Yesterday, on the show I am hosting on Radio QUB, I received the Minister for Canadian Relations, Jean-François Roberge.

“The Elghawaby affair is the latest in a long line of confrontations that show, if need be, that Canada and Quebec are defending two notions of coexistence that are deeply incompatible, I told him. It will take time for Quebec to draw the necessary conclusions! Stop whining and act! »

The minister replied that the Trudeau government did not necessarily represent “Canada”. That the ideology he defends is not necessarily that of the majority of Canadians.

country or government?

In short, that there is a need to distinguish between the government of a country and the country in question.

That’s the $100,000 question. How representative is Justin Trudeau from Canada?

Sovereignists like myself will reply that Justin’s positions on immigration, multiculturalism, the place of religion in the public sphere, the defense of individual rights versus collective rights, questions of identity in general, and the place Quebec should have within the federation are in perfect Harmony with the positions of the majority of Canadians.

That when Justin speaks, he expresses the deep feelings of most Canadians.

But people who, like the CAQ, believe in the possibility of reforming federalism will tell you that the PLC only represents the voters of the PLC.

That we would have a completely different Canada if the Conservatives took power.

Less woke up. Less centralization. And more open to Quebec’s demands.

By making demands on Canada, we will get what we want in the end, Minister Roberge told me.

It’s like erosion. Always hitting the shores of a rock, the waves eventually transform it.

By modeling it. By tearing pieces out of it.

Canada is like Percé Rock

The picture the minister uses is pretty.

But I wanted to say to him, ‘Exactly how long did it take for a hole to finally pierce Percé Rock? ten years ? 100 years ?

“Are you working for Québecians who are alive now, or for those who will be born in a century? »

No wonder the Legault government urged Quebecers to vote conservative in the last federal election!

He has mourned the Trudeau government and expects nothing good from it.

Whereas if the Conservatives ruled Canada, a different conception of coexistence, less inconsistent with ours, – at last! – to commit.

Really ? you believe it, don’t you? Do you think Poilievre’s Canada will be fundamentally different from Trudeau’s Canada?

I’m not talking about the exploitation of natural resources or the role that Canada would play on the international stage. Of course it would be different…

I speak of the soul of the country. His being.

Legault consistently says he represents Quebec at its deepest. That when he speaks, all of Quebec speaks through him.

Why shouldn’t it be the same for Trudeau?