Is it time to tackle the final taboo: the Constitution?

Trudeau has an opportunity to finish what his father started, writes Robert Libman.

The most recent Léger Marketing poll indicates that support for Quebec sovereignty and the Parti Québécois under Pierre Karl Péladeau continues to erode, with 65 per cent of Quebecers opposed to any notion of Quebec leaving Canada. Nonetheless, Péladeau has promised to proceed with the creation of a “sovereignty thinktank,” to research independence and provide information the Parti Québécois can use to promote sovereignty to Quebecers.

Support for Quebec sovereignty is certainly at a low right now, and seems to be less of a preoccupation of francophone Quebecers than ever before. Many Quebecers even have a tendency to roll their eyes when the subject comes up.

For years, federalists have been cautious in avoiding any provocation that could reawaken sovereignist fervour. Whenever support seemed to wane, no federalist would dare to crow or hint that the movement was in trouble for fear of putting wind back in the sails of the PQ. And despite calls for Senate or constitutional reform, no Canadian prime minister would risk reopening the wounds of previous failures for fear of instigating an anti-Canada backlash in Quebec.

But it seems different this time around. The most telling sign: The numbers that came out around the last provincial election, in April 2014, when the Liberal party won a decisive majority over the PQ. All polls showed strong indications that for the first time ever, the younger generation of Quebec voters (ages 18 to 24) is decisively opposed to Quebec separation. This is unheard of in the past 50 years, ever since Charles de Gaulle’s infamous “Vive le Québec libre” speech. Young francophone Quebecers have always been the bedrock of support that have sustained the movement and created its dynamism.

The driving force behind the push for independence has long been the sense of insecurity francophone Quebecers feel about being on an island surrounded by a sea of English in North America. Could it be that the digital age and the Internet have extinguished the Quebec sovereignist threat forever? Young Quebecers no longer feel detached from the rest of the continent as they peer at North American reality from their computer screens and the palm of their hands all day long. The notion of a separate Quebec, retreating into its corner, sheltered from the foreign cultural influence of North America, seems irrelevant to many young francophone Quebecers today.

It is hard to believe that this will change. Unlike their parents or grandparents, young Quebecers are no longer burdened with experiences involving unreasonable English bosses or masters, circumstances that previously nurtured a reflex to avenge past injustices. In the 1995 referendum, we might very well have dodged the last bullet. And that was more than 20 years ago.

Does it all mean we can let our guard down and finally move forward without this dark cloud of uncertainty over our heads? Possibly. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau might one day be enticed to complete the last piece of the puzzle that his father left on the table, and finally get Quebec to sign on to the repatriated Constitution.

That issue has been a thorn in the side of Quebec since 1982, when then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau led the process to have the Constitution Act proclaimed. The fact that the province never formally approved the act has become a political red flag several times over the past 35 years and precipitated the existential crises that arose after the failure of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords.

Imagine the symbolic historical arc that signing would represent, from father to son. Where his predecessors rightly preferred not to risk stirring the pot, Trudeau can benefit from a hobbled sovereignist cause that seems to be weakened at its core by modern realities, no matter how hard PKP tries to get Quebecers to share his enthusiasm for independence.