After the 1995 referendum, Ottawa launched an offensive – called “Plan B” – to try and defeat once for all the Quebec independence movement. The avowed goal was to prevent Quebecers from deciding their own political future. There was the sponsorship program (which ended up being the subject of the Gomery Commission) that sought to buy the conscience of Quebecers. There was the fiscal imbalance that weakened the Quebec government. The spectre was raised of a sovereign Quebec with part of its territory amputated (in spite of Section 43 of the Constitution, which states that the borders of a province cannot be altered without the formal assent of its Legislative Assembly). Finally, the Chrétien-Dion duo sought to impose the legal padlock of the so-called Clarity Act, repudiating the golden rule of the majority in a democracy. Plan B ended in a resounding failure, highlighted by the sponsorship scandal and the rout of the Liberal Party of Canada. Plan B is dead. Make way for Plan C. Its objective is to make Quebec fall back into line. It is an attempt to weaken Quebec on five fronts: political, financial, economic, legal, and identity. Political We saw it again on May 2, 2011: a federal political party no longer needs Quebec to obtain a majority in Canada. With Bill C-19, the Conservatives have lessened Quebec’s political weight. Our share of seats in the House of Commons drops from 24% to 23%. The objective is clear: to marginalize Quebec even more on Canada’s political scene. Financial Ottawa is deliberately digging a financial hole for the provinces with the new calculation of health transfer payments that will reach a ceiling in 2017-2018. A disaster announced and confirmed by Kevin Page, Parliamentary Budget Officer in Ottawa: the growth in health costs we will have to shoulder will clearly exceed the growth of transfer payments from Ottawa. Financial strangulation awaits Quebec. Economic Ontario received $10 billion for its auto industry, in addition to considerable sums for the G7 and G20 summits. As for the oil and gas producing provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland), they enjoy fiscal advantages, billions of dollars in subsidies of all kinds, and benefit from Canada’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol. What’s more, Ottawa will spend $33 billion in shipbuilding contracts, and this money will go to the Maritimes and B.C. Nothing for Quebec, which will pay, as always, more than 20% of the bill. The productive investments that create long-term jobs go to the ROC (Rest of Canada), not to Quebec. Legal With Bill C-10, Ottawa orders us to impose automatic sentences. This, in turn, will force us to build more prisons. Cost for Quebec: $1 billion over three years. What’s worse: the Harper approach to justice is a proven failure. Experts the world over have given their verdict: “everyone in prison” is not the solution. Identity What we are as Quebecers is also targeted: the appointment of a unilingual English-speaking Auditor General (not to mention judges at the highest levels), massive investments in the military, the restoration of the presence of the British monarchy wherever possible, the commemoration at great expense of the War of 1812, among others. Personally, do you feel you can relate to Stephen Harper’s Canada? In the end, Plan C also aims to marginalize the Quebec independence movement because it is the only lever we have to maintain a balance of power in our relationship with Canada and its central government. Without that balance of power, however righteous our indignation and whatever legitimate anger we may feel, we will be powerless to stand against the steamroller that the Government of Canada has become. With its Plan C, the Government of Canada defends the interests of the Canadian nation, for which it can’t be blamed. The Government of Quebec, on the other hand, is increasingly powerless to defend the interests and values of the Quebec nation. We grow weaker and weaker every day. To those who see Quebec independence as too much of a gamble, I say that what is risky above all for a nation is to let another nation decide in its place. For all the reasons outlined above, it has become riskier for Quebec to remain part of Canada rather than to assert its independence. Bernard Drainville
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 00:07:43 +0000