Quebec makes itself the most unpopular Province in Canada

May 29, 2011

By Kim McConnell

Quebec goes out of its way to make that province the most unpopular in Canada.  It was bad enough when it was led by the Bloc Quebecois but now that it is led by the NDP, it is even more obnoxious.  Layton, an ex-Quebecer who left that province because as an English Quebecer, even though he was a perfectly bilingual one, he had no future there. 

However, now that he has managed to con the BQ supporters into giving him a chance, he is using all his car-salesmanship to show them that he can get all the goodies that the BQ promised but couldn’t deliver.  Here is what he has promised them:

• 1. Quebec can separate from Canada with a 50% + 1 vote in a referendum.  The Supreme Court has ruled that a clear majority is needed (that’s at least over 60%).
  • 2. Quebec can write its own question – no need for the Supreme Court to decide whether the question is clear enough.
  • 3. Quebec can demand an increase in representation and ensure that its proportion in Parliament is kept the same.  Quebec is guaranteed 75 seats (no matter what happens to their population).  With the current situation Quebec is already over-represented (it now holds 24.4% of the seats while only having 23.2% of the population).
  • 4. Quebec can impose Bill 101 on all federally run agencies (at the moment, they have to follow the rules of the OLA).
  • 5. Quebec can demand that Canada gives them compensation for the harmonization of the PST & the GST even though the harmonization they did was 20 years ago and they were the sole beneficiaries.  The other provinces (Ontario & B.C.) gave control of the collection of the HST to the Federal government.  Quebec still controls the collection of the taxes.

Through the years when a Quebec Prime Minister was in charge of Canada (Trudeau, Mulroney, Chretien & Martin), Quebec has been given one concession after another.They have total control over :

• immigration
• tax collection
• their own police force
• their own language laws. 

Have I missed anything?

Harper made a serious error of giving them the status of a “nation”.  He meant that the Quebecois was a “nation”, same as the Indian tribes were known as “nations”.   This was an attempt at appeasement that didn’t work.  All of that to no avail – Quebecers (at least a substantial number of the noisy ones) are still not satisfied.

Now it is suggested that Harper is going to concede to this seat representation demand?  I hope that Harper won’t do such a foolish thing.  Already he is being severely criticized for having an over-sized Parliament.  The proposed increase in seats will give Ontario 18 extra seats (total 124); Alberta 5 extra seats (total 33) & BC 7 seats (total 43).  The House will have to accommodate 351 MPs. 

Bob B. writes:

“I believe the US, with 10 times our population, has only 435 members in their House.  Are we THAT inefficient, or our Members THAT incompetent,  that our only recourse is to add more and more MPs?”

Supporters of the Conservative government are very unhappy at the thought that they are still pandering to Quebec:

Absolutely Kim. There is no need whatsoever for the government to pander to Quebec on this issue. It is time to say NO to their ridiculous demands. Layton of course is the new guardian of Quebec’s interests in the federal parliament and will continually ask for all kinds of outrageous political concessions. 

There is no need to compromise on this issue.   Alberta, B.C. and Ontario qualify and deserve the representation that these new seats will give them. Quebec does not qualify. Period. You can be sure that if the shoe was on the other foot Quebec would  not give an inch.

The Conservatives have to be seen as a party of fairness and not just another vehicle to promote the interests of Quebec. Layton of course could be just out fishing with his comments. He  is an unprincipled scoundrel who totally exemplifies the term ‘self serving politician’. I will get some letters off on this. Thank you for the spread sheet.

As an after thought, Quebec is grossly over represented in the Supreme court of Canada. It is guaranteed three Justices, the same as Ontario which has over fifty percent more people. The west with a combined population of over ten million people only gets two. The Maritime provinces get one.  Maybe Layton would like to address all of that. 

Orlin 

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Hi Kim,

This better just be wishful thinking on the part of Layton, as that smiling little piglet is now representing his constituents just the way they expected him to; by demanding that Quebec continue to be over-represented in the House of Commons and that the Western provinces and Ontario continue to be under-represented.

If Harper caves on this issue, after the shit-sandwich served to him by Quebec, I'll lose all respect for him. We need to get on this issue immediately and make sure that Canadians in Ontario and out West know the nasty little game that Layton and Quebec and trying to play in order to perpetually ensure French Canadian dominance in the political affairs of our country.

Tony

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