LETTER

LETTRE

Open letter to Québec Solidaire (Translated)

 

I would like to bring to your attention some information that could be useful when the party eventually takes power, as well as during a possible third referendum on the question of independence.
    As you know, the independence option was added to the program of Québec solidaire a few years after its creation, in order to take advantage of the failed turn of the Parti québécois on the issue of identity, immigration and secularism, not to mention the slow descent into hell of this important political party founded by René Lévesque in the 1960s.
    Mr. Nadeau Dubois and Ms. Massé, I must tell you that I am very concerned that the independence issue will hurt the party in its legitimate quest for power. Times have changed and the time no longer seems to me to be for ethnic nationalism, centred on French Canadians and their struggle for survival since the Conquest. Quebec nationalism must modernize and update itself by opening up to the world and turning towards the global Francophonie, the inclusion of people who are different, including immigrants, and the acceptance of scientific realities. Current trends show the need to act on a global basis to address problems that no longer exist in silos as they once did, whether it be pandemics, climate change, desertification, economic inequalities, social injustices, excessive militarization, increasing governmental, corporate, family and individual debt, etc. The problems, more and more, are global and call for global, concerted, cooperative, worldwide solutions, so that it is not excluded that one day, the countries of the present world will finally agree to come together to form a true world government, composed of national units (countries) as administrative units (provinces).
     I think there is a simple solution to the thorny issue of Quebec independence. Instead of creating two countries out of one, with all the commotion that this can bring and the risks of backlash, economic sanctions, trade reprisals, and even (in the extreme) civil war, I propose to create a new country.  This would involve eliminating the obsolete offices of Governor General and Lieutenant Governor, plus the Senate, and establishing a Canadian republic, flanked by an autonomous republic of Quebec, with greater powers than the other nine provinces. In fact, the Quebec government would have essentially all the powers of the federal government, except those identified with classical sovereignty, namely national defence (army) and foreign representation (embassies). We could take the opportunity to dismantle the entire political structure of this country, by introducing linguistic districts for linguistic minorities (in Quebec and outside Quebec), by enhancing the powers of band councils and expanding the territory of native reserves, by creating an autonomous district for the capital (Ottawa-Gatineau) and by encouraging immigrant minorities in Canadian provinces to demand greater powers in major urban centers. This approach would also have the advantage of recreating a grand alliance between aboriginals and French Canadians (the largest ethnic minority in this northern country and often in the shadow of its restless neighbor), in the image of the treaties and alliances our ancestors concluded more than a quarter of a millennium ago, in the glorious era of New France. Canada thus renewed, rejuvenated and rehabilitated would then be in a position to face at least another century of existence, until the next rebound of the national question...
Charles Millar
Gatineau (Aylmer)