Beyond The Commons

 Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

'I speak here as a Quebecer'

by Aaron Wherry on Monday, February 7, 2011 10:59am - 41 Comments

Maxime Bernier doubles down on his criticism of Bill 101.

Some people say I am not a “real Quebecer” and are accusing me of “attacking Quebec” simply because I want to be more popular in the rest of Canada. They seem unable to conceive that it’s possible to have a different position than theirs on the basis of fundamental principles.

My position is this: Yes, it’s important that Quebec remain a predominantly French-language society. And ideally, everyone in Quebec should be able to speak French. But we should not try to reach this goal by restricting people’s rights and freedom of choice.

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  • Kevin

    Bernier's stock, and that of the Conservative party, must have jumped at least 10 points this weekend with Bernier's statement. I will not be surprised to see Bernier leap to provincial politics in the next 18 months, either as a prominent provincial Liberal or leader of the ADQ.

    • Emily

      Bernier wants Harper's job, he's not interested in some two-bit position with the ADQ.

    • gottabesaid

      Couldn't disagree more. While I don't necessarily disagree with what Bernier said, Bill 101 is a popular piece of legislation in Quebec among French speaking Quebecers, nationalist and federalist alike. This position would make a run in provincial politics much more difficult.

      • E_B_

        I don't have the measure of this at all. If this is a 'scorched earth' attack on French-speaking Quebec, how does it play in the ROC? There are a lot of people in the rest of Canada who hate Bill 101.

        I'm scratching my head on this one. Will Bernier's opinion boost support outside Quebec?

        • BCer in Mtl

          I agree its difficult to understand whether this is just Maxime spouting off on his own, or whether there's more underlying it.

          I am sure his fellow Quebec CPC MP's can't be too happy (is there any record of any of their reaction?).

          On the other hand, it might be an attempt to curry favour with anti-Bill 101 anglos in the West Island, in order to bolster Larry Smith's street cred there.

          But I am not so sure that would work, maybe Bernier is taking advice on how to appeal to Quebec anglos from Howard Galganov or William Johnson?

      • Kevin

        Au contraire! It's evading my google fu, but a poll last year showed that more than 60% of Quebecers hate Bill 101's effect on limiting the education their children can receive

        • Kevin

          Finally found it.
          Turns out I underestimated the results. 61% of french-speaking Quebecers reject Bill 101's restrictions on freedom of choice. http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Poll+shows+Qu…

          • gottabesaid

            I stand corrected!

            That said, seems Max is getting a pretty rough ride in his home province over this… though I give him full marks for sticking to his guns on this matter of principle for him.

  • chrimartel

    Bernier says that everyone in Quebec should "ideally" know French.

    I suspect that many of his brand new supporters would agree that Canada should have "ideally" only one language.

    • Stewart_Smith

      Well, I am not a brand new support of Max, and I have written on this posts about the huge advantages of being multilingual. That said there would be benefits if Canada had a single national language while still encouraging multilingualism. How about http://www.mikmaqonline.org/?

      • chrimartel

        On a personal point of view, multilingualism is a great asset. I really cherish my knowledge of two languages and an interest in three others.

        For your "one & many" model, I still believe that Canada is also French, even Coyne agrees with that. :)

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Ottawa_Centrist Ottawa_Centrist

      Perhaps that distinction gets lost in the nuances of a confederation.

  • JamesHalifax

    Does anyone here actually know what Aaron Wherry would do if Harper were not the Prime Minister? What would he write about?

    Aaron has such a hate-on for Harper, one has to wonder why? Personally, I think Aaron must have banged his head falling off one of the floats at the Pride Parade, and has his brain stuck in one gear.

    • gottabesaid

      Huh? I must be missing something, because I didn't see anything in this post that should ruffle Conservative feathers, or fire up the Harper-haters.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Ottawa_Centrist Ottawa_Centrist

      Quoting Conservative MPs is now considered anti-Harper?

    • brooster2

      Based on the relevance of your comment, perhaps you are the one in need of assessment for suspected neurological trauma.

  • JamesHalifax

    gottabesaid noted:
    “Huh? I must be missing something, because I didn’t see anything in this post that should ruffle Conservative feathers, or fire up the Harper-haters.”

    You need to track Aaron’s choice of submissions. He invariably writes/cut and pastes, something he believes would be damaging to anything Conservative. He’s really quite predicatble…..

    • Emily

      Eventually you'll figure out that since Harper is PM, he'll get most of the news coverage….and that just because someone posts something you disagree with, it doesn't mean anything nasty about the poster.

      • MostlyCivil

        "Eventually you'll figure out that since Harper is PM, he'll get most of the news coverage…."

        Based on observation, I have to say you may be a tad optimistic.

    • E_B_

      Do you get as upset or express concern at other sites that are full of "Ignatieff-Haters"?

    • gottabesaid

      I'd say this is a pretty poor story to support your hypothesis… it's not anti-Harper, nor it it anti-Conservative. I think your Harper-hater Radar gave you a false reading.

  • Loraine Lamontagne

    I agree with Bernier to a point. I would rather not have restrictive language laws. People in the private sphere should use whatever language they wish, advertise in the language that they wish.

    However, Quebec as a province of Canada must meet constitutional provisions. The Constitution gives a status to English in Quebec, in the debates at the National Assembly, in the courts of the province, in official records and journals of the the Legislature and in the laws passed by its legislators.

    If Quebec were a country and no longer had these obligations and French were the only official language of the government, courts and legislature everyone living there would have a definite incentive to speak French. Restrictive language laws no longer would be required.

  • sourstud

    Max gets better and better every day. He's absolutely fearless! If you agree with him or not, you gotta appreciate a politician that speaks his mind and doesn't back down. Bravo Max!

  • brooster2

    And if we didn't have it, we'd need to create one.

  • psiclone

    Harper is loving this – and no doubt about it -

    • Thwim

      LOL.. at this point the story could be, "Harper caught on sex video torturing kitten with Karla Homolka" and your response would start off, "Harper is loving this.."

      • psiclone

        as usual harper haters are blinded by their won prejudice and hyper partisanship – you really do not see the benefits that Stevie gets from this do you? – consider this – Harper may have to face off against Mad Max someday for leadership … then consider this .. Harper can use these current musings by Max in many more ways than one as not only can he easily keep base supporters still in line … BUT can also attract cudos from thos outside of the party – this is classic and very very and I mean very usefull for a myriad of situations – the fact that you don't even consider such is more proof of the taste of the pudding.

        • Thwim

          Wow. I was unaware that the leadership of the CPC depended so much on Quebec.

        • http://tigeronpolitics.wordpress.com Ben (The Tiger)

          Harper won't ever have to face off against Bernier — no leadership review unless he loses government.

          And Bernier's just saying what Harper really believes, anyway.

          So it's all to the good — there's a reason why he hasn't been muzzled.

      • Mike T.

        You just don't see the long view for cat torture and Homolka.

        harper just keeps playing chess…

  • madeyoulook

    That's not doubling down. Consistency of one's principles is never doubling down. There is no gambling here. Only a principled stand for individual freedom.

    Et c'est à la fois surprenant et nécessaire. Bravo, monsieur Bernier!

  • Mike T.

    At this point, I almost want to see Maxime become Prime Minister to see how quickly he reverses everything he's said in the last year.

  • gar

    If the Liberal media really took the time to question the voters in and out of Quebec they may find Max is quit popular.He says things many Quebecois and most Canadians think about.Many french speaking of Quebec would like to see their children educated in English. If for no other reason but to offer them global opportunities

    • TwoYen

      The Quebec office here in Tokyo uses English more than French

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OGXU3O6ETPEPSA4FWNL6AIHWBY MaryAnn

    Romeo Saganash is trilingual. Seasoned lawyer, seasoned politician . He will appeal more to the masses. People will come.!. Those that haven’t voted before, they will come. The people will move from PC to NDP. The media will follow him like a hungry news hounds, the world will stay awake in anticipation. Go ROMEO GO!!!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OGXU3O6ETPEPSA4FWNL6AIHWBY MaryAnn
  • Stewart_Smith

    Max has risen beyond that of respected politician. In my books the man is a hero.

  • http://www.TennisVagabond.com Big Dave S

    I agree. I disagree with some of his main ideas, but I'm so impressed at a politician actually willing to say what he means in clear language. If he can shame any of his fellow MPs into exhibiting individual thought and the courage to champion ideas, we'll be better off.

  • briguyhfx

    He is correct on this issue. Broken clock syndrome?

  • Crit_Reasoning

    Bravo, Maxime Bernier! If only more Quebec politicians had the courage to take a stand against restrictive language laws.

  • Mike T.

    Both Preston Manning and Stephen Harper, when far away from the reins of power in Canada, were quite clear and consistent about their goals and plans.

    When their actions had repercussions, the latter changed his tune. Often, when one speaks his mind no matter what, often they have little real influence or a die hard constituency (Maxime has both, a rock solid family fiefdom in the Beauce, and only a delusion of ever becoming PM).

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