Tolerance, inclusion, federalism
AS IT UNDERGOES RENEWAL, the Quebec Liberal Party should remember its roots and reconnect with liberalism’s soul and values
Openness, and the desire to forge ahead and reform, are at the very foundation of our liberalism.
Electoral upsets are always disappointing for party supporters who devote time and energy to the cause. However, for those who can seize the moment, these upsets can provide a unique opening for renewal.
By preparing to choose a new leader, and debating the issues that will form our political platform for the next election, Quebec Liberal Party supporters are actively participating in the party’s renewal. They are also revisiting the sources of liberalism: questioning what it means to be liberal, understanding how liberalism differs from other political ideologies and determining the extent to which liberalism is reflected in our ideas and actions. I offer this letter to all Quebecers interested in the nature and future of liberalism.
Depending on the perspective, the liberal movement can be defined as a political orientation, a liberal world view or a particular political sensitivity.
When we speak of a political orientation, this includes political liberalism (representative democracy, constitutional government, Charter of Rights, etc.), economic liberalism (promotion of entrepreneurship, free trade, economic development and free competition, with the state acting as a regulator) and social liberalism (tolerance, inclusion and equality of opportunity).
A liberal world view is one that is espoused by individuals who, as Wilfrid Laurier said in 1877, “believe that everywhere, in all things human, there are abuses to be transformed, new horizons to conquer, new strengths to develop.” This liberal world view is present not only in politics, but in all spheres of human activity.
Many events throughout the unique history of the Quebec Liberals have influenced and shaped their political consciousness. These include:
The struggle for responsible
government.
Interculturalism, which began to take form in 1837, when green, white and red (green for Ireland, white for France, red for England) came to symbolize the struggle for democracy and inclusion. Attachment to the U.S. notion of progress — an attachment so profound that for a long time the 19thcentury Parti Rouge, a precursor to the modern-day Liberal parties, wanted to annex Lower Canada to the American union, rather than go it alone as an independent Lower Canada or accept integration with the rest of Canada. Friendship with reformists from other provinces, a strong friendship from the time of Louis-Joseph Papineau’s first battles for responsible government, which helped lay the foundation for Laurier’s political rise and the emergence of the kind of Canada we know today — a model of economic, social and cultural sharing that gives our Canadian citizenship a meaning that goes far beyond considerations of “profitability” or constitutional mechanics. The battles to open Quebec up to immigrants, from the struggles against anti- Semitism waged through the first part of the 20th century by premier Alexandre Taschereau, senator Raoul Dandurand and liberal-minded journalist Jean-Charles Harvey, on through to today’s reasonable accommodations, and including all the efforts made to ensure representation and integration of minorities within our own party. This is our continuing legacy of openness.
The fight against fascism by supporting conscription, a fight for which premier Adélard Godbout’s government (which included progressive minister Télesphore-Damien Bouchard) was defeated in the 1944 general election. Time has shown that these leaders were on the right side of history.
The Quiet Revolution in the broad sense, including the modernization of the state, the creation of a ministry of education as well as a ministry of culture, of medicare, a Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, etc. The struggle for Quebec’s economic development, from Taschereau’s efforts to industrialize forestry resources during the 1920s, to Godbout’s creation of Hydro-Qué- bec in 1944, to Jean Lesage’s Caisse de Dépôt, to Robert Bourassa’s development of James Bay in the 1970s and, most recently, Jean Charest’s Plan Nord.
Openness, and the desire to forge ahead and reform, are at the very foundation of our liberalism — a foundation upon which societal choices are made, and are inspired by tolerance, inclusion, our attachment to federalism and the belief that economic de- velopment must promote solidarity. It is by explicitly espousing these values that we can convince liberal-minded Quebecers to rally behind the Quebec Liberal Party. Such is my conviction.
I have kept in mind a conversation I had a few years ago with a political adversary. Firmly rooted in sovereignist convictions, he asked, with a hint of irony: “And you Liberals, which ideas bind you together?”
I could have replied: “And you sovereignists, what will be your common cause should you win a referendum? Would you be on the right or the left? Which values will you fight for?”
The current splintering of public opinion in Quebec between the political left and political right reveals the incapacity of the sovereignty movement to answer these fundamental questions long overshadowed by debates on Quebec’s future.
Many Quebec Liberals have perhaps come to forget who they are. Indeed, having been in power for so many years, they have found themselves fighting constitutional battles on their adversaries’ turf. Their political options have too often been defended in terms of a mitigation of the ideas of others. Claude Ryan offered some answers to questions about the Liberal identity in his 2002 compilation of its principles. But a return to our sources requires us to dig deeper into our history, to the roots of a centuries-old movement of ideas whose nobility and depth are likely to rally a majority of Quebecers.
The fact that Liberal ideas resonate with Quebecers does not indicate an absence of nationalist or social-democratic sentiments. Liberalism has its own existence, its own soul and its own values. Our history shows us that Liberalism inspires us to find a balance between extremes. And it is by relying on our history that the Quebec Liberal Party will once again be able to propose a better future and bring together all those inspired by its promise.