jaratism with a si

CO Oe keene ene ceeswocnsseseeseesesonsereesenees

Doug
Collins

a on the
J other hand

SEPARATISM if neces-
sary but not necessarily
separatism? That
rephrasing of the old
Mackenzie King com-
ment on wartime con-
scription would be a
reasonable interpreta-
tion of the Bloc
Quebecois view of

Ovnebec libre.

It was delivered by Bloc
MP Pierre de Savoye, a
charming, imperturbable gent
who can turn the other check
like Jesus and smile at the
cloud of arrows flying his way.

The occasion was the
capacity crowd meeting in
North Van organized by MP
Ted White to give us a peek at
the Bloc in action. A good
time was had by all, and M.
de Savoye was living proof
that appeasement doesn’t pay.
It only costs. And costs...

His line was that we have
got it all wrong. Yes, Quebec
wants to run its own shop,
but in partnership with
Canada, after which we shall
all live happily ever after.

He cali it “sovereignty
with partnership.”

T pointed out that Quebec
is not only running its own

, shop now but is also running

Canada. Has been doing so
for the past 30 years, with

' considerable and increasing
benefits to the ever-complain-
ing Quebecois.

' According to an academic
‘study done in Alberta, since
"1962 Quebec has had $160

billion more from the rest of
. the country than it has put in.

s Not only that. We had |

“Trudeau for a lifetime and

Mulroney for half a lifetime
: (although it seemed longer).

Now we have Chretien, and

the most powerful members

of the cabinet are from

Quebec, What more do they

want? What more can we

give?

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Partnership, smiled Mr. de.
Savoye. As for the finances, he
claimed. that the exchange
has been pretty even.

Ttold him that that part-
nership stuff is simply sover-
cignty association in a new
dress, complete with Canadian
dollars for the Quebee curren-
cy, Canadian passports and all
the orher perks contained in
former premier Jacques
Parizeau’s dream world.

And surely Lucien
Bouchard is the most dedicat-
ed separatist ever to come
down the pike?

Our suave guest gave the
impression that that was no“
so. With an even wider smile
he produced the post-referen-
dum pamphlet on the future
of Quebec, signed by Purizeau
and Bouchard.

There was no time to read
it during the debate but it
contained the same old dross
about partnership and con-
tented co-existence.

The barbs came thick and
fast but the de Savoye armor
was impenetrable, To change
the metaphor, pinning him
down was like trying to put
socks on an octopus.

He was asked how the
Quebec economy would make
out if the province became
independent, bearing in mind
that it is regarded as a “have-
not” province and gets half of
all the equalization payments,

The Quebec economy is a
large one, he retorted, and is

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already listed as 16th in the
world. With independence it
would grow.

“It’s 16th with confedera-
tion,” commented Trevor
Lautens. “With independence
it might be 3st.”

M. de Savoye didn’t think
so, naturally, He also dis-
agreed when Reform MP
Herb Grubet hoped, politely,

“Sixty three
per cent of
Canadians think
Canada is ‘slip-
ping away...’ And
64% of MPs
think Quebec
will be gone in
10 years.”

that Quebee wouldn’t
become another Aibania.

Quebee was a social
democracy, said the guest.

There was about three
hours of it. And the members
of the audience were well
intormed. They didn’t need
anyone to tell them what was
going on.

When M. de Savoye gave a
bit uf history about how the
French were treated after the
conquest of 1759 (which in

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his view sowed the seeds of
today’s discontent even
though acy were allowed to
keep their own laws, language
and customs) someone gave
him a mini-lecture on the
Treaty of Paris of 1762. And
much else,

Will Quebec love us and
leave us? Mr. White provided
some recent poll figures.

Sixty three per cent of
Canadians think Canada is
“slipping away.” So do 41% of
MPs. And 64% of MPs think
Quebee will be gone in 10
years.

In Quebec itself, the
young are fiercely separatist
and Bouchard plans to reduce
the voting age to 16. (P?'m
surprised he doesn’t bring it
down to 10 or include the
babies.)

That answers the query
from a lady who wanted me
to put the question: “Is a ep-
arate Quebec now inevitable?”

She answered the question
herself, '
“Two countries, Quebec
and Canada. Happy at last.”

— The North Shore News
velieves strongly in freedom of
speech and the right of all sides
in a debate to ke heard. The
columnists published in the
News present differing points of
view, but those views are not
necessarily those of the newspa-
per itself.

Sunday, October 20, 1996 — North Shore News ~ 7

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