JACQUES PARIZEAU’S LEGACY

There was a strange irony in the lowering of Canadian flags across Quebec on Tuesday following the news that Jacques Parizeau had died. The symbols of national unity were being brought to half-staff to honour a man who, for the better part of his life, had tried to break the country apart. At the same time, the lowered Maple Leafs also testified to the failure of those efforts.

As a high-profile minister and then premier as leader of the Parti Québécois, Parizeau was a clever strategist and passionate advocate of Quebec independence. He was no friend to Canada; nor was he a friend to the anglophone community, in spite of his own impressive bilingualism.

His treatment of the PQ’s largely francophone base was often no better. Parizeau’s offhand comment suggesting that Quebecers would be trapped like lobsters in a pot if the Yes side prevailed in 1995 did not sound like the comment of someone with a deep respect for his fellow citizens. Similarly, his private plan for a quick unilateral declaration of independence following a sovereignist victory demonstrated a lack respect for popular will, given that the referendum question did not authorize any such move.

Parizeau steered Quebec toward the precipice of separation with such zeal that he nearly sent us clear over the edge. It was only then, standing in the shadow of an extraordinarily narrow defeat, that he would utter the words that ended his career. The infamous “money and ethnic votes” comment — for which Parizeau never apologized — eclipsed for many the other elements of his broad political legacy.

But to focus only on divisive politics and a single, ill-conceived line is to ignore the fact that Parizeau was a great economic builder of this province and, in later years, a defender of its multi-ethnic character.

He clearly believed that politics was about action, and applied that principle not only to the quest for what he saw as a political emancipation from Canada, but to fiscal policy and the design of the modern Quebec state. The provincial government’s investment arm and pension fund bear his fingerprints, and the building that houses the Caisse de dépôt headquarters will soon bear his name. Other projects — notably the promotion of asbestos at a time when the material’s cancer-causing properties were becoming widely known — were significant miscalculations, but Parizeau was wholly committed to ensuring that Quebecers had a tighter grip on their own economic and thus political destiny.

In his retirement, the former PQ leader also had a knack for popping up to criticize modern sovereignists. He often became a de-facto ally of the opposing camps when he saw his former party straying too far from what he perceived as the right path. In late 2013, he demonstrated his commitment to a unified Quebec when he penned a searing critique of the PQ’s proposed Charter of Quebec Values. Opposing a ban on “ostentatious” religious symbols for public sector employees, Parizeau suggested that the PQ limit itself to a re-affirmation of the separation between church and state. It was the right move, and one for which he did not receive enough credit.

Jacques Parizeau’s legacy is a mixed one, but he deserves credit for his role in forging the province that Quebec has become.

Parizeau was a great economic builder of this province and, in later years, a defender of its multi-ethnic character.