2010/05/11

The Canadian Constituquo

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Meech's demise. Gilles Duceppe is working hard to highlight the Canadian apathy regarding Québec's support for the constitution. Last Saturday, the Bloc Québécois published the results of a poll it commissioned.

In short, there are twice as many Québécois (82%) as people in other provinces (39%) who favor a new round of constitutional negotiations designed to get Quebec's signature on the Constitution. The Bloc is hoping that the results will lead the Québécois to a simple conclusion: The only avenue for political reform in Québec is a third referendum on sovereignty.

Federalist commentators quickly denounced the proposal as a "neverendum" (a blend of the words never-ending and referendum - the holding of repeated referendums on the same subject). I always thought this expression to be clever and felt there had to be a way to find another catchword that would describe the federalist stance.

The "Canadian Constituquo" might do the trick. And it works in both official languages. Anyone with a better idea?

3 comments:

Véronique Martel said...

Non, je n'ai pas de meilleure suggestion, je trouve ça parfait!

adski said...

"In addition, 90 per cent of Quebeckers feel that the province’s language law should be enforced in federal institutions in the province, against only 26 per cent in the rest of Canada. "

I can tell you just by this that this poll was tampered with. With 20% of the population non-Francophone, the percent in support of 101's extension to federal institutions should be 80% AT THE MOST. Also, given that there are Francophones that disagree with some provisions of 101 (in a recent poll 61% voiced their desire for a choice of the language of instruction), there is no way that 90% of Quebeckers would press for application of 101 in federal offices.

Besides, federal=bilingual. Quebec language purists have no business meddling in day-to-day operations of federal institutions. It’s out of their jurisdiction. And none of their business.

Michel Bolduc said...

You're right to question these quasi-unanimous figures. I also get suspicious when someone makes the assumption that all non-Francophones are against Bill 101.