Some Suggestions For Quebec’s Proposed National Anthem

Canada’s Prime Minster Stephen Harper, who was recently in Australia, was proud to say in English and in French, that Quebec is a nation within Canada.

If by saying this, it speeds up the process of Quebec leaving Canada, I’m all for it.

But, if saying this is simply a tactic for Harper to win ethnocentric Quebecois nationalist votes, screw Harper.

Back in the nation of Quebec, the pretend federalist Premier of Quebec, Jean Charest, was saying that a nation needs an anthem. So, it has now become a priority amongst nationalist French Quebecers to produce an anthem they can be proud of.

I wonder what that anthem would say?

Would it sing about the language laws that make the unrestricted use of the English language against the law?

Would it portray Quebec as an open society, when Anglos represent less than one percent of Quebec’s civil service, even though Quebec’s mostly bilingual non-French taxpayers make up about 18% of Quebec’s total population?

Would they sing about Quebec having one of the very worst academic standards in North America?

Or would they sing about Quebecers being amongst the highest taxed people in North America?

Would the song have a recurring chorus praising the rest of Canada, but specifically Ontario and Alberta for keeping Quebec from bankruptcy with Ontario and Alberta tax dollars?

Would they sing about the half million Quebecers, mostly English speakers, who left Quebec from the 1970’s to date, to escape Quebec’s xenophobic ethnocentric nationalism?

Would Quebec’s anthem sing about roads that have more holes than pavement, and bridges that are so unsafe that trucks are forbidden to cross over on them?

Will they proudly raise their voices to the beauty of Montreal’s infrastructure, mostly built with English money during the heady days of the 1950’s through the 1970’s, before French Quebec told the investors and entrepreneurs that their money was welcome, but their language and culture were not?

Will they sing about the industries that have abandoned Quebec for other parts of North America where there are no language laws?

Will Quebec’s national anthem mention that Quebec is one of the most indebted regions in North America?

Will the Quebec anthem sing about suspending civil rights and liberties of all non French speakers, when in 1988, Quebec’s Premier Robert Bourassa used his powers to suspend the rights and civil liberties of all those who wanted to be visible in their own languages and cultures, specifically English?

Will the song that defines Quebec, sing about the small businesses that have been harassed and terrorized by Quebec’s language police, because the merchants dared to have English signs, or that the English on their signs were of equal size to the French on the same signs, or that there were an equal number of English signs to French signs, all of which is against the law?

Will Quebec’s language police be included in the anthem as worthy warriors for the pure-blood sons and daughters of Quebec?

If you want to take an absolutely sure bet, bet that none of the preceding will ever be mentioned in the propaganda that will be the lyrics of whatever will constitute Quebec’s national anthem.

As I write this, Quebec has a two-man team of elitists touring the province to determine how many rights minorities should be permitted to enjoy. One member of this team is an ethnocentric Quebecois nationalist (Bouchard the brother of Lucien), the other is an Anglo elitist sell-out (Charles Taylor).

They call it “reasonable accommodation”. I call it what it is: Racist Quebec xenophobia.

Where else in the free world will you find a government commission, dedicated exclusively to the task of determining to what extent minorities should enjoy individual or community rights separate from the majority?

I have a great idea for the lyrics of Quebec’s soon-to-be national anthem.

They should sing about the day Quebec leaves Confederation to become totally separate from Canada. That’s a song well worth composing. And a song that can’t come about any time too soon.