Well, it looks like a Quebec Liberal majority and the PQ are collapsing to 2007 numbers. Quebec Solidaire has shown some improvement in vote count but not in seats. It seems that the biggest hope for Ste-Marie-St-Jacques, Manon Masse of Quebec Solidaire will not win her seat, although it is still early and I hope for a surprise there.
I see folks on Facebook and Twitter cheering. Many talking about “rebuilding” and “inclusiveness” under the new Liberal government of Couillard. They speak of how great Canada is and how democratic! Really? How democratic is Harper’s unfair election act- Bill C-23? I urge you all to read it carefully, you might well be affected by the Unfair Elections Act. I know I will likely be because I do not have a drivers’ license and have health conditions that preclude me from having one.
Canada, inclusive? Think again. Go to comment boards of sites like National Post or Sun Media or others like CBC or Grope & Fail or even Toronto Star. The rest of Canada is as racist as PQ Quebecers are. Let’s not be hypocritical here. Politicians across Canada from all levels of government were simply using that PQ political dog whistle of the Charter to their advantage. But they were all hypocritical of it. Those migrant Tamils landing on that rickety freighter the Sun Sea in BC was treated with a “lock and load” approach by Stun Media. No one said anything about that.
Canada, particularly under Harper, is far from inclusive. Harpercons had succeeded in dividing Canada; “good” immigrants vs “bad” immigrants. Rural & urban Canadians, and especially poor vs rich Canadians. Bad working class (non unionized yes men who have been brainwashed to stick to it to their unionized counterparts) v “good” workers. I could go on… For gawd sake, the Harper called women a “left winged fringe group” in that leaked video in 2009.
Quebec, under the Liberals or the PQ would never be inclusive unless by some miracle, somebody takes smart pills. Everybody speaks of referendum talk and the Charter of Values is divisive and the Liberals will be “unifying”. I would like to speak of a bigger issue I already touched upon in the previous paragraph. Inclusiveness would be a government working for the people like the way Quebec Solidaire would. How is a government that only works for lobbyists, corporations, the richest like the Desmarais family (Peladeau in the case of the PQ) and big oil and damned the working class majority “inclusive”? Like it or not, we already have a class war happening and pretending it doesn’t exist will not make it go away. A truly inclusive society would not have such socio-economic inequality.
Charter or no charter, what does it matter whether or not your health care provider can sport kippahs and hi jabs if most of us won’t be able to access affordable health care? Couillard will privatize further. He said he would expand private for profit when boxed in in the debate on RadCan. Couillard will now have a built in excuse– Harper does plan to cut 36 Billion$ in health care and will scrap the equalization formula. One of the fathers of medicare had even said that without equalization, our single payer health care system would not be possible. Not that Couillard would need an excuse, but this makes it all just that much easier.
Speaking of the Charter. It may well die, but racism across Canada sure hasn’t.
We must not forget that rewarding corruption is a scary thought. Rewarding corruption simply because a party is “federalist” is shocking indeed. It seems that either was all forgotten or forgiven. Sure the PQ is not without corruption baggage and for that matter, neither is Franky Legault of CAQ who held key ministries under the PQ. However, if one looks under the corruption and ethics heading in this article, only the Liberals and Couillard had absolutely no plans or even an attempt to do anything about these systemic issues that cause corruption. I doubt he will even follow recommendations from the Charbonneau Inquiry.
Oh, and does anyone not see a problem with a a criminal like Arty Porter endorsing Couillard ? Perhaps we should just release Porter from prison at this rate.
The PQ at least extended the mandate of Charbonneau Inquiry while in Government and Marois at least, had to have known that whatever imbroglio her husband or her party were involved with would come out. Charest, on the other hand, while in government, for the longest time, stubbornly refused to hold an inquiry on corruption until pressure from the public and the opposition at the time dictated he do so.
The Charbonneau Inquiry will resume tomorrow. My only solace is that likely more worms will come out against both the Liberals and the PQ as well as Legault. Only Quebec-Solidaire has no corruption baggage.
Quebec Solidaire did fair much better and thus far it looks like Manon Masse may take Ste-Marie-St-Jacques, but it is still a tough 3-way race between the PQ incumbent, Daniel Breton, the Liberal, Anna Klisko and of course Manon Masse. Sadly, Andres Fontecilla of Laurier-Dorion did not knock over incumbent Gerry Sklavounos who refused to show up for debates, but it is possible if Fontecilla remains a presence for the next 4 or 5 years. I am proud of how my party did although, I had hoped they would’ve done better.
It was an impossible situation; 3 right winged parties with varying degrees of corruption leading. My best case scenario would’ve been a minority government either way. Neither Couillard nor Marois or even Legault for that matter should be without a very tight leash. I would’ve liked to have seen Quebec Solidaire holding the balance of power in a minority government.
Francoise David is already challenging Couillard on questions of the environment. “Will he stop the privatization of health care?” “Will he help children in difficulty in schools”? “Will he address fiscal inequality”? She asked other questions too, but those are top questions that need to be answered by the new Couillard Liberal government. Sadly, he will ignore all of that. Only when those questions are addressed, will we achieve true inclusiveness.
Again I ask is anyone capable of critical thinking? Does anyone even care?
UPDATE: It took me long enough. The only light in this fiasco of an election that makes sense. Manon Masse did win her seat in Ste. Marie – St-Jacques. A third seat for Quebec Solidaire. Felicitations Manon Masse!!