The Times Advocate, 2006-11-29, Page 44
Times—Advocate
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
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TIMES ADVOCATE
Editorial Opinion
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Peter Winkler -General Manager, Southwestern Ontario Division
EDITORIAL
What now?
Now that Prime Minister Stephen Harper
has won a parliamentary vote on a
motion stating the Quebecois form a
nation in "a united Canada," where does that
leave the country, and how will it affect the
future of the Quebec debate?
With all parties backing the motion, it had no
problem winning, 266-16, but its consequences
could be far reaching. The Quebec "issue,"
always simmering in the undercurrent of this
country's social discourse, has once again been
brought out into the forefront of debate. Most
would agree the issue of Quebec separation has
been harmful to the country in general and to
the province of Quebec in particular. So why
bring it up again? Isn't it something best left
alone? There will always be those in Quebec
who want to separate — thankfully for those of
us who want Quebec to remain in Canada,
Quebec nationalists are in the minority, even
though they don't like to admit it.
Those in favour of declaring the Quebecois a
nation within Canada have basically admitted
the motion means nothing — it's largely sym-
bolic and has no constitutional or legal ramifi-
cations. It was a tactical move by Harper to
defeat a motion from the Bloc Quebecois
declaring the Quebecois a nation, but with no
mention of Canada. To that end, it was a clever
move by Harper (although it cost Harper his
intergovernmental affairs minister, as Michael
Chong resigned from cabinet over his opposi-
tion to the motion).
But will it end there, or will the issue of
Quebec sovereignty dominate the national dis-
cussion like it did in the 1990s?
Many thought Harper's move would remove
the Quebec debate as a major topic of discus-
sion from this weekend's Liberal leadership
debate, but with candidates Ken Dryden and
Joe Volpe voting against it, and with Gerard
Kennedy opposing it, there's no doubt the mat-
ter will be a hot issue.
Which brings us back to the original ques-
tion? What now? How will the separatists spin
Monday's vote to their advantage?
Distributed by Canadian Artists Syndicate Inc_
Decision time for the Grits
Although it has been way too long, the leader-
ship race for the federal Liberal party has finally
managed to become interesting. The battle for
the top job in the party comes to a close this
weekend in Montreal when the Grits will pick
their new leader.
So who will face off against Prime
Minister Stephen Harper in the next feder-
al election? Will political newcomer (and
current front runner) Michael Ignatieff sail
to victory, or will former Ontario Premier
Bob Rae overcome his past and find a sec-
ond life in politics? Perhaps more interest-
ing is the prospect of the third and fourth-
ranked candidates, Stephane Dion and
Gerard Kennedy, sneaking in.
Several pundits have chosen Dion as the
most desirable leader, and he would be my
choice, although I don't get a vote on the
weekend. Dion seems the best suited of the
four top candidates to deal with the
Quebec issue (which is always an issue, but
became even more of one last week). Kennedy
has been labelled too young and inexperienced,
while Rae is trying to live down his rather tumul-
tuous term as premier and Ignatieff can't stop
putting his foot in his mouth. And he seems just a
little too satisfied with himself. He's also too pro -
Iraq war for many Canadians' tastes.
What might work against Dion is the fact he's
from Quebec — the Liberals, trying to put the last
few scandal -ridden years behind them, may be
looking for a leader who hails from a province
other than Quebec. Optically at least, choosing
Dion will look to some like the same old Liberal
party. But Dion brings good qualities to the table,
including his work on the Clarity Act and
his knowledge of the environment (an
issue this country needs much improve-
ment on). While all the candidates have
drawbacks, Dion seems to have the
fewest.
Some have said Dion's English may not
be up to snuff, although that didn't hurt
Jean Chretien, who had problems in both
official languages. Also, as others have
pointed out, Dion's English is better than
Harper's French.
Rae, an intelligent, articulate man who
has done yeoman's work for this country
since his term as Ontario premier ended,
may simply have too much baggage in this
province.
This isn't just another leadership convention for
the Liberals — the winner will lead a party that is
undergoing a rebuilding period. A federal election
won't be that far off in the future, so the leader
won't have much time to get his party battle -
ready. Will Liberals pick the right man for the
job?
SCOTT
NIXON
AND ANOTHER
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