JE ME SOUVIENS: THE QUEBEC CAMPAIGN, 2006

Graham Fraser

In the three decades that Graham Fraser has been covering Quebec politics, he has noted that for all the cleavages created by the sovereignty movement, there is equally a yearning among Quebecers for reconciliation in the family — the immediate Quebec family and the extended Canadian family. Since the death of Meech Lake in 1990, a sense of rejection has motivated many frustrated federalists and soft nationalists to park their votes with the Bloc Québécois. But then in the 2005-06 campaign, along came the man from Calgary, Stephen Harper, offering la main tendue, the outstretched hand, to Quebec. His “open federalism” speech on December 19 in Quebec City, was the most significant since Brian Mulroney's Sept- Îles speech in August 1984. Graham Fraser hears the resonance of history, and explains the significance of Harper's breakthrough in Quebec.

Depuis trente ans qu’il observe la vie politique du Québec, Graham Fraser a noté que, malgré les clivages que suscite la question de la souveraineté, les Québécois ont soif de réconciliation, tant au sein de la famille immédiate de cette province que de la famille élargie du Canada. Depuis l’échec de l’Accord du lac Meech en 1990, un certain sentiment de rejet a incité de nombreux fédéralistes déçus et nationalistes modérés à se tourner vers le Bloc québécois. Mais voici que l’homme de Calgary, Stephen Harper, a parlé de « main tendue » au Québec lors de la dernière campagne électorale. Son discours sur le « fédéralisme ouvert » prononcé le 19 décembre à Québec a été aussi marquant que celui du mois d’août 1984, prononcé à Sept-Îles par Brian Mulroney. L’auteur se fait l’écho de l’histoire récente pour expliquer la percée des conservateurs au Québec.

lection campaigns represent a fascinating nexus sovereignty. When, a few minutes later, the news came that between policy and personality, anecdote and analy- yes, there was a deal — but without Quebec, the despair and E sis, idealism and self-interest, narrative and numbers. anger was all the greater for hopes having been dashed. When the 2006 federal election campaign came to an end and it was time to reflect on what had happened, I found wo and a half years later, in July 1984, after Brian myself reflecting on a number of incidents and conversa- T Mulroney announced he was running in tions I had had over the years, in previous campaigns in Manicouagan, I spent a few days in the huge riding that Quebec. stretched from Schefferville to Baie-Comeau. In a hardware On the morning of November 5, 1981, the morning store on the outskirts of Sept-Îles, I stopped and talked to after what became enshrined in Quebec political mythology the owner about how he felt about Mulroney being a can- as the Night of the Long Knives, René Lévesque’s staff and didate in the riding. the Quebec government’s intergovernmental affairs staff He began by praising the sitting Liberal MP, André were gathered in the building known as the “Bunker.” The Maltais. He had been a terrific MP, he had succeeded in get- word came through that there was a constitutional deal — ting federal funds to modernize the airport and expand the and Quebec was part of it. port, he was energetic and effective. “I don’t understand There was cheering, hugging — and enormous excite- why John Turner didn’t put him in his cabinet.” ment. One of the founding members of the Parti Québécois Then, he said, I had to understand how important it who witnessed the scene looked on in amazement, aston- would be for the riding if it were represented by a prime ished at the evidence of a profound desire for reconciliation minister. It would be like having an industry; it would put with the rest of Canada, at the very heart of the quest for them on the map.

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“I haven’t made a final decision cases full of cash being variously left he would make it possible for the Que- yet, though,” he said. “I haven’t seen on restaurant tables or delivered to bec National Assembly to sign the the polls from the West yet.” party organizers. Constitution with “honour and enthu- However, when the campaign siasm,” a speech that set the agenda decade later, during the election began, there was some hope that the for Meech Lake, three years later. A campaign of 1997, I was driving Liberals would be able to hold what Harper began by being relentlessly through the Eastern Townships and they had in Quebec — or, at least, local: saying that one of the first coming through Ste-Catherine-de- trade a seat or two with the Bloc. Liza things his government would do Hatley — formerly Katevale, a pretty Frulla, who won by only 72 votes in would be to enlarge the Quebec City little village on a height of land with a 2004, was obviously in a fragile posi- airport (there is a deeply held belief in Quebec City that if the air- When Paul Martin’s government fell on November 28, Liberals port is larger, more flights will come; usually, it works had few illusions that they were going to make any gains from the other way around) and the 21 seats they had been reduced to in 2004 from 36 in he vowed to get the Pont de 2000. They knew the effect of weeks of televised testimony of Québec painted, and to the Gomery Commission, with its sleazy stories of envelopes, have a generous contribu- tion made to Quebec City’s packets and briefcases full of cash being variously left on 400th anniversary celebra- restaurant tables or delivered to party organizers. tions in 2008. “We must never forget that Canada gorgeous view of Mount Orford a few tion, as was Pierre Pettigrew who won was founded in Quebec City by fran- kilometres to the northwest. by 468 votes — but, the thinking went, cophones,” he said. “That is why I say There was a Parti Québécois meet- Marc Garneau might win back that Quebec is the heart of Canada and ing at a small hall in the village, and I Vaudreuil-Soulanges, and David Price that the French language is an undeni- dropped in. There were two Magog might win back the seat he lost in able element of the identity of all small-business owners there — one in Mégantic-Compton. It didn’t happen. Canadians, even if some of us don’t the hardware business, the other in The Liberal strategy, as Jean speak it as well as we should.” construction — who chatted about Lapierre said at the beginning of the It was the perfect touch: history, their hopes for sovereignty. They had campaign, was not to win sover- flattery, identity and self-deprecation, both had unpleasant experiences trav- eignist voters, but to persuade feder- all in two short sentences. elling in Ontario — insults and sneers alists — many of whom had stayed across the counter — and compared it home in disgust in 2004 — that it arper then went on to make with the hospitality they had encoun- would be very dangerous to give the H more substantial — and more tered in the United States. If Quebec Bloc the mandate that Gilles difficult — commitments: to settle were a sovereign country, they rea- Duceppe was looking for. Thus, when the fiscal imbalance, and to welcome soned, they would be treated with Paul Martin saw PQ leader André Quebec to the table at international respect in the rest of Canada. Boisclair campaigning with Bloc institutions like UNESCO in areas of It is against that backdrop of hope, Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe in its jurisdiction. humiliation, pragmatism, power and the first week of the campaign, he It was a masterful performance — and pride that I tend to see federal elec- embraced the opportunity to call it a set the bar high for his new government. tions play out in the ridings in French- referendum campaign. Meanwhile, the battle line speaking Quebec, off the Island of between federalists and sovereignists Montreal. The election of 2005-06 was nd, indeed, during the first weeks was shifting. Since 1993, federalist no exception. A after the government fell, before strength was concentrated in a line Christmas, despite the fact that that could be drawn along the Ottawa hen Paul Martin’s government Stephen Harper was running a good River to Montreal west of St. Laurent W fell on November 28, Liberals campaign and Paul Martin was not, Boulevard, and out Autoroute 10 to had few illusions that they were going nothing moved in the polls. Sherbrooke. Gradually, over the to make any gains from the 21 seats But on December 19, Stephen decade that Jean Chrétien was in they had been reduced to in 2004 from Harper went to Quebec City and made power, the anger over the death of the 36 in 2000. They knew the effect of a speech that, in retrospect, may have Meech Lake Accord subsided, and weeks of televised testimony of the been as important as the speech that French-speaking Quebecers developed Gomery Commission, with its sleazy Brian Mulroney gave in Sept-Îles in a grudging respect, if not affection, for stories of envelopes, packets and brief- August 1984, when he promised that Chrétien as the aging warrior adopted

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positions that coincided with the con- Quebec’s other regions, about the pos- Duceppe never explicitly stated sensus in Quebec: supporting same-sex sible future of Quebec.” that his real goal was to get more than marriage, the Kyoto Protocol, the It provided a new insight into how 50 percent of the vote — something decriminalization of marijuana and Duceppe perceived the key to the that no sovereignist leader has ever opposing Canadian participation in future success of the Bloc. By breaking achieved. But he did not deny it, say- the Iraq War. The sponsorship scandal into the multicultural communities in ing coyly that he wanted to do better, blew away those gains, and in 2004, Montreal, the Bloc could not only suc- and that 50 percent was not far from the seats off the Island of Montreal ceed in defeating Liberal MPs, it could the 48.9 percent of the vote the Bloc that had been won back in 2000, some reassure francophone Quebecers who got in 2004. Voters who were not of them with Tory defections — are nervous that the Bloc is ethnocen- committed to sovereignty began to Mégantic, Portneuf, Compton- tric and inward-looking. The result, he wonder whether they wanted to give a Stanstead, Shefford, Chicoutimi-Le hoped, would be a new kind of identi- boost to the campaign for Quebec Fjord, — were all lost to the Bloc. fication with Quebec rather than with independence. And some figured that Duceppe carried on with a task he Canada. electing a Conservative MP might be had started several years earlier, more effective punishment defining his party as represent- So while Harper was trying to woo than voting Bloc. ing all Quebecers, not just the Quebec City, Duceppe was trying to descendants of the settlers of seduce Jean Talon Boulevard in imilarly, by embracing the New France. S idea that this was a referen- So while Harper was trying Montreal. He spent most of the first dum election, Martin did not to woo Quebec City, Duceppe week in January in Montreal’s mobilize the reluctant Liberal was trying to seduce Jean Talon cultural communities, meeting base, as he had intended — but Boulevard in Montreal. He Algerian shopkeepers, Tunisian he did succeed in doing what spent most of the first week in Lapierre had given up on January in Montreal’s cultural restaurant owners, Haitian cab attempting: pulling back disil- communities, meeting Algerian drivers, Lebanese activists and lusioned federalists from the shopkeepers, Tunisian restau- community leaders from a wide Bloc. The problem was, they rant owners, Haitian cab driv- range of cultural communities. That started saying they would vote ers, Lebanese activists and Conservative. community leaders from a wide is multicultural Montreal, what In the first week of January, range of cultural communities. Duceppe called “le Québec EKOS Research produced the moderne.” And at Bloc gatherings, first poll which suggested that hat is multicultural you could now hear the aspirate the Conservatives were poised T Montreal, what Duceppe to make a breakthrough in called “le Québec moderne.” swish of Arabic and the musical Quebec, with 20.9 percent of And at Bloc gatherings, you intonation of Haitian Creole in the those polled, compared to 21.9 could now hear the aspirate crowds. “We work with you as percent for the Liberals and swish of Arabic and the musi- Quebecers, because you are 43.8 percent for the Bloc. In the cal intonation of Haitian 2004 election, the Bloc won Creole in the crowds. “We Quebecers,” he told a group of 48.9 percent of the vote, the work with you as Quebecers, Algerians. Liberals 33.9 percent, the because you are Quebecers,” Conservatives 8.8 percent and he told a group of Algerians. At one level, it worked. Haitian- the New Democratic Party 4.6 percent. “Without exception. Everyone who born feminist activist Vivian Barbot But Conservative campaign co- lives in Quebec is a Quebecer. You are defeated Pettigrew in Papineau, and chairman — now Senator — Michael part of this modern Quebec.” Lebanon-born Maria Mourani defeated Fortier was extremely prudent. “If you It is the message that he gave Eleni Bakopanos in Ahuntsic. were for one second to believe this, again and again — across Montreal, However, as Le Devoir pointed out after Stephen Harper is not doing so badly telling them that there is a new confi- the election, the Bloc vote had not with Quebecers,” he told me over cof- dence and openness toward the Bloc actually increased in Montreal’s cultur- fee. “Is it 20 percent? Is it 15 percent? I Québécois in these non-French, non- al communities, the federalist vote had don’t know — but it’s not true that one English communities. “That’s very split with the rise of the Conservatives. out of two Quebec voters want a Bloc encouraging,” he said. “And it is very This was the result, in part, of two MP in Ottawa.” encouraging for all of Quebec, because strategic errors on the part of both Not long afterwards, I headed off it gives confidence elsewhere, in Duceppe and Martin. in a rented car to see if I could find

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The Gazette, Montreal “We can never forget that Canada was founded in Quebec City by francophones,” Harper said in Quebec City on December 19. “That is why I say that Quebec is the heart of Canada and that the French language is an undeniable element of the identity of all Canadians, even if some of us don't speak it as well as we should.” any of those potential Conservative the outskirts of Thetford Mines. Claude going to give the Liberals a lesson.” voters in supermarkets or Tim Marois and Jacques LeBlond were retired Even Marois sounded tempted by the Hortons. It seemed probable that asbestos workers, and both remembered idea. At the end of our conversation, Josée Verner would win in Louis- what Marcel Masse had done for the area he said, “This is the last chance for the Saint-Laurent in the suburbs of when he was a minister in the Mulroney Bloc, you know. There won’t be scan- Quebec City; every shopper I talked to cabinet: in particular, the aid program for dals next time.” said he or she was voting older workers that enabled them to take Mégantic-L’Érable is 95 percent Conservative. Similarly, the Beauce early retirement. francophone, and, in recent years, it marches to its own drummer and has Marois is a PQ member, and said has moved with the trends. The riding never voted for a sovereignist candi- he was voting Bloc — for his friend, — or its earlier version, Frontenac — date; Maxime Bernier, the son of a Bloc MP Marc Bouliane. “He’s a good voted Liberal until 1958, Conservative long-time Tory and independent MP, man, even if he doesn’t have much of until 1963, Social Credit until 1968, seemed a likely winner, and conversa- a voice in Ottawa,” he said. But his Liberal until 1984, Progressive tions in the hotel lobby and a drug- wife was voting Conservative, as was Conservative until 1993 and then Bloc store confirmed this. LeBlond. “In general, Quebec doesn’t — with an interruption in 2000, when have conservative ideas, but more lib- the riding voted Liberal. On January hat was more surprising was a eral ones,” LeBlond told me. “But this 23, it voted Conservative, as did Louis- W conversation at a Tim Hortons on time, because of the scandal, we’re Saint-Laurent, Beauce and seven other

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constituencies — all but Lawrence And, after 10 Conservative MPs were Quebec. Harper’s improved French, his Cannon in Pontiac winning in over- elected, he did. shy dignity campaigning there, his whelmingly French-speaking con- In some cases, the vote was a Quebec agenda and his extended hand stituencies. calculated investment in the potential all resonated with voters. benefit of having a member of Now he has to deliver. Expanding he Bloc could see it coming, and Parliament on the government side. In the Quebec airport and painting the Ttried to stop it. For the last week of Quebec City, where all but one of the pont de Québec is easy. Settling the fis- the campaign, Duceppe attacked ridings elected a Conservative, there cal imbalance and welcoming Quebec Harper, claiming that Quebec’s lan- was a complex blend of factors: a to UNESCO is hard — hard to achieve, guage law would be in danger and desire to be close to power, a wish to and hard to do in a way that does not arguing that the Conservatives would see federal investment, a populist anti- offend his Western base even more serve Western interests and not those establishment reflex stimulated by than seducing David Emerson did. of Quebec. decades of shock-jock radio, a residual This culminated in a full-page ad conservatism and federalism, a resid- Graham Fraser is a national affairs in the Quebec City newspapers saying, ual military tradition. writer for the Toronto Star, and author “We won’t let Calgary decide for of Playing for Keeps: The Making of Quebec” — with a stylized cowboy hat ut there was another message as the Prime Minister, 1988. His latest by the word “Calgary.” B well. The desire for reconciliation book, Sorry, I Don’t Speak French: Harper responded by saying that with the rest of Canada, and for symbol- Confronting the Canadian Crisis That he could do what the Bloc never could: ic recognition, remains a strong, power- Won’t Go Away, is published this bring Quebecers to the cabinet table. ful factor in small-town French-speaking month.

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