Bloc Quebecois revives...

[Michelle Daveluy]

Harold,

The American newspaper articles on Québec circulated on this list rarely
address language directly. It surprises me because it is so important in
the province I was born and the country I live in.

For the election to be held this coming Monday, long established language
policies and well implemented laws pertaining to official bilingualism are
part of the campaign platform of at least two parties. One is advocating
maintaining French/English bilingualism, only where numbers warrant; the
other advocates assimetric treatment of linguisitc minorities. In either
case, it represents an important change with numerous consequences left
undiscussed.

As existing laws require, Elections Canada, the federal agency overseeing
elections, currently advertises its services as available 1) in the 2
official  languages and 2) almost 24 hours a day.  In the province I
currenly live in, Alberta, complaints have been filed, since the beginning
of the campaign, at the Office of the Commissionner of Official Languages.
Complaints include being told to phone the next day for services in French,
and services in French simply not being available.

So, to me, language is very present in this election. I sincerely think
most Canadians are aware Québec's autonomy is not an electoral issue on
Monday.

It is also the first election for which results will be made available as
voting polls close. This means westerners, if they really want to, can vote
knowing who easterners will have elected. This will make election night
almost as exciting as a final game for the Stanley cup (hockey).

Re: In two television debates, Mr. Duceppe projected the most poise of the
four major party leaders, surpassing expectations.
I would to point out that, as leader of the Bloc québécois, Gilles Duceppe
participated to 7 such debates so far. One of the reason why he did as he
did, this time, is experience. For all three other party leaders it was a
first. The novelty in the debates in 2004 is that all leaders are bilingual
(to various extent). So the debate in French was much more lively than
previous ones.

Finally, I would like to mention that the description of the wardrobe
provided for Gilles Duceppe also exactly fits another party leader.
Suspenders are either in or useful.

Salutations,

Michelle Daveluy

>>>From the New York Times,  June 25, 2004
>
>Separatist Revives Movement in Quebec
>By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
>
>MONTREAL, June 24  Until a few months ago, Gilles Duceppe was a shaky
>leader of the fading separatist movement in Quebec, seemingly destined to
>be an odd footnote in Canadian history.
>
>But in a turn of fortunes that has more to do with the collapse of the
>governing Liberal Party than his own skills, Mr. Duceppe is emerging as
>the big winner of the parliamentary election campaign that will choose a
>new prime minister on Monday.
>
>Mr. Duceppe has no chance of replacing Prime Minister Paul Martin, because
>his party is competing just in Quebec. Because of widespread disgust in
>the second most populous Canadian province over Liberals' scandals, Mr.
>Duceppe's Bloc Quebecois is poised to sweep Quebec and carry a large
>delegation to the next House of Commons. If recent polls hold, the bloc
>will emerge for the first time as a vital power broker in Ottawa whose
>support may well be necessary for the next federal Liberal or Conservative
>government to survive in power.
>
>The son of a famous actor, Mr. Duceppe was a Maoist union organizer in his
>youth and appears an unlikely politician to become a leading national
>force. His generally stiff speaking style makes him anything but an
>inspiring political leader. He was the laughingstock of a campaign seven
>years ago, when he was photographed wearing a hygienic hairnet at a cheese
>factory that made him look like he was coming out of the bath wearing a
>shower cap.
>
>For a rebel leader, Mr. Duceppe appears to be a portrait of caution and
>paradox. At age 56, he campaigns without a tie in a charcoal-gray suit
>held up over his slight frame by a belt and suspenders. On his campaign
>bus, he relaxes with high-volume Janis Joplin and Maria Callas.
>
>A year ago, Mr. Duceppe's Bloc Quebecois and the entire separatist
>movement were waning into the fringes of politics. The bloc's provincial
>cousins, the Parti Quebecois, lost control of the provincial legislature
>and government in a landslide defeat in April 2003 to the Liberal Party
>led by Jean Charest, a passionate advocate for a united Canada.
>
>Since that vote, Mr. Charest has fallen quickly in the polls after
>unfulfilled promises to cut taxes and improve health care and day care.
>A government audit found that the federal government had furtively passed
>out tens of millions of dollars to friendly advertising companies involved
>in antiseparatist publicity efforts deeply offended Quebecers.
>
>"The Liberals tried to buy Quebecers, and there is a lot of indignation
>about that," Mr. Duceppe said in an interview. He modestly noted that a
>recent poll by Leger Marketing showed that roughly half the people who
>planned to vote for the bloc's parliamentary candidates were not trying to
>win sovereignty but merely trying to punish Mr. Martin and the governing
>party.
>
>"Duceppe is riding the biggest surfing wave of his life," Michel C. Auger,
>political columnist of the Journal de Montral, said. "He didn't create the
>wave, but he saw it and knew what to do with it."
>
>Mr. Duceppe's campaign is tightly controlled to avoid any more hairnet
>incidents. A day of campaigning in and around Montreal this week was
>carefully choreographed to make him appear as liberal and unthreatening as
>possible to fence-sitting voters, especially ethnic minorities who usually
>vote Liberal and oppose separation from Canada.
>
>While appearing on a youth music television station to discuss his support
>for environmental protection and the need to clean up politics, he spoke
>of the importance of Black History Month and Jackie Robinson's playing for
>a minor league team here as a sign that he is receptive to minorities. At
>a news conference, he courted minority votes by speaking of the Jewish
>Holocaust and Armenian genocide.
>
>He attended a barbecue here for an underdog bloc candidate, Maria Mourani,
>who is of Lebanese descent, where he was filmed and photographed
>surrounded by Muslim, Chinese and Russian voters.
>
>"There's no difference between Quebecers who are immigrants and Quebecois
>de souche," he said sitting beside Ms. Mourani, referring to Quebecers
>whose ancestors were French settlers before the 18th-century British
>conquest. It was a pitch before the cameras with future elections in mind.
>
>Although Liberal candidates in some Quebec districts have thrown in the
>towel and halted campaigning, separatist leaders around the province plan
>to build on the expected victory to retake the provincial government in
>2007. Mr. Duceppe may well use his campaign this year to set up a campaign
>as leader of the Parti Quebecois against Mr. Charest, followed by a push
>for a referendum a year or two after that. The separatist forces lost two
>referendums, in 1980 and 1995, the second defeat by an extremely narrow
>margin. Polls show support for sovereignty at 40 to 45 percent.
>
>Mr. Duceppe is careful to repeat at almost every campaign stop that the
>election on Monday is not about sovereignty and that he is ready to work
>in Ottawa to influence policies like opposing any missile defense
>agreement with the United States and pressing for more federal money for
>health care and unemployment insurance.
>
>In two television debates, Mr. Duceppe projected the most poise of the
>four major party leaders, surpassing expectations.
>
>At the same time, he makes no effort to hide his long-term intentions.
>
>"Quebec is a nation that will someday be a country," he said at a press
>conference on Tuesday. "I want to create a new society with social
>justice, without racism or sexism."
>
>Prime Minister Martin, who represents a Montreal district in the House of
>Commons, had hoped to appeal to Quebec nationalists by appointing Jean
>Lapierre, a former founder of the Bloc Quebecois, to be his chief Quebec
>spokesman. But Mr. Lapierre proved to be a clumsy advocate, leading Mr.
>Martin in the last week to turn to Liberal hard-line antiseparatists to
>shore up the traditional Liberal base.
>
>"Let's not play with fire," Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew warned this
>week. "By voting for the bloc, you give them momentum. You give them the
>taste of victory that they had lost recently."



Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta
13-15 Tory Building, Edmonton, Alberta T6G2H4
Phone: 780 492 5889, Fax: 780 492 5273

Adjunct Professor, Saint Mary's University

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