This is my answer…the answer to what I think of tomorrow’s vote on the resolution declaring the Quebecois a “nation” within Canada…
WHO SPEAKS FOR CANADA?
Not the politicians of this country. Michael Ignatieff, Stephen Harper, Gilles Duceppe…their desire to recognize the Quebecois as a “nation” is nothing more than a cheap & cynical exercise in scroing points and gaining votes…at whatever the cost.
They’re playing chess in the dirtiest of gutters, with a concept that slaps the face of the great endeavour we call Canada…and they can’t see the damage that could result from this action…or they don’t want to see the damage.
The long term…the vision required for the long term…is something beyond their abilities…and their comprehension.
WHO SPEAKS FOR CANADA?
Not the media, not the pundits, and not the intelligensia…they’re too busy tying themselves into knots about what exactly it means to be a “nation” — they are the microcosm of a nascent debate that could sweep this country into a chaos of indecision and opportunism. Rather than counter this ridiculous, mischevious notion, they all seem to be content with accepting it and trying to fit it into their worldview…except they can’t…
WHO SPEAKS FOR CANADA?
Not our fearless leader…a man who has sold out his own, loudly and often expressed, equality-centred vision…for the sake of winning back the popularity he is hemorrhaging in Quebec. For the sake of winning another election, he is willing to sell out his own concept for Canada! Hypocrisy taken to its natural conclusion.
Not our opposition leaders…fearful of the same Quebec electorate, they’re trying to ride the coat tails and hope they can salvage some sort of victory. As for Michael Ignatieff…had he actually LIVED through the constitution hell of the 1980s…perhaps he would understand what kind of pandora’s box he has unleashed upon the country…
WHO SPEAKS FOR CANADA?
Those who try are told: “What are you worried about? It’s not a constitutional ammendment…it’s just a symbolic resolution.”
But symbols are powerful…words are the most powerful symbols of all…and great men have turned words into symbols that reflect some of our highest aspirations…
“We hold these truths to be self-evident…”
“I have a dream…”
“Never has so much, been owed by so many, to so few…”
“Just watch me…”
But men can turn words into symbols of selfishness, expediency & ominous prophecy…and that will happen when the words “Quebecois as a nation” are passed in the House of Commons tomorrow…
WHO SPEAKS FOR CANADA?
Long ago…one man spoke for Canada. One man looked down on this great experiment and made it his magnificent obsession. He was a man who saw tribalism & nationalism as barriers to understanding. He was a man who saw the sharing of langauge, culture, and heritage as a tool of progress and civilization…to be encouraged, and cultivated. He fought against those who were small minded, insular…those who ignored the lessons of our bloody human history. He was a man who shaped a vision of Canada unlike any that had come before…a vision that will endure until tomorrow’s vote in Parliament.
His name was Pierre Trudeau. He was a giant, who once walked this land like a colossus. He single-handedly shaped a true nation — one that is a microcosm of all our dreams and aspirations…all our hopes.
When the resolution declaring the Quebecois a “nation” passes tomorrow, it will be as if we spit in his face, and danced on his grave. It will be a wake for the death of Trudeau’s hope…
WHO SPEAKS FOR CANADA?
Almost no one. Our “leaders” are too busy with appeasment, mollification, pacification, and submission to a force they are unwilling to fight. Instead, they seem too busy pouring grease over an already-slippery slope…one which we have carefully avoided for some time.
With such men fighting to control the fate of this country, I fear for the future…a future where Canada will die with a whipmer…forsaken, forgotten & discarded. The end of a journey to hell…paved with millions of good intentions.
