These are unsettling times. Like Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, I feel like I have fallen through the rabbit hole. The Quebec economy is in crisis, but even in the middle of an election campaign, who is offering solutions? Our debt is out of control, our infrastructure is crumbling, corruption is rampant, but the Cheshire Cat is up to its usual mischief and making make sure the election scheduled for April 7 is focused on secularism and sovereignty.
Our politicians and community leaders, including mayors, university presidents, hospital executives, the head of Quebec’s human rights commission and business leaders, have been busy speaking out about the Charter of Values, which unbelievably has the support of 51 per cent of the population and is considered to be an indication of support for the Parti Québécois.
There is an element of panic in the air as many Quebecers – francophone and non-francophone alike – think about leaving the province, or at the very least, moving their assets elsewhere. Polls show that half of non-francophones surveyed have considered leaving Quebec during the past year. Pauline Marois appears unworried, but if we have another exodus, who will pay for our costly social programs?
PQ cabinet minister Bernard Drainville, architect of the Charter of Values, says Bill 101 wasn’t a disaster for the Quebec economy. If losing the head offices of major companies is not considered a disaster, we can only expect to repeat our mistakes.
Quebec’s weight within Canada has shrunk by nearly one-fifth over recent decades. According to the last census, Quebec’s share of the total Canadian population dropped from nearly a third (28.9 per cent in 1951) to less than a quarter (23.6 per cent in 2011).
To compound matters, Quebec has the highest rate of unemployment for immigrants (11.5 per cent in 2012) and it loses almost 60 per cent of entrepreneurs and other business people to interprovincial migration.
Some immigrants come to Quebec, the only province to control its own immigration, as a portal to entering Canada, and some come with the intention of staying in the province, but many leave because of the lack of jobs, especially the highly educated.
Marois has not said that she will hold another referendum on sovereignty, but the star candidate for the PQ, businessman Pierre Karl Péladeau, has stated very clearly that he has thrown his hat in the ring because he believes in, and wants, an independent Quebec. He has stepped down as leader of Québecor and has pledged to put his media holdings in trust if elected, as if that will ensure they remain unbiased.
Like Alice in Wonderland, I am learning that rabbit holes are very dark – and very long and very empty. And like Alice, I think I see the bottom and I think that I shall hit the bottom, hit it very hard, and oh, how it will hurt! If only I could wake up on April 7 and find it was all a dream.
Suzanne Korf is a professional fundraiser who has worked for non-profit organizations for more than 25 years. She is a director of development for The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. She is a mother of two and a resident of Pointe-Claire since 1991.