Liberals Threaten Canadian Unity Once Again

November 15, 2006

The Liberal Party of Canada seems determined to find new ways to break up this country.

Last Spring, when there was much speculation about who would run for the Liberal leadership, I wrote that I almost felt sympathy for my Liberal Party opponents.

The bizarre slate of potential contenders included, among others, Belinda Stronach, who had run for the Conservative Party less than a year before; Ashley MacIsaac, the self-admitted cocaine-using fiddler; Bob Rae, a man whose term as Premier of Ontario is widely acknowledged as an economic disaster; and Michael Ignatieff, an academic who hadn’t lived in Canada for 30 years.

Liberal members must have felt fortunate when MacIsaac and Stronach bowed out and Rae and Ignatieff did not. They should not feel fortunate today. In fact all Canadians should be feeling decidedly uneasy.

My previously light-hearted and rather mocking comments on the Liberal leadership woes have turned to grave concern. In the final stages of their leadership race the Liberal Party has a serious problem that threatens to plunge Canada into constitutional crisis once again.

It began when the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party voted to recognize Quebec as a nation. In an attempt to gain support in the province, Michael Ignatieff announced, “I will speak for all those Quebecers who say ‘Quebec is my nation’.” And suddenly, the contentious question of Quebec’s status in our confederation has re-emerged.

The Liberal policy resolution declaring Quebec as a nation will be subject to debate and a vote at the party’s national leadership and policy convention at the end of November.

Separatists haven’t enjoyed such good fortune since the last time the Liberal Party of Canada started meddling in Quebec. Thanks to Jean Chrétien’s mismanagement of the Quebec referendum in 1995, our country barely survived intact. The Liberals followed that dismal performance by attempting to buy Quebecers’ loyalty, resulting in the sponsorship scandal.

Unfortunately, the Liberal Party’s hopeless incompetence in Quebec is not just their problem. Their actions have consistently undermined the reputation and credibility of the federal government among Quebecers. The Liberals have proven themselves a significant liability in efforts to preserve national unity.

Thanks to this latest Liberal fumble, many Quebecers are now preoccupied with whether the leadership candidates will support or reject the resolution. If Michael Ignatieff is the winner, what will happen if he reneges on his support for Quebec as a nation or if he follows through on his promise? What will Bob Rae do if he becomes Liberal leader?

No matter what the result, it’s a no-win situation with the entire nation once again embroiled in the ‘Quebec question’. This is not good for Quebec and it’s not good for Canada.

We need to focus on our economy, our healthcare system, the environment, our security and on building a healthy and prosperous future for our nation. Instead, the Liberal Party has left us with another mess.

Of course, the only way to tame this brewing constitutional storm is to ensure that Liberal problems remain Liberal problems by continuing to deny them the opportunity to form government.