"This anglo will be voting for the Bloc"

Interesting letter in today's National Post. I wonder how representative this writer is of other anglo-Quebecers, who would seemingly rather live in a separate Quebec with no guarantee of minority rights than vote for Stephen Harper's anti-pot and anti-gay marriage party.

"Re: Two choices, both bad, Barbara Kay, Dec. 14.

Barbara Kay writes that 'anglo Quebecers are the only Canadians forced to vote for survival rather than principal.'

At a friend's 40th birthday party this past weekend here in Montreal, I had several conversations dealing with this issue and was surprised that many of the guests, like myself, intend to vote for the Bloc in the upcoming election.

None of us are separatists in the classic sense, yet most of us are extremely dissatisfied with the federal options presented to us. Stephen Harper, based on his views on gay marriage and plan to reinvigorate the Canadian version of the hapless war on drugs, has obviously written us off as a province, if not simply as an under-70 demographic. The NDP remains off the radar and simply not a credible option given the realities of our first-past-the-post voting regime, which leaves us with the Liberals and the Bloc.

Like our French-speaking compatriots, anglo-Quebecers are as angry as anyone else at the sense of privilege and entitlement that was displayed during the sponsorship scandal and which informs the Liberal party as a whole.

Based on how the Liberals have become nothing short of a "millionaires club" (welcome, Belinda), and knowing full well that Quebec has some of the toughest and most progressive laws in the world to keep special interests out of elections and politics as a whole, a lot of us here are now planning on voting for the Bloc. We find the whole idea of separation to be the lesser of the evils before us.

Unlike older anglos, young anglo-Quebecers are now allowing ourselves to think the unthinkable. The Liberals may have counted on us in the past, but a new generation is now starting to question a Canada where corporations rule and the Gomery sham passes for justice and due process. Even in the face of Quebec's repressive language laws, it's starting to seem a lot greener on the oui side of the fence.

Anthony Philbin,
Montreal