Common sense revolution in Quebec

Since the April 14, 2003 Liberal victory in Quebec's last provincial election, Jean Charest has launched Quebec on a real common sense revolution, in the line of Ontario's Mike Harris a few years ago. When he became premier, Charest declared that it was time to move to another phase in the history of Quebec, that it was the end of the socialist "modele quebecois." The Quiet Revolution is over. For the new premier, it is a scandal that the province of Quebec has the highest level of taxation and one of the weakest economies in North America. It is time for work and efficiency.

In his effort to implement this reform, Charest will have to confront the strong nationalist and pequist unions; he will have to dismantle "national syndicalism." On Dec. 11, the unions called a day of "disturbance" in the province to protest against a series of bills that give more flexibility to employers, including the government regarding their employees. Until now, Charest has been strong in his determination to implement his electoral program, which was also in many respects the program of the conservative ADQ. Many of the opponents, including PQ leader Bernard Landry, pretend that the government does not have the legitimacy to impose such an important political and social change, but the recent electoral victory demonstrates the contrary.

It is true, however, that the strength of Charest is surprising. In the last 40 years, no premier has been as determined to act as strongly against the union establishment. This is the equivalent of what the union leaders call "social consensus." At last, Charest demonstrates that the interests of the union apparatchiks are not necessarily identical to the interests of the Quebec people. A weak leader like Robert Bourassa could not even dream of doing such a thing and the PQ leaders used it for electoral reasons and for the separatist cause. Now, we have a Tory leader disguised as a Liberal premier in Quebec City. Clarity is not the most important value in Quebec politics. In fact, it is necessary to be unclear in order to succeed in Quebec. Clear politicians like Stéphane Dion or Jacques Parizeau are not popular, ambiguous politicians like Robert Bourassa and René Levesque have had great success.

The demolition of monolithic socialism should have good effects on families. With tax cuts, families will have more liberty. They will be able to choose a school for their children in accordance with their values by not sending them to the "neutral" public schools. They will be able to more easily support associations that promote their values. According to Statistics Canada, Quebecers are the least generous people in Canada, but perhaps the reason is that they have to support the greatest tax burden. The government brings in all the money. Families will be able to keep their young children at home, particularly because the Liberal government has begun to dismantle the $5-a-day daycare system to redistribute the money to the families who decide not to use that statist system. With the end of this Jacobin model, Quebec will be a more healthy society.

At the beginning of 2000, the PQ government imposed mergers on all the major cities of the province. There was a strong popular opposition, particularly on the Island of Montreal. Old towns with a sturdy identity like Beaconsfield and Westmount held referenda in which 90 per cent of the population opposed the mergers. They would have to pay higher taxes and get less efficient services. Charest was courageous enough to promise the possibility of de-merging those cities in his election campaign. We are now in this process and Charest has been faithful to his promise, to the great displeasure of the new big city unions and to the PQ.