Under pressure from Quebec sovereignists the NDP, now Canada's official Opposition, has defined what it will take for Quebec to legitimately declare its sovereignty.
Jack Layton has confirmed the NDP's policy on the terms of Quebec's separation from Canada. Last Thursday in Montreal, he said that a simple 51 per cent of Quebecers who voted to separate from Canada in another referendum would be enough.
In an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen on Saturday, Stephane Dion said, "To be open to Quebec is to insist on a clear majority for secession." Others have followed suit and cited the opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada that stated that that a 'clear majority' would be required, without indicating what that would be.
A few years ago, without much meaningful debate in the House of Commons, MPs of all parties voted in favour of Stephen Harper's motion to recognize Quebec as a 'nation' within Canada.
No one can accuse Layton, Dion, and Harper of being anything but committed Canadians who love their country. But their statements are all predicated on calculations that embrace the political status quo that has held since the death of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords.
Since the early 1970s, the threat of Quebec's separation from Canada has been like a "knife to the throat" of Canada, as the political scientist Léon Dion (former Liberal leader Stéphane's father) once said. The country -- including most of Quebec -- is tired of it being there.
Let us declare an end to these perpetual and energy-sapping contortions. It is time our parliamentarians reject unequivocally and without reservation or defensiveness the destruction of Canada as a legitimate option. It is not. The integrity of Canada should never be up for negotiation. Any national leader that suggests that it is or there is an acceptable formula for the dismemberment of the country is unfit to occupy high national office.
At the same time, that does not mean that renewal is not needed or even desirable. It surely is and we must not fear doing so by modernizing our constitution.
Inter-provincial arrangements of all kinds are urgently needed in the areas of national productivity, energy, transportation, infrastructure, health care, labour mobility, inter-provincial trade, the environment, post-secondary education, and Canada Pension Plan reform.
Our social and economic union is weak. Trade and labour mobility between provinces are far from free. Jurisdictional overlap is cumbersome and an impediment to investment and efficient government. Our system of equalization is outmoded. The current formula rewards provinces that waste money and penalizes the fiscally responsible. That makes our country less equal. It fuels regional animosity and does not foster unity.
The only way to fundamentally improve and update the basic arrangements of our Confederation is to renew our Constitution. Quebec's exclusion from signing the Constitution Act of 1982 is a dormant, gaping hole in our national life.
The unelected and unaccountable Senate remains the most egregious illustration of a profound and untenable democratic deficit in our country. It is blight on our democracy. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's legislated term limits won't fix that. Neither will appointing senators after provincial elections. The Senate can only truly be reformed by constitutional change.
It is high time that our political leaders stop chipping away at the very essence of our national soul. Ignoring the urgent necessity of modernizing our constitution is holding us back from our true promise and potential as the great nation we can be in the 21st century.
Mr. Veniez is a Vancouver-based businessman.
Follow Daniel D. Veniez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@danveniez
Talk of sovereignty from a BC-based Liberal can only make me laugh. When so many BC government agencies and ministry services are now outsourced to American companies, and crown corps are on the block to the same (when not already given away, like BC Rail), sovereignty and national integrity disappearing down the drain of the "free market" (in which apparently government itself is on the market), and clear evidence of American investors meddling in our political and electoral processes........talking about Quebec's sovereignty pales in importance by comparison. Ditto the new US right to send troops into Canada for its own national security interests, and not needing Canada's permission.....
cont....
I recall what I wrote about, which was the Meech-era US State Dept report on which provinces it was that were seen worth acquiring if the opporunity presented itself (BC and Alberta, and no others).....and my speculation that Glen Clark's defiance of American power during the Salmon War of the mid-90s is what led to the witchhunt and trumped-up court case that drove him from power, and wound up placing Gordon Campbell in the same job ultimately.....are such speculations/analysess not permitted in Huff Post CA? Do we have to tug the forelock and keep our lips zipped like our own mainstream media so regularly do for us? Any talk of soverignty that doesn't address US meddling in CAnadian politics - official or otherwise - is about as deep as a quickly-fading suntan....
I can see it everywhere in ROC's (Rest Of Canada) newspapers. As usually, it shows some tiredness of hearing about "what Québec wants". It could, instead, actually talk about what Veniez correctly define as "Quebec's exclusion (from signing the Constitution Act of 1982)". But it does not. It rarely does. Why, I ask myself.
The answer to that is clear. There is no intention of motivation of doing so. And I understand that: Veniez seems to live in BC. He talk about renewing the constitution. Good. What need to be changed in the constitution, if we follow Veniez recommandations? The senate. That's something important for the (canadian) politics. But there is something strange to talk about that, just after suggesting that our "parliamentarians reject unequivocally (...) the destruction of Canada as a legitimate option". What is the link between the two, the reform of the senate and the killing of the idea of Québec's sovereignty ?
His opinion is to shut the mouth of sovereignists, and then go on after canadians affairs as if Québec was just another province like NF or Manitoba. As per Veniez's opinion, I should not be a citizen of Canada. You see, that's the focus of what I'm telling you: it seems we agree on that afterall.
But no need to fear us. For me, and maybe most sovereignists, I, and certainly most sovereignists, really like canadians, as a quebecer.
I trust the people in government are aware that theres at least a one city in the province of Quebec that counts for almost one-half of Canada’s multinational pharmaceutical investments, making it a worthy international competitor to any other jurisdictional city renown for pharmaceutical industry.
Jack will officially change his name to "Jacques Létonne" and annoint himself President of the newly declared sovereign Republic of Québec. Provided he can find 50 plus one people to agree.
long term consequences .
I am not one for conspiracy theories but a part of my worries that Harper's agenda since his days and the NCC is to divide and weaken the country so foreign corporate interests can take over our natural resources. He has led by division, corruption and allowed the mining, oil, steel and telecommunications companies to fall to foreign ownership.