So my friend Christelle came down for a visit...to Halifax, four hours from Miramichi. Neither of us were evil enough to demand the other drive all the way to either town, so we met halfway, near the border with Nova Scotia.
I was having marvellous, marvellous flashbacks to U of T...most of the buildings of the Mount Allison University campus pretty much blew my alma mater, UTM, out of the water hands down.
Didn't take too many pictures because it was bloody cold and I tried to keep my hands in my pockets, but the place was surprisingly nice, and pretty much deserted.
In the middle of sackville is this giant waterfowl park. Pretty skimpy on the waterfowl that windy, chilly day, but I've always been a sucker for good boardwalk, and this had a whole network, winding through these marshes surrounded by suburb.
Still, there were some. Dunno what these were, but I'm sure they were Canadian:
And maybe someone can help me...what is this, exactly?
We were pretty sure it was a beaver ... I mean, I could have been a ground hog.
This appeared April 9. Occasionally they force us to write columns on whatever we want. Sounds like a nice idea, but by the time my turn rolls around, I usually have no ideas, so I hammer out some fluff piece that I cringe to look at.
This one, however, actually turned out pretty nicely. I can see where I could have tweaked it some, but I'm running it as it appeared.
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My favourite federal party leader is one I will probably never be able to vote for.
Bloc chief Gilles Duceppe never runs candidates outside Quebec, and I don't have any immediate plans to move there, so, sorry. No Bloc votes from me anytime soon.
Don't get me wrong: I would never actually vote for the party and don't like what it stands for. Just Duceppe. With him, it's basically all Quebec, all the time.
Other party leaders, regardless of political stripe, well, they have to do all the usual maneuvering and horse trading and maybe-promises to appeal to the widest electorate possible.
Not Duceppe. No candidates outside Quebec means never having to care what the rest of the country thinks. Just Quebeckers, who are still a complicated lot, but probably not as complicated as the entire country put together.
His only apparent barometer when looking at any kind of federal legislation is: Is this good for Quebec, or is it not?
Or, more cynically, is supporting this going to appeal to Quebecker voters, or not?
That's why I like him. You always know where you stand with him. His whole political universe is Quebec. And it's much easier for an outside observer to predict how a smaller universe works than a larger one.
Well, actually, that seems to have changed a bit this week. He's in New Brunswick on a cross-country tour, apparently to talk to Canadians about their thoughts on Quebec sovereignty, starting in Fredericton.
Logical choice. The Quebeckers, and the French language, are tightly woven into the fabric of Canada, so where better to talk about it than the country's only (technically) bilingual province?
On the one hand, support in Quebec for separation or sovereignty or whatever it's called now is at its lowest ebb in a long time, so much so that the great crusaders of separation, the Parti Quebecois, aren't even in power.
On the other, separation, or the idea of it, is not going away in our lifetimes, and Duceppe is at least paying lip service to the idea that, you know, maybe the rest of the country has an opinion on the subject.
I say "lip service," because I'm not sure Duceppe actually cares what the rest of the country thinks. This may be just a public relations exercise to try con the rest of the country into thinking he's not the big, bad bogeyman he's made out to be.
Maybe he thinks if Canadians realize a sovereign Quebec will be no threat, and a greater partner outside Canada than within it, they'll shrug and say "oh, okay. Go in peace, mon frere, see you at the U.N."
Sorry though, Gilles, but I'm not holding by breath.
I know, I know ... occasionally someone says 'well, let's kick 'em out.' I've said that a couple of times. Usually after polishing off one too many doses of hangover-in-a-bottle with my Ottawa buddies.
When you sober up, though, there's no real support in anglophone Canada for Quebec leaving, of course. If they did, it would hurt. Both us and them.
See, as much as I dislike the Bloc, I love having them in parliament, for much the same reasons I tend to look favourably on Duceppe. You know where they stand: All Quebec, all the time.
Also, I'd much rather have the separatist/sovereigntists right where I can see them.
Parliament makes the law. It sets the budget, it carries out the work of this country. A sovereign Quebec would have to work out trade deals with Canada, or be choked to death by economic stagnation.
Now, where would you rather be when dealing with Ottawa on how it's going to impact your economy: In parliament, around the table where the decision gets made, and you get to vote on it ... or outside the door politely asking for an appointment?
The Bloc is a powerful, if sometimes really bloody infuriating, voice for Quebec in Canada. Especially now, when we're half-way through what's looking like the first decade of a long period of minority government.
Minority parliaments are great for Quebec. They have more clout now than they did when they were actually the official opposition back in the 1990s, provided they're smart about the deals they make with the rest of the opposition. Or the government, for that matter.
I think Duceppe knows that. I don't even like to call him a separatist, because for all he says in public and to his voters, I'm not sure he actually believes in taking Quebec out of Canada, where it has more power than any other province.
He's more a regionalist, working to get his party the best deal possible. Which, in practice, tends to translate into an insane amount of privileges no other province would ever be able to wrangle out of Ottawa.
Hope someone makes that point to him during one of his talks. Maybe he doesn't realize how much that pisses people off.
So if he says he wants to talk about separation or sovereignty or constitutional reform with the rest of Canada, sure, Gilles. Come on down, have a chat. Hear for yourself how the rest of Canada isn't keen on separation, and take it back to Quebec.
And hey, as much as we can call him an agitator just for turning up, and even though it's probably just lip service, at least he wants to know what we think, or says he does.
Forged in South Africa, shaped in Brazil and cooled in Ontario, this wandering blade is sheathed on the East Coast, learning his craft and biding his time.
