So Happy Together

The implosion of the Bloc Québécois and the Parti Québécois gives us all a great reason to raise a cold one this July 1.

What better time of year is there to ponder the nature of Canadian unity than in the lead-up to Canada Day? The Economist weighs in on the separatist movement, suggesting it's become “a victim of its own success.” Quebec culture is arguably more sound and secure today than at any point since 1759, partly due to the fierceness with which nationalists in the province have fought to establish language rights. But voters now seem more interested in tackling the host of fiscal and social issues knocking at their door, a spirit embodied by the Coalition pour l’avenir du Québec, which “would win a majority of seats [in the National Assembly] even though it is not yet, and may never be, a formal party.” That could be an indication of the province being fed up with all its current political parties, but it certainly portends that separation is hardly at the top of most Quebecers' minds.

The grand dame of making sense of Quebec, the Toronto Star's Chantal Hébert, wonders if the PQ and Bloc have run out of issues to link to the sovereigntist cause. “Since the referendum, a host of Quebec-Ottawa confrontations – involving emblematic issues ranging from the so-called federal-provincial fiscal imbalance to the gun registry and climate change – have come and gone without causing more than passing spikes in Quebec’s public opinion,” she writes. The same could be said of the Afghanistan mission and the sponsorship scandal. Of course, this is all before the Tories attempt to reform the Senate, which could cause boatloads of constitutional consternation in Quebec. But if tendencies of the last decade hold, there's no reason to believe such a conversation would necessarily revolve around whether Quebec should just secede to avoid having to deal with Ottawa ever again.

Sovereignty's death knell gives Prime Minister Stephen Harper a “marvellous opportunity” to do something bold to polish his legacy for the history books, The Globe and Mail's Lawrence Martin offers. Combined with the end of the notion of western alienation, Martin suggests that “the forces for drawing apart, for regionalization, have been significantly diminished,” even if the House of Commons is about as ideologically polarized as it's ever been. “With the new harsher mix of left and right, the noises will be louder,” writes Martin. “But rarely has the country been in better shape to cope and to move forward.” Which seems probable, but Harper's built his career on promising to avoid the nation-building projects his Liberal predecessors so loved. After all, keeping the country content and together is hardly a terrible legacy to have.