Much ink will be spilled in the next couple of weeks over the words of wisdom handed down from the Supreme Court on the legality of Quebec’s drive for independence.
However, it is the rhetoric coming out of the blockade at Listuguj that is providing a more illuminating look at the health of democracy in Canada. While spin doctors and pundits debate the arcane wording of the Supreme Court’s decision, the Quebec government put name-calling ahead of negotiation to settle the conflict in Listuguj.
Leading the charge of the dim brigade is Guy Chevrette, old-school PQ cabinet minister for Natural Resources and Aboriginal Affairs. Chevrette’s use of threats and insults makes you wonder just how he ever settled anything in his former job as a labour negotiator.
Chevrette started off by condemning the “anarchy” of the protest and vowing that he would never speak to “illegals” -his quaint term for the people at the blockade.
Soon after, he revealed just how deep is his commitment to good-faith negotiation: “[Democracy] is often a bit slower than the strong-arm method, but the strong-arm method can only be used when we find democracy can no longer be used.”
Explaining why the government would not recognize a community vote on the government proposal to end the impasse, Chevrette’s boss. Premier Lucien Bouchard, made an unintentionally ironic comment on the limits of his government’s favourite expression of democracy.
“If a referendum were to say that the community would prefer 200,000 cubic metres [of wood] instead of 10,000 cubic metres, it won’t create with a wave of a magic wand the 190,000 cubic metres they want which aren’t there.”
But topping the hit parade must be Chevrette’s enraged reaction to the news that the community had turned down the government proposal, where the honorable member for Joliette managed to combine good old sexism and bald-faced sabre rattling: “In life there are people who wear the pants, there are people who have a backbone and there are people who don’t allow agitating minorities to decide things,” he said.
No word yet on whether the Reform Party will soon start calling the Bloc Québécois“agitating minorities.”
