2008 Year Of Constitutional Change

Harper likes to talk out of both sides of his mouth. Especially when it comes to the Quebec Nation.

Stephen Harper apparently has been telling the Quebec media (in La Presse specifically) the following:

“Stephen Harper souhaite que la résolution qui reconnaît les Québécois comme une nation soit incluse dans la Constitution canadienne”

Translation: Stephen Harper hopes that the resolution recognizing the “Québécois” as a nation can be included in the Canadian Constitution!

Not only does he want to REFORM the Senate but now he wants to include Quebec as a Nation in the Constitution. Talk about pandering. The reality is that if he wants to reform the Constitution so do we all. Many of us want a new parliamentary system with proportional representation and the elimination of the Senate.

Which should be done as was originally proposed by Louis-Joseph Papineau back in 1867, through a Constituent Assembly of Canadians, not by Parliament or Legislatures.

This is Harpers cynical ploy to win votes in Quebec nothing less nothing more. Like his predecessor Brian Mulroney, Harper is treading a dangerous path, that will earn him the same boot in the butt as BM got. Which ironically was a boot with the name Reform Party of Canada on it.



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Conservatives Orwellian Language Politics

When it comes to bilingualism, the idea of two national languages being equal, the Conservatives like to refer to Linguistic duality, which does not mean the same thing.

For the Harpocrites it means separate but equal languages. That is there is English spoken in English Canada and French spoken in Quebec. That is the meaning behind the Conservatives use of the term; linguistic duality.

This does not mean bilingualism as we know it under the Liberals. Because of course this government hates all things Liberal.

Commissioner of Official Languages' 2006-2007 Annual Report

Despite Prime Minister Harper personally setting an example by using both official languages, the government is not living up to its commitment in this area, Graham Fraser, Commissioner of Official Languages, said in his first annual report presented to Parliament today.

"Prime Minister Harper's public behaviour is exemplary in terms of respect for Canada's official languages," Fraser said, noting that Josee Verner, Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages, had expressed the government's support for the amendments to the Official Languages Act and the Action Plan for Official Languages. "Unfortunately, the government's actions over the last year have not reflected these public statements."

In 2005, the Official Languages Act was enhanced with the amendment to Part VII requiring federal institutions to take positive measures to promote linguistic duality and support the development of official language minority communities. According to the Commissioner, "Although this amendment was approved by Parliament, government action to date casts doubt on its genuine commitment to implementing this Act." The most telling example in the Commissioner's report is the announcement of budget cuts last fall, which abolished initiatives such as the Court Challenges Program.

As I wrote previously and it is worth repeating;

Harper, unlike Preston Manning, was a student of the Calgary School. Harper's political practice is influenced more by this than Manning was. Hence Harpers surprise; the recognition of Quebec as a nation, giving it the separatism it wants within a decentralized federal state. That is more the nuanced politics of the Calgary School than the Reform Party demand that the West Wants In.

The old anti-bilingualism of the Reformers is replaced with the subtle Two Distinct Languages policy of the Conservatives. Which again appeals to Quebecois nationalism, while also keeping the rest of Canada happy with one language; English.

SEE:

Tory Cuts For All

White Multiculturalism

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Because They Ain't White

Terror victims receive little government aid: report

While the old Reform Party and its incarnations as the Canadian Alliance and now the Conservative party of Canada, made victims rights a key in their law and order platform, the majority of the victims lobby are of course white. And they speak English. Others need not apply.

Especially those who face state terror. Which was why Maher Arar had to sue the Canadian Government.



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The Tories Two Solitudes

Harper touts his 'open federalism' approach

Prime Minister Stephen Harper championed his "open'' brand of federalism in Quebec's rural heartland Saturday night, finding an echo in the province's newly emboldened autonomists.

Harper -- speaking exclusively in French -- painted himself as a defender of the Quebec nation, and the federal leader best positioned to fight the province's separatist forces.

"When you are a nation, it is perfectly natural to be a nationalist,'' he told a crowd of more than 400 people gathered in the community centre of this farming town south of Quebec City.

MP decries hiring of unilingual anglophone as ombudsman for victims of crime

A New Democrat MP says the appointment of a unilingual anglophone to a federal ombudsman's office is illegal.

New Brunswick MP Yvon Godin said Friday the hiring of Steve Sullivan, the first federal ombudsman for victims of crime, violates public employment laws.

The Acadie-Bathurst MP also said Sullivan's hiring is "immoral" because he can't represent francophones adequately.

"The victims will finally have an ombudsman to file a complaint, but the entire Canadian francophone community can't speak to him," said Godin.

"It doesn't make any sense, absolutely no sense."

Harpers recent pronouncements are further evidence of the correctness of my analysis of the Tories two solitudes policy; recognizing the unilingual natures of Quebec and the Rest of Canada. An attack on Canada's bilingualism and multiculturalism, which the right wing has opposed since Trudeau was PM.

Leo Strauss and the Calgary School

Harper, unlike Preston Manning, was a student of the Calgary School. Harper's political practice is influenced more by this than Manning was. Hence Harpers surprise; the recognition of Quebec as a nation, giving it the separatism it wants within a decentralized federal state. That is more the nuanced politics of the Calgary School than the Reform Party demand that the West Wants In. The old anti-bilingualism of the Reformers is replaced with the subtle Two Distinct Languages policy of the Conservatives. Which again appeals to Quebecois nationalism, while also keeping the rest of Canada happy with one language; English.

The Language Of Racism

The Conservatives are promoting two Canadian languages, not bilingualism and bi-culturalism, since that is a Liberal bugaboo, a much hated left over of the Trudeau era. The Harper Conservatives roots are in the old Social Credit party of Alberta, both provincial and Federal, the Reform party and its links to the reactionary right wing I spoke of earlier. They are willing to accept two language groups in Canada, as long as they are unilingual. They have always opposed multiculturalism and bilingualism.

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