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rfmcdonaldBoth The Globe and Mail and The New York Times have recently featured stories examining what seems to be the separatists' imminent breakthrough into Québec's growing immigrant communities.
As is its wont, The New York Times goes into greater detail on the evolution of this trend.
I'm pleased by this, since--if this trend continues to hold true--it will demonstrate that the once-yawning cleavage between Québécois de souche and Québécois of somewhat newer immigrant stock is beginning to narrow. The only dark side--again from my perspective as a Canadian who'd like Québec to stay in Canada, though not be force--is that the disappearance of the traditional automatic linkage between immigrants and federalism might just be enough to give us a "Oui" in the next referendum.
Gilles Duceppe and André Boisclair shared the stage last night at a rally in Montreal where the two sovereigntist leaders made a strong pitch to ethnic communities to support the Bloc Québécois on election day.
Mr. Duceppe, the leader of the Bloc, pointed to his party's candidates with origins in Haiti, Armenia, Cameroon, Lebanon and China who are running against the Liberals in this election.
"This is the modern Quebec, a Quebec of all colours, all accents and that has French as the common public language," he said.
"This is modern Quebec and this is what we're telling the Liberals, 'Gone are the days when you have the votes of immigrant Quebeckers in the pocket.' You can't take people for granted, you can't take things for granted," Mr. Duceppe said.
[. . .]
Niziblian Apraham, the Bloc candidate in the riding of Bourassa, is a second-generation Armenian running against Liberal MP Denis Coderre. Mr. Apraham said the Bloc is reaping the rewards of years of work in ethnic communities.
"The reality is we're all Quebeckers and we're fighting the same cause," he said in an interview. "The Bloc isn't buying our votes with fridges like in the good old days of the Duplessis regime. They're saying, 'This is what Quebec politics are about, study it, learn the history, and make your own conclusions.' "
Mr. Duceppe unveiled the Bloc's campaign slogan in the afternoon, saying it highlights a phrase that many Quebeckers are using to describe their feelings toward the opposition party in the aftermath of the sponsorship scandal.
"Luckily, the Bloc is here," the new slogan says.
As is its wont, The New York Times goes into greater detail on the evolution of this trend.
Viviane Barbot, a Haitian immigrant and parliamentary candidate for the separatist Bloc Québécois, was passing out leaflets at the city's northern Jarry subway station the other morning to the Chinese, Iranian, Moroccan, Vietnamese and Mexican immigrants rushing to work.
Suddenly a young man shouted out in Haitian Creole, "I know the Barbot family from Haiti!" Ms. Barbot smiled broadly, though just momentarily, because he added: "I'm voting Liberal because they give us lots of gifts. If we elect the Bloc, they will take away our country."
For the separatist movement, turning around the sentiments in that exchange is a key to creating an independent Quebec in the future. For Prime Minister Paul Martin and his governing Liberal Party, keeping them just as they are will be vital not only to winning the Jan. 23 election, but also to winning a third separatist referendum that is expected in the next few years.
The Bloc has put up a record nine candidates of Haitian, African, Middle Eastern and Chinese origin this year to win tossup districts, including Ms. Barbot, who stands a good chance of defeating Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew.
The party is emphasizing issues that appeal to immigrants, like fighting discrimination and increasing social assistance and job training for the unemployed.
To appeal to the growing Muslim vote, the Bloc has accepted an offer by Adil Charkaoui, a Moroccan-born man suspected of involvement in terrorist activities whom the government is trying to deport, to campaign for a local ethnic Armenian Bloc candidate who was born in Syria.
"It is a crucial vote," the Bloc Québécois leader, Gilles Duceppe, said of immigrants in an interview this week after making a campaign appearance with Gérard Labelle, a Bloc candidate born in Mauritius. "It is important for the country that I want to build that these people consider themselves as full Quebecers."
Recent polls suggest that the Bloc Québécois stands to improve on its showing last year when it won nearly 49 percent of the popular vote in Quebec to win 54 of the province's 75 seats in the House of Commons.
[. . .]
A good showing among immigrants and their children, who represent about 15 percent of the Quebec population, could give the separatists a majority of the popular vote next month for the first time in history and a gain of three to six seats. That would make the Bloc even stronger in a deeply divided Parliament, and guarantee a wobbly Conservative or Liberal government for the next several years.
"If they get that 50 percent, it gives them all the ammunition, credibility and legitimacy to accelerate going into the next referendum," said Christian Bourque, vice president for research of Léger Marketing, a polling firm. "In a referendum, the immigrant vote is a factor that could tip it over to yes."
A decade ago when the separatist movement lost a hard-fought referendum campaign by a hair, it won only 5 percent of the immigrant vote after writing it off. Most immigrants, especially those from war-torn countries, came to Canada for stability and have appreciated the Liberal Party for its liberal immigration policies.
I'm pleased by this, since--if this trend continues to hold true--it will demonstrate that the once-yawning cleavage between Québécois de souche and Québécois of somewhat newer immigrant stock is beginning to narrow. The only dark side--again from my perspective as a Canadian who'd like Québec to stay in Canada, though not be force--is that the disappearance of the traditional automatic linkage between immigrants and federalism might just be enough to give us a "Oui" in the next referendum.
