You may have read about Quebec Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s “new strategy” for sovereignty, and you might have thought, “Hang on, this sounds a lot like the old strategy” — namely, pick fights with Ottawa and pitch the slightest federal-government resistance as an intolerable affront to all Quebecers.
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this → read → Quebecers
But this time, as influential nationalist Quebec commentator Joseph Facal argued in an extraordinary encomium to PSPP (as St-Pierre Plamondon is nicknamed) in the Journal de Montréal, the approach is “uncompromising.
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approach → argue → Montréal
So PSPP simply outright refused to attend this week’s Canada-EU meeting in Montreal.
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PSPP → refuse → Montreal
Because that would “compromise” Quebec’s sovereignty, in Facal’s view at least, and draw attention to the appalling reality: Quebec is part of Canada.
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Quebec → compromise → Canada
To oversimplify: Hardcore sovereigntists tend to think nothing’s worth “sitting at the children’s table” of the federation along with all the other, lesser provinces.
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nothing → oversimplify → provinces
More strategic sovereigntists, and softer nationalists, tend to argue along the lines of, “if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.”
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we → tend → menu
One: PSPP sent his lead trade negotiator to the summit in his stead.
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PSPP → send → stead
So it’s not his government boycotting this intolerable event, just him.
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it → ’ → event
Two: this new “uncompromising sovereignty” thing leaves the federal Bloc Québécois in an interesting position.
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thing → leave → position
Its job is to compromise.
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job → compromise → ?
BQ members compromise from the moment they run for the “King of England’s” loyal Parliament (as PSPP often calls the Canadian monarch), then take their seats in Parliament having sworn oaths of allegiance to the King of Canada.
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PSPP → compromise → Canada
While Northern Ireland’s Sinn Féin MPs don’t take their seats at Westminster in part precisely because they would have to swear the same basic oath, the Bloc tries to make the best of federal legislation for Quebec’s purposes.
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Bloc → take → purposes
It’s a perfectly defensible, sensible policy.
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It → ’ → ?
Does PSPP support that?
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PSPP → support → that
He doesn’t lack for confidence, which I suppose is a positive, but it’s to the point that he seems to overestimate his and the sovereignty movement’s popularity.
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he → lack → popularity
Twenty-eight per cent of the popular vote (the PQ’s haul on Oct. 5) is even lower than than 30-ish per cent support for sovereignty, which is where polls have been stalled for many years.
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polls → stall → years
The PQ’s vote efficiency, and the provincial Liberals’ lack thereof — they only finished four points behind the PQ — don’t matter in a referendum.
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they → finish → referendum
Already PSPP shows signs of Mark Carney-style overconfidence, just with much less voter support.
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PSPP → show → support
He declined this week to attend a summit involving Prime Minister Carney, all the other provincial premiers and First Nations leaders.
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He → decline → Carney
I can’t see how that decision left him and his movement any better off.
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decision → see → him
He needs those First Nations leaders.
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He → need → leaders
Sovereigntists wish they didn’t have to deal with Indigenous Quebecers, their irksome nations and their backward insistence on their treaties with the “King of England” (as PSPP would put it), not to mention their near-total historic opposition to sovereignty.
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PSPP → wish → sovereignty
Now the PQ has peeved a not-insignificant voting bloc — Indigenous people accounted for 2.5 per cent of the province’s population as of the 2021 Census; it will certainly be higher today.
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it → peeve → Census
The press reaction I’ve seen has topped out at half-hearted support, and only in the context of “uncompromising” sovereignty.
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I → see → sovereignty
But successful uncompromising sovereignty would have to deal with First Nations along with everything else real live grown-up nations do.
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nations → have → everything
“Uncompromising sovereignty” cannot involve shirking these responsibilities.
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sovereignty → involve → responsibilities
On Wednesday, after Carney offered PSPP a seat at the head table for the dinner, but not a speech, the premier unleashed a 300-word diatribe that can only be described as unhinged.
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that → offer → diatribe
“This proposal essentially asks Quebec to fall into line — (re-enforcing) our vassalization and erasure — in exchange for a better seat from which to watch the game,” he fumed.
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he → ask → game
“We are facing a strategy designed to marginalize Quebec on the global stage and to subordinate Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction to the will of the federal government.
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We → face → government
So said the only premier to get an invitation to the head table.
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premier → say → table
Of a province that gets basically anything it wants.
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it → get → anything
I haven’t yet seen a poll on Quebecers’ attitudes toward all this.
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I → see → this
I would be shocked and disappointed if many cared at all.
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many → shock → ?
I’m positive many wouldn’t have cared before the PQ or the pollster brought it up, and dearly hope any poll asks people how much they actually give a hoot.
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they → ’m → hoot
PSPP seems to be diving headlong into the political-class periphery here.
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PSPP → seem → periphery
The Aporia
