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<h1 itemprop="headline" class="">Don Macpherson: The 'open nationalism' of the Coalition Avenir Québec's François Legault</h1>
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<a itemprop="name" class="" href="http://montrealgazette.com/author/donmacphersonmontrealgazette"><img alt="" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/a8a525b44666b39d37e58a91cdd93122?s=33&d=identicon&r=G" class="" height="33" width="33"> <span class="">Don Macpherson, Montreal Gazette</span> <span class="">More from Don Macpherson, Montreal Gazette</span></a> </div>
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Published on: November 5, 2014Last Updated: November 5, 2014 4:00 PM EST </div>
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<img itemprop="url" class="" alt="Coalition Avenir Quebec Leader Francois Legault responds to reporters questions before entering a party caucus meeting as the legislature reconvenes for its fall session, Tuesday, September 16, 2014 at the legislature in Quebec City." src="http://postmediamontrealgazette2.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/francois-legault1.jpg?w=1000">
<p>Coalition Avenir Quebec Leader Francois Legault responds to
reporters questions before entering a party caucus meeting as the
legislature reconvenes for its fall session, Tuesday, September 16, 2014
at the legislature in Quebec City.</p>
<span class=""><span itemprop="creator">Jacques Boissinot</span> / <span itemprop="copyrightHolder">CP</span></span>
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<a href="http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/don-macpherson-the-open-nationalism-of-the-coalition-avenir-quebecs-francois-legault#" class=""></a><br>
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<p>In François Legault’s newly coined “open nationalism,” the nationalism is more apparent than the openness.</p>
<p>The Coalition Avenir Québec leader outlined his “vision” in his <a href="http://coalitionavenirquebec.org/communiques-de-presse/francois-legault-invite-les-quebecois-a-appuyer-le-nationalisme-douverture-de-la-caq/" target="_blank">closing speech to the party’s convention on the weekend</a>.</p>
<p>He said the CAQ is nationalist, and that his “first loyalty goes to
Quebec.” But the Coalition’s nationalism was not “timid, nostalgic and
marked by turning in on oneself.” Rather, it was affirmative and
constructive, reflecting “pride in our past” while being “respectful of
Quebec’s diversity.”</p>
<p>He said Quebecers are “a people who is sure of itself, that has no
desire to play the victim.” It was obvious that Quebec is not “a
province like the others,” but rather “a nation built on a history, a
language, a culture and a territory.”</p>
<p>The CAQ leader would shelve the constitutional issue until Quebec was
self-sufficient economically — that is, no longer needing to receive
equalization payments from Ottawa. In the current fiscal year, Quebec is
receiving $9.3 billion in equalization payments, which are intended to
enable poorer provinces to provide services comparable to those in
wealthier ones, at comparable levels of taxation.</p>
<p>In the meantime, he said, the Quebec government must be the “architect (maître d’oeuvre)” of language policy in the province.</p>
<p>In particular, the federal government must not challenge Quebec’s
language legislation and must apply the legislation’s provisions on the
language of work to businesses under federal jurisdiction, such as
banks.</p>
<p>And the Quebec government must “take all measures so that French is
fully respected as the language of service and the language of work,
especially in Montreal.”</p>
<p>Legault said the defence of French is “not a refusal of other
languages,” but “a question of survival of our identity,” requiring
constant effort and “vigilance.”</p>
<p>Finally, he said, because of Quebec’s “distinct character,” its
government, which now selects 70 per cent of the international
immigrants to the province, must be able to select all of them.</p>
<p>He summed up his “open nationalism” as a third option in Quebec
politics, between Parti Québécois referendums on independence and the
“soft federalism” of the Quebec Liberal Party.</p>
<p>Legault made it the central theme of a major speech to his party at a
time when it is threatened by a renewed polarization of Quebec
provincial politics on the constitutional question.</p>
<p>In his speech, he said the general election last April 7 marked “the
end of an era” and showed that Quebecers no longer want politics
“dominated by the division between sovereignists and federalists.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/politique/politique-quebecoise/201410/26/01-4812768-pkp-le-seul-qui-puisse-aider-le-pq-selon-un-sondage.php" target="_blank">Recent poll results</a>
suggest, however, that if Pierre Karl Péladeau becomes PQ leader, the
CAQ would lose support both to the PQ and especially to the federalist
Liberals.</p>
<p>In his attempt to shore up his party’s “soft” nationalist support,
Legault would replace the old division over Quebec’s secession from
Canada with a new one, between nationalists and non-nationalists.</p>
<p>In his speech, which he delivered entirely in French, he all but
ignored the province’s minorities, except for the future immigrants to
be selected by Quebec instead of Ottawa.</p>
<p>His call for “all measures so that French is fully respected as the
language of service and the language of work” means extending
“francization” requirements to small businesses, which the CAQ has
opposed until now.</p>
<p>Extending the requirements on the language of work to businesses
under federal jurisdiction would give rights to French-speaking
Quebecers enjoyed by no other official-language community in the
country. This would mean asymmetrical language rights, with English no
longer having equal status with French under the federal government,
which could threaten acceptance of official bilingualism in English
Canada.</p>
<p>And giving the Quebec government control over federal language policy
in the province could jeopardize minority rights, which are something
else Legault didn’t mention in his speech.</p>
<p><a href="http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/dmacpherson@montrealgazette.com%E2%80%9D">dmacpherson@montrealgazette.com</a><br>
<a href="http://twitter.com/dmacpgaz%E2%80%9D" target="“_blank”">twitter.com/DMacpGaz</a></p>
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