Manifeste pour un Québec lucide
This manifesto for a lucid Quebec was published last Wednesday by a group of well-known personalities from many backgrounds (including political bg - an exceptional thing to obtain, where the federalist<->sovereigntist divide remains). A former Prime Minister, a few former Ministers, a movie producer, a design firm president, a former UdeM rector, a La Presse editorialist; you get it, some twelve members of the Quebec elite.
I unfortunately do not love Quebec, but I am very fond of it, for having lived here all my life. If I loved Quebec, then I'd embrace this manifesto for change. It's one from what seem to be well-read and well-travelled people. The impression I had from travelling to Asia was that, Quebec, Canada, forget it, you have no chance against China - just give up. A society would be doomed if it is indulgent and wasting. (Former Quebec PM) Lucien Bouchard probably draws from his personal experience as negociator for the govt part in the SAQ labour dispute. I saw him talk on Radio-Canada, the French-language national media network, and he was absolutely passionate about defending politicians... I don't think politicians are all bad. I think the perception that people have for their leaders is closely conditionned by their treatment in the media, which is probably in turn a result of the popularity of their policy decisions (which comes to say: we mistrust our leaders b/c they don't do what we want them to do - and in other words, the population immaturity/irresponsible attitude in a relationship similar to a parent vs teenager one).
"Unprecedented competition from Asian countries" sums up what I think is by large the motivation of this manifesto. The document seems to embody the reaction of my so-called latent love/fondness for Quebec/Canada, after seeing first-hand the China-bulldozer. You don't understand the extent of China's potential until you've been there and lived there for a while (HK probably counts too - you see it just by travelling across to Shenzhen, or by reading the SCMP). So, does it concern me? It would be high-treason in certain countries if I said I didn't. Hah!
I can't tell if labour unions lack vision. Seriously, I'm not sure at all. It all depends on their view of things. Do they think we should impose a standard of slacking off, or that of working extremely hard and sustaining our society's (the Canadian / Western societies included) prosperity. The meat of the matter is that there are 1.5 billion Chinese (a bit less, if you consider only cities are seeing any of the new prosperity right now) knocking at the doorstep of Prosperity. From a simplistic point of view, there are only that much resources in the world. Is Quebec, Canada just going to fade away b/c of the inability of unions, etc, to adapt to the world?
As the son of Chinese immigrants (who aren't even from China proper - and our family seem to consider Hong Kong more of a home than China proper - but my/our way of thinking remains that HK is a part of China), I must feel less concerned than other people. If Quebec/Canada was to fail, I'm still technically Chinese (not speaking the language, not culturally a Chinese from China), go on to marry a Chinese girl, and never have this problem to think about anymore... Heh...
Leave a comment