The Origins of Paul Martin
Another party, another anecdote...was having a few drinks with pals from Ontario (Libs too no less) down by the lake last weekend, and naturally conversation turned to leadership. The voices from Ontario were saying, "You know, if Stephane Dion wins the leadership then it will really ruin the chances for the Liberal Party in the next election." I expressed surprise at this strong remark and asked for clarity (ha ha). They elaborated: "It's really time for a leader from Ontario, I mean if Dion were to win then it would be 3 in a row from Quebec."
As a Quebecer, I find this statement surprising. Cause as far as I am concerned, Paul Martin is no Quebecer. He's a Windsor, Ontario boy. I think that it is fair to say that a majority of Quebecers would agree with me on this. And I'm an anglo, so I can just imagine what my francophone sisters and brothers would say.
Mr. Martin's French performances during the electoral debates left much to be desired. And I also think that it is fair to say that during his tenure as Prime Minister his Quebec strategy was lacking...And the result of this void were felt... as a result we lost seats in Quebec and we lost the election. In fact, the only slightly positive spin that you could give the last election, that if Quebecers could vote for the Western Alliance/Reform Party, then perhaps this bodes well for national unity... ha ha...
An interesting aside, Mr. Chrétien, cognizant of this sentiment that the origins of the Liberal party leader must alternate between Ontario and Quebec, suggested to Mr. Martin, if he had leadership ambitions, he should run in Windsor. As we all know, Mr. Martin declined (if anyone has any insights as to why Mr. Martin chose LaSalle – Emard, instead of say Windsor – West, I’d be grateful.)
No seriously, though, like it or not, Quebec votes count next election. I think that in picking the leader we should consider Jeffrey Simpson's magic “vote getting” equation he prescribed to the Conservative Party this week: "It's about keeping Quebec happy, and Ontario not too unhappy." Though I’d tweak it slightly for the Liberal Party: “It’s about making Quebec happy, and Ontario not too unhappy.”
posted by JJ @ 8:35 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I agree that most francophone Quebecers viewed Mr. Martin as an anglophone rather than a franco-Ontarian.
However, Martin Cauchon got into some trouble by publicly suggesting that Mr. Martin was not a Quebecer.
I think that if you choose to live in, raise your family in and work for most of your adult life in Quebec you are a Quebecer.
Otherwise, I think that you run the risk of falling into the separatists finely veiled trap of only "de souche" Quebecois being real Quebecers and no matter how long you are your family have chosen to live there you will only be "au coton", not "pur laine".
As Canadians, we should all have the ability to run for political office where we live.
I agree with you pumpernickel... I guess that what I was trying to say is precisely that... that we shouldn't be placing too much emphasis on Where our next leader comes from, but rather on How he or she understands and can speak to Quebecers... If that just so happens to be a perfectly bilingual Albertan farmer... then so be it.
Pumpernickel - right on brother!
DC Grit - I don't know how in your wildest dreams you could say Mr. Martin was not/is not a Quebecer for all the reasons listed by our friend in bread above. Moreover, the complaints of your Ontario friends is not without some validity. In the last 40 years, only perhaps 10 of them were with a leader who was not from Quebec. And there have been maybe a total of 4 years where the PM wasn’t from Quebec. And yes, obviously Quebec is very critical with respect to electoral math. But the last election should prove beyond doubt that Quebecers themselves don't really care if a leader is from Quebec, they just care about being on the winning team. Mr. Martin, who even in your world-view is a "pseudo-Quebecer" was trounced in La Belle Province. Mr. Harper, who is very much NOT a Quebecer made impressive gains there at the expense no less of M. Duceppe, who no one can argue is not a Quebecer.
My point is, Quebecers vote for who wins. Westerns are annoyed with the perceived or real excessive influence that Quebec has on federal, and particularly Liberal, politics. Thus if we were REALLY smart, we would elect a Western Liberal as leader who could take seats from the Conservative's own backyard, and by doing so make Liberals more likely to form Government, and thus making Quebecers more likely to vote Liberal.
Oh wait, that would require us to actually have a real Western Liberal leadership candidate. Merde!
Don't mean to douse your prairie fire, but seems you didn't read my response to pumpernickel's comment...To recap my final sentence:"we shouldn't be placing too much emphasis on Where our next leader comes from, but rather on How he or she understands and can speak to Quebecers... If that just so happens to be a perfectly bilingual Albertan farmer... then so be it."
Oh an interesting random fact. The last Liberal non Quebecer Prime Minister to deliver a Majority Government, was Mackenzie King.
Just thought I'd throw that out there...
Post a Comment
<< Home