MARCH 2006 Graham Fraser
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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. 62 OPTIONS POLITIQUES MARS 2006 Je me souviens: the Quebec campaign, 2006 “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 POLICY OPTIONS 63 MARCH 2006 Graham Fraser 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.