course, when you drilled down into the numbers, that entire 20+% was all francophone and all separatist, not to say Péquiste. If 20% of total population, then 1 in 4 of francophone subset. And that is the base of PQ, some of whom they lost to ADQ for a bit, the folk most likely to knock on doors, the guys who go to all the party committee meetings, table the resolutions, etc.. Part of the reason, along with Parizeau speech and Landry abuse of hotel clerk, etc., why so many separatist intellectuals were alarmed, like Venne & G. Bouchard, and tried to do quadrature du cercle of nationalism-separatism & liberalism in following years, in particular re. pluralism and minorities.

So don't lie to yourselves about what you are doing when you play footsie with these people. In the absence of a looming referendum, one may make short-term pacts to combat a common foe, in Ottawa, but never forget what they have done and what they are willing to do to advance their cause. Everything and Anything. I know, I was one of many who observed the organised attack on the democratic rights of fellow Quebeckers through the entire 1995 campaign, from "faulty" voter registration (strange how it was always the non-francos, on every street) to refusing valid ballots. However low you think they'll go, believe me, they'll go lower. Don't play along - the minuscule short-term benefits are never worth the medium- to long-term pain.