[news] Defending Quebec's Interests. Which Interests are those Mssr. Duccepe?

[Resist!ca]

Analysis and Comment by Eugene Plawiuk As the last week before the election 
winds up, the Bloc Quebecois clearly has the support of the majority of 
committed voters in Quebec. Gilles Duccepe the party leader has impressed 
political pundits and has even gained some popularity outside of Quebec for his 
stoic and stern single mindedness in attacking the Liberals and Paul Martin 
over the Adscandal. It is clear Quebec is a battle between Mssr. Duccepe and 
Mssr. Martin. Not for government but for being the official opposition. 
Mr.Duccepe has waged a valiant struggle to defend social democracy, not unlike 
the NDP. He has railed against the Liberals stealing of workers EI funds to 
prop up their surplus budget, he has defended Kyoto, he attacks privatization, 
heck he defends the gun registry when even the Liberals avoid that question. It 
is obvious to everyone except Mssr. Harper, that the Conservatives will gain no 
toehold in Quebec. And one reason is its current Liberal provincial government 
under Mssr. Charest. Charest like Harper was once leader of the Federal 
Progressive Conservatives. And like BC Premier Gordon Campbell, he now leads 
the provincial Liberals. His claim to fame is having led the federalist fight 
against the Quebec Sovereignty referendum. The Liberals in BC and Quebec are a 
strange creature being a common front of right wing conservatives, since there 
is no provincial Conservative party in either province, and right wing 
federalist Liberals. But the real influence on Mssr. Charest is Ralph Klein, of 
whom Mssr. Charest when leader of the federal PC's said; "Alberta sets the 
agenda for the rest of Canada". Mssr. Charest's Canada now includes Quebec, as 
his federalist slogan once proclaimed. But his Quebec will not be the PQ's 
Quebec or even Mssr. Duccepes Quebec. His will be Ralph Kleins Quebec. He has 
taken a page from the neo-liberal bible; Reinventing Government, (How the 
Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector, by David Osborne and 
Ted Gaebler), and has made clear that his agenda for Quebec is to have a 
revolution. Not a sovereigntist or even federalist revolution, but a Klein 
revolution. He has set the course to restructure the State to have it end its 
decades old tradition of being social democratic, whether under the Liberals or 
PQ. He intends to privatize and downsize government, as his mentor has done in 
Alberta. He has already challenged Quebec's unions, the strongest in Canada, he 
has faced them down in days of protest and watches as their resolve to hold a 
general strike crumbles before the onslaught of his neoliberal state. Which 
leads us to question Mssr. Ducepe's insistence that his party will act to 
defend Quebec's interests. Which interests are those Mssr. Duccepe? Mssr. 
Charests and his new neoliberal Quebec state? Mssr. Duccepe is a sovereigntist 
as is his party, so he proudly proclaims that his sole function in the Canadian 
State is to be in opposition to the federalist government and parties. He and 
his party will act to defend Quebec's interests. Except that his left social 
democratic platform conflicts with the current Quebec government. Say Mssr. 
Charest privatizes health care services, as he has announced he will, in spite 
of the Canada Health Act. Where will that leave Mssr. Duccepe and the Bloc? 
Like Albertan's who opposed Bill 11 and the Klein Revolution who did they have 
to turn to; Ottawa and the House of Commons. Provincial autonomy does not 
necessitate social democracy. Devolution of power to the provinces is not a 
recipe for sovereignty. But this is the game the Bloc likes to play. To equate 
sovereignty of Quebec with devolution of provincial powers is a dangerous game. 
With right wing governments in BC, Alberta and the Maritimes, and a quisling 
Liberal party in power in Ontario, who will act as a bulwark against the 
politics of privatization Mssr. Duceppe? Will the Bloc align with its left ally 
the NDP in proposing amending the Canada Health Act to prevent privatization? 
Or will it back pedal seeing Quebec as special, and fearful of increasing 
federal power, literally wring its hands as Mssr. Charest travels down the same 
road as Mr. Klein. Alberta and Quebec have long been political bedfellows, 
since the days of Peter Lougheed. Oh yes in red neck Alberta, Tories have 
bashed Quebec, it being the second favorite pastime after Ottawa (read Liberal) 
bashing, however whenever Alberta Premiers have been to Quebec they are like 
long lost cousins back patting and cozying up to Quebec. For whatever Quebec 
could get out of Ottawa, Alberta would be at the table too asking for more of 
its share too. Facing the Charest privatization revolution in Quebec places 
Mssr. Ducepe in the position that what may be good for Quebec may also be good 
for the rest of Canada. What irony, in winning in Quebec the Bloc may have to 
be more social democratic than sovereigntist, as the interests of Canadians and 
Quebecois are united in opposing privatization. 
------------------------------------------- Eugene Plawiuk was Strategy and 
Communications Chairperson Alberta NDP for the 1997 and 2001 provincial 
elections. He is a member of the NDP Socialist Caucus Alberta. He lives and 
votes in Edmonton Strathcona.

URL: http://resist.ca/story/2004/6/25/02018/8135