LETTER

Response to letter from M. Perreault 

To argue that the present nationalistic conservative shift in political leadership in Quebec, Ontario, and N.B. is somehow reverting Francophone culture towards a “congenital” Plains of Abraham, English arrogance, belittles the very nature of Quebec and its standing in Canada. I am a Québécois whom Jacques Parizeau would have labelled “ethnic” and, the horror, my first language is English. We all have our cross to bear. Even so, I chose to move to Quebec because I believe we, as a community, are a just society.

I cannot definitively explain the world’s political shift to nationalistic conservative politics, but I can state that nationalism as a guide for politics is fear-driven, crude, cruel, ugly, and never improves the lives of all its citizens. To continue to pit English against French in some imagined battle interferes with sensible leadership. Justin Trudeau understands, just as René Lévesque did, that creating a cultural divide while ignoring good governance is a road to ruin.

I can understand the challenges of bringing one’s ideas to the fore, but to rely on anger as the impetus to change is a nationalistic signpost which I believe you would decry. I believe that by creating a cultural community we can take the two solitudes and have them communicate as equals -- and create a just society for Quebec and all Canadians.

Rom Temchuk

Aylmer