Quebec’s ‘Alt-left’ rooted in irrational fears

Xenophobic ’60s-era progressivism at its core

The ambiguous “Alt-right” has taken centre stage in the U.S. presidential campaign. The subtle (and not so subtle) ethnocentrism emanating from that wing of the conservative movement, unofficially led by Donald Trump, is frightening.

For its part, Quebec does not have an abundance of Alt-right politicians and pundits. But on the other side of the political spectrum, those who could be described as part of the “Alt-left” do have significant influence here. Their ideas, though much less dangerous than those of the Alt-right, ought to be challenged vigorously.

If leaders on the Alt-right, as critics charge, are modernizing yesterday’s ethnocentric concepts, Quebec’s Alt-left is similarly unable to abandon ideas that should be too intolerant to be debated in Western liberal democracies.

Trump’s emergence as a political force in the United States, built on an Alt-right base, leaves other Western politicians with, as the Montreal Gazette’s Celine Cooper recently observed, a “conversation baseline” upon which to build their own intolerant platforms. After the kind of rhetoric Quebecers have been exposed to from our southern neighbours, members of Quebec’s political class recently spending the better part of a month debating the merits of a ban on modest swimwear may seem less absurd.

Trump’s influence on conversations about ethnicity in Quebec is difficult to quantify, but may not be insignificant. This summer’s Parti Québécois leadership race and Coalition Avenir Québec’s crusade against the burkini have generated enough inane identity rhetoric to lower the debate to levels not seen since 2013’s failed Charter of Values. Coincidence? Hard to say.

The burkini debate lost momentum after the ban was invalidated by a French court. But as embarrassing as the whole episode was, what’s more worrisome is a proposal by CAQ leader François Legault that Quebec reduce its immigration target by 20 per cent, something that would be likely to have more far-reaching consequences.

The proposal to close the door on precisely 10,000 people annually (why 10,000?) may be more Trump-light than Trump-like, but it’s brought Legault together with PQ leadership candidate Jean-François Lisée. This is noteworthy because Legault is seen as being at the centre-right of Quebec’s political spectrum while Lisée is unambiguously to the left.

Lisée, in fact, wrote the book on left-wing politics in Quebec. His 2012 work, Comment mettre la droite K.-O. en 15 arguments (How to KO the Right in 15 Arguments), is an argument for a compassionate, social-democratic Quebec nation. Why, then, on questions of culture in particular, do such self-described leftists as Lisée suddenly start sounding like Americanstyle right-wing values hawks?

Much of Quebec’s left is made up of steadfast social-democrats who are rather progressive on almost every issue save for those relating to cultural identity. Front-runner Alexandre Cloutier tends to adopt a relatively moderate tone on culture, but competitor Martine Ouellet, farther to the left than Lisée, expressed recently that there’s still too much English in public life in Quebec, and that further legislative crackdowns would be needed. These are progressives?

To illustrate just how alternative some of our so-called progressives are: A California politician advocating for legislative restrictions on the use of the Spanish language because of California’s proximity to Mexico would be seen as too far to the right — for the Republicans.

Quebec’s progressive nationalists escape scrutiny for their irrational fear of English under the guise of defending the French language (oddly enough still in imminent danger, we’re told, after four decades of repressive legislation).

While the American Alt-right movement adapts old ideas that are plainly racist, if Quebec has an Alt-left, it draws from a more contemporary, less offensive but still plainly xenophobic ’60s-era progressivism that can be empowering, if you’re not a member of a marginalized community. Trump trumps any Quebec politician with his intolerance, but his irrational outpourings remind us of our irrational fears.