Pauline Marois who was planning to fire government employees wearing
hijabs, kirpans, turbans or ostentatious crucifixes, was herself given a pink slip and dismissed from her job as Quebec’s premier by the voters. She lost her own seat in Charlevoix-Cote-de-Beaupre in last week’s election.
With that out went the Quebec’s Charter of Values or rightly called Charter of Racism and hopes for another referendum on sovereignty. With Marois, three key ministers were also defeated, including finance minister Nicolas Marceau, health minister Réjean Hébert and environment minister Yves-François Blanchet.
Marois was insensitive visualizing an independent Quebec with a border and a passport. This was a frightening thought to Quebec voters who were smart enough not to buy into her wishful thinking.
One of the major mistakes that Marois and her hard-core separatists made was to keep the referendum issue alive instead of burying it when they realized that the voters were against it. The results clearly show that Canada and especially Quebecers are sick and tired of the referendum talk.
There is no doubt that the entry into the PQ fold of media mogul Pierre Peladeau played a large role in the defeat of Parti Quebecois. The sovereignists were proud to show off their prized possession, Peladeau, standing by Marois’ side. Peladeau’s picture posing with a raised fist in a revolutionary signal announcing his intention to make Quebec a country was splashed in virtually every newspaper in the country. Paledeau who won his seat in Saint-Jerome, won’t be praised for the part that he played during the election by his elected party members.
Now that we know of Paledeau’s true tendencies, serious consideration should be given to the idea that Canadians across the country should not support Quebecoir newspapers as readers and advertisers. The time for talk is gone and action is needed to safeguard Canada’s interests.
Credit must be given to Liberal leader Pierre Couillard who came out as a true and loyal Canadian, never leaving sight of his attachment to the country. “Canadian citizenship,” he pointed out, “is the envy of the entire planet” and he questioned how would removing Quebecers’ Canadian citizenship improve their standard of living.
“Our identity in Quebec is strong. I detest this government that is in the habit of painting us as threatened people, weak people.” Couillard was sensible to concentrate on practical issues facing Quebecers and that is employment and
With the shameful defeat of the PQ government, we hope that it will put to rest their hopes for a sovereign Quebec for a long time to come. As writer Andrew Coyne pointed out, this was the 22nd Quebecers have said NO to breaking away from Canada: they have gone through two referendums, seven federal elections and 13 provincial elections. The so-called separatists and soverignists have not even once received a majority of votes. PQ has had strong, sophisticated, articulate, worldly and powerful men at the helm such as Rene Levesque, Jacques Parizeau, Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry – all of them failed in their attempts to separate from Canada. They spent major part of their lives in promoting separation. But no previous premier has sunk to such depths as Marios. That should tell us something.
Hopefully, the talk of referendum and separation from Canada will come to a stop. Quebecers should now concentrate on building their province economically, with the aim of reducing the $9.3 billion that it is getting in equalization from Ottawa.
Marios, who conceded defeat, announced that she would resign as party leader, but even in defeat she was defiant. “We will continue to believe that Quebec must define and promote our values,” she said. “We have a duty to hold the torch of our language high and to be proud of it … let us not forget all the battles we fought. We must promote our language at all times.
The election was a great victory for federalism and a crushing defeat fro separatism. Quebec finally got a government, which places high priority to creating jobs and not waste time, money and energy on another referendum. The three federal leaders were quick to congratulate premier-designate Couillard. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau said as a Quebecer, he was thrilled that his province will be represented by a dedicated leader as Philippe Couillard. Quebecers share the same values as Liberals across the country who “are focused on jobs, the economy, and growing the middle class,” he said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, congratulating Couillard, said he recognized that Quebecers used the election to reject a referendum. He said his looked forward to working with Couillard and the majority Liberals in Quebec on “the economy and job creation.”
Thomas Mulcair, the Official Opposition Leader and a former cabinet minister in Jean Charest’s Quebec Liberal government, congratulated Couillard and wished him all the best as Quebec’s next premier.
“The NDP has taken note of the people’s desire to end the old quarrels, and the new premier can count on us to promote Quebec’s interests in Ottawa as part of our effort to build a more just and prosperous Canada for all,” the New Democratic Party leader said in a statement.
