GUNTER: Calling the Bloc’s bluff

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Published Sep 21, 2024  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet speaks to reporters outside of West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ont. on Monday, Sept. 16 2024. Photo by Bryan Passifiume /Toronto Sun

Don’t fear separation.

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Since the Bloc replaced the NDP as the Trudeau Liberals’ crutch, there has been a mild revival of the old, “OMG, we’re on the verge of losing our country!” hysteria.

I don’t fear separation for two reasons. First, the Bloc aren’t truly separatists. To the extent they ever were, they are no longer.

Now they’re just extortionists and soft socialists. They are in Ottawa only to see how much money and how many concessions the Liberals are prepared to squeeze out of the rest of the country and ship to Quebec. In that sense, they are a francophone version of the NDP.

The NDP demanded tens of billions of additional spending for national dental care, pharmacare and day care. With the Bloc it’s just Quebec, Quebec, Quebec all the time.

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The NDP were a fledgling guitarist with three simple chords. The Bloc are a one-hit wonder.

I’ll concede there is something obnoxious about the Trudeau Liberals sidling up to a party that claims its end-goal is the breakup of our country.

Remember the Libs and NDP concocted a plan to overturn the results of the 2008 election (which resulted in a Conservative minority under Stephen Harper), by proposing to form a coalition without returning to the polls and asking Canadians to endorse the idea.

Because they would have held a minority of Commons seats, too, the pair convinced the Bloc to keep them in power with pretty much the same kind of confidence-and-supply accord the Liberals and New Democrats had for over two years until NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh tore it up three weeks ago.

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Sixteen years ago, the Liberals were so eager to take back power they didn’t give a second thought to making a deal with the anti-Confederation devils, just as this time the Liberals are so desperate to maintain their failing grasp on power they are willing to put their own fortunes ahead of the fate of the country.

Of course, such behaviour is nothing new for the Liberals. For more than a decade they have tried to sweep under the rug Communist China’s efforts to subvert our democracy because of the embarrassing level to which Liberal operators and candidates have been complicit.

Isn’t that also an example of putting Liberal party fortunes ahead of the survival of Canada’s institutions? Beijing or the Bloc, the Libs seemingly have no qualms about doing business with those who make concrete efforts to harm our nation.

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Indeed, they hate the Conservatives so much that twice in the past 16 years they have sought to make a deal with superficial separatists rather than let the Conservatives govern.

For future reference, Dear Liberals, please spare me any of your talk about what deeply committed Canadian patriots you are.

But let’s go back to my opening contention that the Bloc aren’t real separatists. They aren’t. They’re left-leaning populists who are quite happy to force the Liberals to rob from the rest of Canada to give to poor, poor Quebec.

There hasn’t been a real separatist threat in nearly 30 years. Let’s call their bluff until there is one.

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But here’s my second reason for urging Canadians not to fear separation. Let’s say the Bloc or some future government of Quebec become real, true separatists again. I’d hate to see the country break up, but maybe its time to let Quebec go.

What would we miss if Quebec left? I would miss Quebec City, the Gaspe, Shawinigan-Mauricie, Montreal, the Laurentians and the Gatineau – all regions I have visited.

But I would not miss the tax money extracted from me every year to pay disproportionate equalization and transfers to Quebec’s government, nor the favouritism shown to that province by Ottawa.

As in every dysfunctional marriage, their comes a time when the demands, the abuse and the unreturned affection outweighs staying together.

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