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Monday, February 20, 2012

Failing to Secede? Study Some More

If you fail at something, try, try again. Well, for the Parti Quebecois, the response to failure is apparently research.  There have been apparently 148 studies in 30 years of Quebec independence--how to get it, what would one do with it, etc.  With the PQ competing with the provincial Liberals to be the least popular party in their competition with the new, who knows what the hell they are, party, it is time to do something aggressive, forward-thinking, and creative to get things going:
They are forming a committee!
Oh, the federalists are quaking in their boots.  Well, the federalists are mostly nauseous, but that is thanks to Justin Trudeau's lousy speech last week where he basically said that if Harper truly represents the Rest of Canada, then perhaps Quebec should have its own country.  Justin, to be clear, Harper has a majority because your party (the Liberal party that used to dominate Canada)  failed, utterly failed to attract voters.  The last election result was as much or more a message to the Liberals how incredibly lame they have become as it was any kind of signal that Harper's Conservatives have a popular message. 

Anyhow, back to the PQ: the Montreal Gazette, a federalist newspaper, was quick to observe that the committee's membership is entirely white and mostly male.  With Pauline Marois leading the party and the committee, the three females out of twelve may not be problematic.  But all white?  Perhaps the PQ might do better if it tried to represent and appeal to more than just the Pure Laine (the white Quebeckers who claim to be ancestors of the original French settlers).  Of course, Jacques Parizeau made headlines after the last referendum when he blamed ethnic voters and moneyed folks (that would be the Jews), but there was something to this--that the PQ failed then and continues to fail to play to a multiethnic audience.  Just as the Republicans seem to be happy with being the party of white rural America (real America to Sarah Palin), the PQ can be the party of white rural Quebeckers (since running against Montreal is basic to the party).  Which means they can only win slim pluralities if the other party/parties self-destruct but not enough votes to win a referendum on independence, especially if the language is clear.

I am sure that the committee will come out with some new strategies that will be sure to make a difference.  In the number of trees killed to publish the next study? 

All I can think of is the striking contrast between Princess Leia and Pauline Marois:
Leia:  I am not a committee!!
Marois: I am the committee.

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