Quebec Liberals Vote to Join Push for Sovereignty

In the biggest challenge yet to Canada’s future as a unified nation, the governing Liberal Party of Quebec voted to attempt a massive power transfer that would, in essence, make the Francophone province into a sovereign nation.

If the federal government were to comply with the new Quebec initiative and negotiate the redistribution of powers over the designated 18 months--a tremendous if --there would still be a single country called Canada on the map, and it would still possess a province called Quebec, at least in name. But in the real-world terms of who has the authority to govern, Quebec would be in almost complete control of its own affairs, and Ottawa, the Canadian capital, would be eviscerated.

The Quebec Liberals “would leave the federal government looking like a political Cheshire cat: Nothing would remain but the smile,” complained Jeffrey Simpson, a leading Anglophone political columnist with Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper.

The Quebec Liberal Party leader and provincial premier, Robert Bourassa, tried to put a benign face on the radical new stance, calling it a way for Quebec to stay in Canada, “but . . . in dignity and pride.” He delivered his remarks from beneath a huge red, white and blue banner that said in French: “A Quebec Free to Choose.”

The Liberals also resolved that if Ottawa should fail to hand over the numerous powers Quebec wants, then Quebec will hold a province-wide referendum in the fall of 1992, and let the voters decide whether to secede from Canada.

The new Quebec program is significant not only for its radical content, but because the Liberal Party is the group espousing it. Until this past weekend, Quebec’s Liberals had stood firmly for the continued union of their province with the rest of Canada. Now that they have crossed over into the sovereigntist camp, there is no large-scale, organized political force supporting Canadian unity left in the Francophone province. (The main opposition party here, the Parti Quebecois, has always stood for Quebec’s independence, and has been taunting the Liberals for not taking a hard enough line.)

In light of that, it will now be up to the federal government to counter the Quebec independentiste push. But the federal government has been seriously weakened by a deep economic recession, by budgetary near-paralysis and by an overwhelming lack of public support for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Even if the federal government did develop a coherent response to Quebec’s new challenge, Canadian citizens would probably complain that Mulroney is in no position to conduct an arm’s-length negotiation. The prime minister is himself a Quebecer, and he derives much of his support from the restive province.

Quebec federalists within the Liberal Party, who had hoped before last week’s convention to bring a majority of the delegates around to their side, expressed deep dismay as it became obvious that the party’s sovereigntist wing was taking over the proceedings.

The new Liberal policy calls for Quebec to acquire “full sovereignty” in 22 constitutional jurisdictions. Up until now, the province has had policy-making control over such basic areas as housing, education and tourism; now, though, it wants complete authority over agriculture, regional economic development, language, the environment, energy, communications, commerce and industry, research and development, unemployment insurance and other matters as well.

The Liberals said Quebec would be willing to share power with the federal government in some areas, such as taxation, native affairs, immigration policy, bank regulation, foreign policy, telecommunications and the running of the post office.

But all that the Liberals would leave for the federal government to do on its own would be to defend the Canadian borders, impose tariffs on imports, manage the nation’s public debt and control the money supply and regulate the exchange rate. (Quebec would continue to use the Canadian dollar.)