Poor Quebec! In five years, the province which was the spoiled child of the Conservatives became the black sheep of Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to allocate federal funds to build a new arena in Quebec City [a project championed by local authorities to prepare for the eventual return of a professional hockey team in town].
The budget tabled on March 22 by the Conservative government does not provide any measures to please the voters in Quebec, except for what repair two bridges in Montreal and support the local forest industry. [The budget submitted by the minority government of Stephen Harper was already considered a platform.
The exercise served as a pretext to allow the opposition to pass a vote of confidence Friday, March 25. The next day, Harper announced the holding of general elections on May 2] Why do so few cases in Quebec? The Tories need only win 12 additional seats in the Canadian Parliament to form a majority government.
Do not they want to win a few in the Belle Province? The answer to this question may well be a resounding no. If the idea of losing seats in Quebec does not delight the Tories, they did not necessarily need to win more. And as no more than 11% of Quebec voters support the Liberals, according to a recent poll, the Conservatives have no fear that their rivals do a good score in this province.
In fact, it is quite possible that the Conservatives are finally starting to use the strategy advocated by political scientist Peter Brimelow in 2005: "As long as Quebec remains central to any major decision, conservative aspirations of the [English Canada] continue to be frustrated. For the Canadian right, the path to power does not go through Quebec.
" John Weissenberger, a former adviser to Harper, had advocated the same thing in 2004: "It is not ridiculous to consider an electoral strategy based solely on Ontario and Western Canada. Are there 201 of 308 seats in Parliament. It is therefore a rational calculation that can pay. "For five years, Stephen Harper has ignored that advice and has courted voters in Quebec.
It has passed the resolution recognizing Quebec as a nation in 2006, won a seat at UNESCO for the province, pumped millions into Quebec society and treated her French. Result? Nada. The Tories have failed to elect more than 10 members in Quebec after two ballots. It is therefore not surprising that they begin to look elsewhere.
What do they get by bypassing Quebec? Simply the annihilation of the Liberal Party. If the Liberal vote implode as did the Conservatives in 1993 and the Bloc Quebecois [Independence Party in the federal parliament] stays or round-up some Liberal seats in Quebec, a Conservative majority could take power.
The Bloc, meanwhile, could form the Official Opposition, while the Liberal Party, the former natural governing party [so named because it has long dominated political life in Ottawa], would continue its journey through the desert during another ten years or more. This strategy of "divide and rule" would present immediate political gains for the Conservatives, but could exacerbate the political divisions between Quebec and the rest of the country.
It would also give the Bloc a much broader forum to publicize its grievances, which could make the Parti Quebecois in the province. The first separatist leader to lead Ottawa's Loyal Opposition Her Majesty was Lucien Bouchard, from 1993 to 1996 and in 1995, with the help of his party, Canada has nearly exploded in the second referendum on Quebec sovereignty [ won on the line by the federalist side].
Of course, this strategy may have a different result. Quebec voters generally vote for the winning party, and if the Tories appear poised to grab the ROC ("Rest of Canada", the rest of Canada outside Quebec), Quebeckers will perhaps take the train and vote Conservative, as they did in 1984 with Brian Mulroney.
Anyway, Harper will remain comfortably at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa to address the official residence of Canadian Prime Minister. The only question is: Who will be the leader of the Opposition? 
The budget tabled on March 22 by the Conservative government does not provide any measures to please the voters in Quebec, except for what repair two bridges in Montreal and support the local forest industry. [The budget submitted by the minority government of Stephen Harper was already considered a platform.
The exercise served as a pretext to allow the opposition to pass a vote of confidence Friday, March 25. The next day, Harper announced the holding of general elections on May 2] Why do so few cases in Quebec? The Tories need only win 12 additional seats in the Canadian Parliament to form a majority government.
Do not they want to win a few in the Belle Province? The answer to this question may well be a resounding no. If the idea of losing seats in Quebec does not delight the Tories, they did not necessarily need to win more. And as no more than 11% of Quebec voters support the Liberals, according to a recent poll, the Conservatives have no fear that their rivals do a good score in this province.
In fact, it is quite possible that the Conservatives are finally starting to use the strategy advocated by political scientist Peter Brimelow in 2005: "As long as Quebec remains central to any major decision, conservative aspirations of the [English Canada] continue to be frustrated. For the Canadian right, the path to power does not go through Quebec.
" John Weissenberger, a former adviser to Harper, had advocated the same thing in 2004: "It is not ridiculous to consider an electoral strategy based solely on Ontario and Western Canada. Are there 201 of 308 seats in Parliament. It is therefore a rational calculation that can pay. "For five years, Stephen Harper has ignored that advice and has courted voters in Quebec.
It has passed the resolution recognizing Quebec as a nation in 2006, won a seat at UNESCO for the province, pumped millions into Quebec society and treated her French. Result? Nada. The Tories have failed to elect more than 10 members in Quebec after two ballots. It is therefore not surprising that they begin to look elsewhere.
What do they get by bypassing Quebec? Simply the annihilation of the Liberal Party. If the Liberal vote implode as did the Conservatives in 1993 and the Bloc Quebecois [Independence Party in the federal parliament] stays or round-up some Liberal seats in Quebec, a Conservative majority could take power.
The Bloc, meanwhile, could form the Official Opposition, while the Liberal Party, the former natural governing party [so named because it has long dominated political life in Ottawa], would continue its journey through the desert during another ten years or more. This strategy of "divide and rule" would present immediate political gains for the Conservatives, but could exacerbate the political divisions between Quebec and the rest of the country.
It would also give the Bloc a much broader forum to publicize its grievances, which could make the Parti Quebecois in the province. The first separatist leader to lead Ottawa's Loyal Opposition Her Majesty was Lucien Bouchard, from 1993 to 1996 and in 1995, with the help of his party, Canada has nearly exploded in the second referendum on Quebec sovereignty [ won on the line by the federalist side].
Of course, this strategy may have a different result. Quebec voters generally vote for the winning party, and if the Tories appear poised to grab the ROC ("Rest of Canada", the rest of Canada outside Quebec), Quebeckers will perhaps take the train and vote Conservative, as they did in 1984 with Brian Mulroney.
Anyway, Harper will remain comfortably at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa to address the official residence of Canadian Prime Minister. The only question is: Who will be the leader of the Opposition?
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- This year's national unity crisis (17/04/2011)
- Quebec press council reprimands Maclean's for declaring province most corrupt (12/04/2011)
- Two Quebec's-Two Debates-It's madness. (14/04/2011)
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