Chapter 5 Québec Impact on Triangular Relations Politics and Security Policies Introduction The previous chapter assessed the economic importance of the province of Quebec, it pointed out the influence of the province on Canadian economic issues, taking as example the signature of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, which not only revealed extremely profitable for the country but for the overall Canadian provinces and the U.S., creating a more homogeneous North America. It also determined the economic influence of the province, providing evidences that even though it represents only one tenth of the whole Canada (in terms of provinces), still accounts for an undeniable percentage of the overall Canadian economy and trade with Canada’s southern neighbor, hence has enough weight to occasionally influence the Country’s trade policy. In the last chapter, it was also discussed and understood that Quebec enjoys a relatively good trade relation with the United States, thus has the ability to play a role in the Canada-U.S. bilateral policies. As well, previously shown in the first chapter of this present thesis, there exist fundamental differences between the Canadian and the Quebecois culture, and as their language, life habits and other measurable differences were compared, there still remain differences that cannot be measured i.e. the level of pacifism or antimilitarism of a population (which will be assessed in this last chapter) . This chapter emphasizes on the fact that the Quebecois population is in majority antimilitarist, and that this antimilitarist state of mind has played several times on the province of Quebec’s public opinion, thus influencing some decisions previously taken by the federal government. As mentioned in the paragraph above, measuring the level of antimilitarism of a population is not an easy task, therefore in order to understand whether it exists or not, the explanations of some academics on some historical events will be exhibited as proof in order to establish the pacifist state of mind of a majority of “French Quebecois”. Finally, the establishment of a very probable antimilitarism Quebecois will help clarifying Quebec’s strong public opinion in disfavor of two important Canada-U.S. issues i.e. the BMD (Ballistic Missile Defense) and the Iraq issues. But first, despite the fact that Quebec enjoys a potential power over the federal government due to tensions mentioned earlier, nonetheless it also enjoys an actual power within the Canadian federal parliament. The first part of this last chapter will clarify and measure that place held by the province in the parliament. Quebec and the Parliament To begin with, the Canadian federal Parliament consists of The Sovereign (the Governor General) and two houses, the House of Commons (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). The Senate consists of 105 Senators, which are appointed by the Governor General in accordance with the advice of the Canadian Prime Minister. In the Canadian Senate, Canada distributes 24 senators to the four largest regions i.e. Quebec, Ontario, the Maritimes provinces, and the Western provinces, whilst the seats for Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut are assigned separately. The House of Commons consists of 308 Ministers. Its representatives are called Members of Parliament or MP’s and are elected by the population according to the country’s electoral districts during federal elections (not during provincial elections). A certain number of MP’s, given in accordance with to the size of the province in terms of population (written in the Constitution Act of 1867), is accorded to every province and territory, while each MP represents a Canadian electoral district and a particular political party. The province of Quebec, in accordance with the 1867 Constitution Act, enjoys at least the representation of 75 MP’s, and 24 Senators, which accounts for approximately one fourth of the Lower and upper House. Representation in the House of Commons (per province) Electoral Quotient Minimum number of seats (Average Province or Territory in accordance with the population Constitution Act, 1867 per electoral district) Special Population 2001 National Quotient clauses Newfoundland and Labrador 7 107 220 5 2 7 Prince Edward Island 4 107 220 1 3 4 Nova Scotia 11 107 220 8 3 11 New Brunswick 10 107 220 7 3 10 Quebec 75 107 220 68 7 75 Ontario 95 107 220 106 0 106 Manitoba 14 107 220 10 4 14 Saskatchewan 14 107 220 9 5 14 Alberta 21 107 220 28 0 28 British Columbia 28 107 220 36 0 36 Nunavut 1 – – – 1 Northwest Territories 1 – – – 1 Yukon Territory 1 – – – 1 TOTAL 282 308 Source: Jackson & Jackson, Politics in Canada, Prentice Hall, Toronto, pg 438 This being said, a further explanation the power of the two houses is necessary in order to comprehend the considerable place that occupies the province of Quebec within the Parliament. To begin with, the Sovereign has no power over decision- makings, it is purely symbolic and her duty is only ceremonial. The Senate rarely opposes the decisions of the House of Commons. The lower house or House of Commons has much more power over decision-makings than the upper house, it is the dominant house of the Parliament, and the Prime Minister requires the support of the majority of the lower house to stay in office. That being explained, the voting pattern of the inhabitants of the province of Quebec (during federal elections) allows it to be well represented in the Parliament. As shown by the tables below, Quebecers have the tendency to vote in majority for one political party, logically the more MP’s held by a party, the more power or influence on the federal government’s decisions the latter will hold. Table 13 Voting Pattern of Quebecers (Federal Elections 1980-1997) 1980 Liberals Conservatives NDP Canada 147 103 32 Ontario 52 38 5 Quebec 74 1 0 1984 Liberals Conservatives NDP Canada 40 211 30 Ontario 14 67 13 Quebec 17 58 0 1988 Liberals Conservatives NDP Canada 88 169 43 Ontario 43 46 10 Quebec 12 63 0 1993 ND Liberals Conservatives Reform Bloc Quebecois P Canada 177 2 9 52 54 Ontario 98 0 0 1 0 Quebec 19 1 0 0 54 1997 ND Liberals Conservatives Reform Bloc Quebecois P Canada 155 20 21 60 44 Ontario 101 1 0 0 0 Quebec 26 5 0 0 44 Source: Marianopolis College, Department of Quebec History http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/stats/fedelect.htm This means that from time to time the population of Quebec can be extremely well represented in the strongest house (House of Commons), and since the Prime minister needs a majority of support from the MP’s, thus he needs to be able to satisfy the requirements of the considerable number of Quebecer MP’s that are seated at the Parliament. Sometimes the province can represent almost a fourth of the country within the parliament; for instance as shown by the table 13, in 1980 the Liberals had 74 seats in the House of Commons which gave them considerable power to represent Quebec’s public opinion. Interestingly, in 2007 the Bloc Quebecois (pro Quebec) holds only 49 seats in the House of Commons, which still allows the province to represent a sixth of the country 1. Consequently, for different issues, if the Canadian public opinion is divided in half, as for the Iraq, the BMD or even the CUFTA issues, while Quebec’s public opinion is almost unanimous, therefore Quebec as a chance to redress the balance in favor of its own position. As it can be understood, Quebecois who voted in majority for the PQ during the federal elections of 1988, found itself enjoying 63 seats in favor of the Canada United States Free Trade Agreement, and even if the rest of Canada did not favor it, the province still was able to change the public opinion in his favor and redress the balance slightly over 50%, which is enough to pass laws. The province of Quebec did it several times during Canada’s history, and it is well recognized that the rest of the country, which public opinion is mostly homogenous, find it considerably unjust. The province of Quebec has often been the biggest opposition in the Canadian Federal Parliament. Another equally important fact that needs to be pointed out is the fact that, historically, there was a considerably high percentage of Canadian Prime Ministers that originated from the province of Quebec (Quebecers Prime Ministers). St-Laurent, Mulroney, Trudeau, Chrétien, Martin, are only a few of the long lineage of Quebecois Prime Ministers. During the last 50 years more than …….% of Canadian Prime Ministers have been Quebecois, and even though it is ideal to think that Prime Ministers were objective, it is hard to believe and easier to think that they sometimes favored Quebec over other provinces. So as pointed out earlier, not only does the province enjoy an actual power over the country’s decision-making with its considerable economic power and its influent place within the Canadian Federal Parliament, but as well, it sometimes manages to 1 David Ljunggren, Quebec's separatist boss quits after election loss , Reuters, Tuesday May 8 2007. use its potential power and play the Quebec card in order to obtain what it wants from the rest of the federation. To understand the origin of the difference of public opinion between Quebec and the rest of Canada on military and defense issues, the explanation of the province’s historical antimilitarism will follow. 3.1 Brief explanation of Quebec’s Anti-Militarism To begin with, as Robitaille interestingly ask, if there exist a pacifist tradition ongoing in the province of Quebec or “is there something in the Quebec soul that would predispose people to resist going to war?” It is primordial to take a brief look at the province’s past in order to comprehend the antimilitarist state of mind of the Quebecois population.