I left McGill to move to Carleton and Ottawa for many reasons. Only one of them was the imminent rise of the Parti Quebecois, but it was not a trivial one. No, I don't wear religious garb in my day job, but I would be tempted to wear stuff from every religion if I had remained there. This new proposal is much like previous stuff. It is xenophobic, it is unconstitutional, and mostly aimed at provoking crises so that the PQ can claim that Quebec is oppressed by Canada.
Kind of hard to make that argument when Canada seems to be doing the tolerating and the PQ is doing the oppressing. Yet twisted logic is the specialty of a secessionist group that cannot muster enough support to gain a majority of seats even where the electoral system tends to turn pluralities into majorities (proportional representation is certainly on the shelf for a while longer).
Was this easy to see in 2011 when I decided to skedaddle? Yes, yes, it was. The PQ was clearly going to win the next election, although I was wrong about how well it would do. Their affiliation with the student protest movement probably cost it a majority in the provincial parliament. So, this proposal is unlikely to pass, so the PQ cannot do as much damage as it might have. Yet, I am glad to have left, as I don't have to wonder if the third party, the CAQ, will cave on various issues to give the PQ the votes it needs to do further damage to Quebec.
Yes, I love Ottawa and my new job, so I would feel great about my move anyway, but the news that comes out of Quebec reminds me that it was time to leave.
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