Q: When you were minister responsible for Quebec’s French charter, you attracted a fair amount of ire from Montreal’s English community. I’m thinking of that caricature by the Gazette’s Aislin, where he had you dressed up as a dominatrix . . .
A: Ah, yes. My friend Aislin. I’m his fantasy. I hope I still am, despite my age.
Q: What I’m wondering is if you think attitudes have changed on the English side.
A: Yes. I think the anglophone community has become more bilingual and has become more aware and accepting of the French majority. The new challenge now, for us, is getting new arrivals here to become part of the French majority.
Q: But you could say that the English community has done so in the last 15 years because there hasn’t been the threat of separation. The second you bring that threat back . . .
A: What English people in Quebec need to understand is that the PQ has never questioned their rights as a minority. McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s are subsidized to the hilt by the Quebec government, with our tax dollars, so you can’t say that English institutions aren’t respected. It’s changed, but for a long time you could say that the French were a sort of majority ruled by English Rhodesians. Bill 101 changed it, and for a long time it worked. The problem is, globalization has made English the dominant language again. So it is important to reinforce the French fact again.
Q: And you need sovereignty for this.
A: I’ll tell you why we need sovereignty. To have confidence in ourselves, to be as open as possible to others.
Q:You need sovereignty to be open to others?
A: Yes. To be open to others you need to be sure of oneself, and the only way to be totally sure of ourselves is to be sovereign. If you and I talk in 10 years after sovereignty, I’m convinced that Quebecers will have even more self-confidence, they’ll be far more advanced individually and collectively, and everyone will be more happy. There you go.
Q: It’s almost a religion.
A: Oh, good God no. I’m secular, as secular as they come.
Q: So it’s a secular religion, in the sense that you have to proselytize.
A: And federalism isn’t? Federalists do the same thing, so I’m as religious as they are, I guess. Look at Charest, when he raised his Canadian passport in the air during the referendum in 1995. You’re telling me that wasn’t cult-like? When it’s time to fight, Quebec federalists like Jean Charest all become preachers for Captain Canada.
Q: The end result is that Quebec is constantly at war with itself. It’s an obsession. I wish I could come here and interview you about the weather instead. Anything else but this.
A: The weather is never good in Quebec City. What do you want to talk about? Life’s purpose? Death? Love? Sure, but this is part of my life, and I love it.
Q: There’s a cartoon that ran in Le Devoir not long ago of a guy sitting on a horse, obviously from Alberta, screaming, ‘Separate already!’ It seems some Canadians can’t wait.
A: Part of it is that all of this debate happens peacefully. That’s a big thing. Look at what happened in Ireland for 30 years. Look at the Basque territories in Spain. Here we are an example of how to do things. Sure, we piss each other off, and English Canadians say they wish we’d make up our minds, and we say that they don’t understand a thing. But it is exemplary because the debate is civilized.
Q: So because we aren’t violent we are condemned to this endless cycle.
A: Yes, but it’s better than being violent, isn’t it? It’s much, much better.
