A Decentralized Canada
Ryan posed some thoughtful questions on my recent post "Is This It Then?" and I thought I'd reply to them one at a time.
First, here is his post against a strong federal government:
"Susan wrote... Then new people would join the Liberals and keep alive what the Liberals have always stood for: a strong united Canada, a strong central government that respects the provinces and works with them as a group, etc...
Ryan wrote: Quebec has never truly wanted a strong central government in Ottawa. They've always favoured a more decentralized approach as that gives them a greater degree of autonomy. There are a lot of soft federalists in Quebec that want Quebec to remain in Canada due to the many privaleges that come from Canada, and perhaps even due to some degree of pride in being Canadian. However, these same soft federalists also recognize that Quebec is a distinct soceity, and as such, they want a more decentralized government. These folks voted either BQ, or Liberal, during the 90s, while holding their nose - both parties represented a viewpoint on Quebec's role relative to Canada that they didn't like (either complete seperation, or part of a strong centralized government), but since those were the only two viable alternatives during the 90s, they voted for one or the other.
Now the Conservatives offer a genuine decentralization option and not suprisingly, Quebece soft federalists are going for it.The question I would ask you, and Liberals who share your viewpoint here, is why do you fear decentralization so much. Canada is a geographically huge country with a relatively sparse population. The differences between the issues facing Ontario and the issues facing Newfoundland, or the differences between the issues facing Quebec and the issues facing British Columbia, can often be quite large. With that in mind, stronger provinces makes perfectly good sense, particularly if it serves to erode BQ support in Quebec by costing them the votes of decentralists who don't mind having Quebec remain in Canada.
This is my reply:
I think Ignatieff put it well when he said that Canadian citizenship needs to be the same for all Canadians no matter where they live. I don't think we want Canada to be like the US where the laws, the policies and the quality of life vary dramatically from one state to another. The only way to ensure that all Canadians benefit from what Canada has worked so hard to become and is respected for world wide is to have a strong federal government. Why should one province dictate the redefinition of a country? There are other ways to acknowledge Quebec's concerns. Dryden made allowances for Quebec's position in his national daycare negotiations, for example.
Moreover, Quebec is one of the main reasons Canada is great - Quebecers are strong supporters of the Charter, they promote peace, keep arts and culture centre stage and remind us that life is about working to live, not living to work. In a decentralized country their influence on the rest of the provinces would be lessened to the enormous detriment of the other provinces.
First, here is his post against a strong federal government:
"Susan wrote... Then new people would join the Liberals and keep alive what the Liberals have always stood for: a strong united Canada, a strong central government that respects the provinces and works with them as a group, etc...
Ryan wrote: Quebec has never truly wanted a strong central government in Ottawa. They've always favoured a more decentralized approach as that gives them a greater degree of autonomy. There are a lot of soft federalists in Quebec that want Quebec to remain in Canada due to the many privaleges that come from Canada, and perhaps even due to some degree of pride in being Canadian. However, these same soft federalists also recognize that Quebec is a distinct soceity, and as such, they want a more decentralized government. These folks voted either BQ, or Liberal, during the 90s, while holding their nose - both parties represented a viewpoint on Quebec's role relative to Canada that they didn't like (either complete seperation, or part of a strong centralized government), but since those were the only two viable alternatives during the 90s, they voted for one or the other.
Now the Conservatives offer a genuine decentralization option and not suprisingly, Quebece soft federalists are going for it.The question I would ask you, and Liberals who share your viewpoint here, is why do you fear decentralization so much. Canada is a geographically huge country with a relatively sparse population. The differences between the issues facing Ontario and the issues facing Newfoundland, or the differences between the issues facing Quebec and the issues facing British Columbia, can often be quite large. With that in mind, stronger provinces makes perfectly good sense, particularly if it serves to erode BQ support in Quebec by costing them the votes of decentralists who don't mind having Quebec remain in Canada.
This is my reply:
I think Ignatieff put it well when he said that Canadian citizenship needs to be the same for all Canadians no matter where they live. I don't think we want Canada to be like the US where the laws, the policies and the quality of life vary dramatically from one state to another. The only way to ensure that all Canadians benefit from what Canada has worked so hard to become and is respected for world wide is to have a strong federal government. Why should one province dictate the redefinition of a country? There are other ways to acknowledge Quebec's concerns. Dryden made allowances for Quebec's position in his national daycare negotiations, for example.
Moreover, Quebec is one of the main reasons Canada is great - Quebecers are strong supporters of the Charter, they promote peace, keep arts and culture centre stage and remind us that life is about working to live, not living to work. In a decentralized country their influence on the rest of the provinces would be lessened to the enormous detriment of the other provinces.
posted by Susan at 8:16 AM
2 Comments:
I think that both of you present well developped arguments, and I think that it is definatly right to say that the Conservatives do indeed offer an alternative, in the same way that the autonimiste-populist provincial party ADQ does, and their popularity has also been increasing in recent years.
Thanks a lot for the civil reply, Susan, though I should have checked back here earlier.
Your argument is a good one, and I think it is one that the Liberals would be wise to use in an election campaign.
Actually, it's a brilliant way for the Liberals to continue to argue for a strong central government while also appealing to soft federalists in Quebec through appealing directly to their considerable cultural contributions to the rest of Canada.
You should be working on the Liberal campaign team. ;)
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