Book Review: "Time To Say Goodbye: Building a Better Canada Without Quebec" by Reed Scowen (2007)

Montrealer, former member of the Quebec legislature and long-time anglophone rights activist Reed Scowen makes the case here for a split between English Canada and Quebec. Normally, a book like this would have me recoiling as books concerning our navelgazing political culture are anthema to me - I have standards - but I grabbed this one at the airport Friday as it was a short read and nothing else really jumped out at me that I hadn't already read.

I had to put this book down at some points when I was reading it over the weekend because the basic unfairness of the Canadian federal arrangement, biased as it is towards Quebec, makes me so angry. On top of that, forty years of appeasement hasn't worked, André Boisclair's recent third-place showing aside. Scowen also makes a convincing case that Canada was not born as an agreement between two founding nations but rather one between four provinces that united for utilitarian reasons above all else, a point built on by Scowen as he delves further and argues that over time, Quebec as a political entity has not defined itself by the liberal constitutional framework that the rest of Canada does. In other words, there is a group of nine provinces which are bound by a common belief in pluralism and the freedom of individuals to pursue their own goals against the backdrop of a government that exists to facilitate those pursuits in a uniquely English Canadian way. On the other hand, for Scowen, Quebec, via its state apparatus, defines itself by the primacy of the French language and culture and is openly willing to cast pluralism aside in order to further entrench that belief. In so doing, he makes the case that the political worlds of the two sides are incompatible and so English Canada should offer Quebec terms upon which it can decide to stay within Canada or not.

Scowen's case is well written and well argued, and there are certain undeniable truths implicit within it - such as how much better off the rest of Canada would be economically if they didn't have to subsidize Quebec as they do - but I think he overstates the case by half. By virtue of my marriage, I am intimately connected to Quebec in such a way that many English Canadians are not, even though I don't, never have and probably never will live there as Scowen has. I also think that while the politicians in Quebec are a breed unto themselves, Quebecois are too busy working, raising kids and dealing with every day concerns to bother tuning out the voices in the entertainment world, in the press and coming from Quebec City to investigate just how dependent they are on the rest of Canada to subsidize their child care centres, universities and health care system (failing as it is). Moreover, when one casts a ballot for the PQ, they likely aren't thinking about the cost of establishing borders, a military or determining which currency to use in a sovereign Quebec of the future. Much more likely is that they are simply asserting themselves in a North America that is becoming increasingly integrated and a world that is becoming more complicated. So, for Scowen to assert that the political cultures are incompatible is a considerable exaggeration. Plainly speaking, one shouldn't confuse the chattering classes with the folks.

Also, Scowen is writing from the position of an aggrieved English Montrealer. He admits that he decided not to learn French until he was 41 years of age. To me, this is unacceptable because I am an assimilationist. Further, I am not one who has a lot of time for linguistic minorities who demand the same treatment and status as the majority, which partly explains why I have a lot of affection for franco-Ontarians since in my experience they, by and large, realize that Trudeaupian bilingualism was a nice idea rather than a practical possibility (notwithstanding coattail riding on the federal government's hiring practices, designed to make Quebec feel more part of the federal family by what is, in effect, the equivalent of racial preferences). By way of comparison, anglophones in Quebec angrily complain about the decision of their provincial government to ignore the Charter of Rights and Freedoms rather than dealing with the reality of the choice they have made, to stay in a province where a greater level of intolerance of "les autres" is just a fact of life that requires adjustment if you want to live there as a non-"pur laine". More broadly, as unjust as this is, does it present a fundamental contradiction on which Canada cannot sustain itself? I don't think so, as it should be seen as a farcical irritation more than anything else.

In sum, as aggravating as the entire national unity debate can be, and Scowen makes a good if unrealistic contribution to it, I am only somewhat on side with his thesis, even if, in my darker moments, I would be the first one to serve Quebec's political class with divorce papers.

Now if only leaders would lead, we might be able to get somewhere.

Overall rating: 7.25/10