In 1995, despite the constant separatist agitation we were, for the most part, a nation that still cared enough about each other to try and make the marriage work. There was still a good deal of affection even love on both sides. Car bumpers sported stickers proclaiming, “My Country Includes Quebec.” Close to 100,000 of us showed up to demonstrate that affection, that love, in Montreal’s Place du Canada.
The overwhelming majority of callers to my show prior to the 1995 referendum were passionate in their insistence that we stay together as a nation. Some were in tears as they begged Quebeckers not to vote “Yes”.
As referendum day approached, the nation held its breath. Some of our churches held special prayer vigils.
And in the end a majority (albeit very slim) of Quebeckers voted for the second time to stay together.
That was then! This is now!
You don’t see any of those “My Country Includes Quebec” bumper stickers or T- shirts anymore.
Nor will we ever see 100,000 anxious Canadians gathering anywhere in an effort to persuade Quebeckers not to leave us. Those days are over.
If that rally were held today I doubt very much if a thousand would show up.
CHAPTER THREE
SAME OLD! SAME OLD!
One of those who took that pilgrimage to Montreal that fateful October day in 1995 is Jimmy Wainman of Orillia, a distant relative. He loaded up his old Oldsmobile with four buddies, two large Canadian flags and a bullhorn and headed east.
“We wanted to tell those frenchies not to leave cause we could always work things out. We got the words to that song Al-you-etta—practiced it a bit until, to tell the truth, we sounded pretty good, then took the bullhorn along with us to Montreal, fully intending to stir up a good old sing song that we could all join in on. We never got to sing the song or use the bullhorn but we were proud just to be there, taking part in what we thought was a pretty important bit of Canadian history. Orillia in the vanguard so to speak!”
“Jimmy,” I asked, “Would you do it again?” He looked kind of sheepish for a moment. “Nah, I got to admit I really don’t care that much anymore. I don’t suppose today we’d be able to scratch up a carload to drive to Barrie to keep Quebec from leaving.” He looked at me with a half grin. “We could probably fill a bus or two though if the rally was to boot them out!”
When pressed, he admitted there wasn’t anything in particular that had changed his mind although the last election which saw the Parti Quebecois come back to power seemed to be the final straw. “ Just got tired of the same old, same old,” he said. “And all that corruption, man it’s enough to drive you nuts!”
I had suspected that the word bilingualism might crop up in our conversation, but it never did until I raised the question. “Bilingualism? Not really, “ shaking his head, “Here in Orillia bilingualism doesn’t affect us. To be honest I don’t think most of us up here in this part of Ontario give a damn about bilingualism. I know it’s an issue for you there in Ottawa but up here no one speaks French or has any need to. It’s not much of an issue really.”
He then comes back to his original theme. “Nope, it’s just we’re tired of all the same old, same old from Quebec. You know, I’ve always said if you don’t like the partner you’re dancing with, then for goodness sake, change partners! Probably you’ll both be a heck of a lot happier.”
Jimmy is my no means alone in changing his mind and suggesting that a change of dance partners might make everyone a lot happier.
I’ve asked several callers and friends who made that Unity Rally trip to Montreal the same question. Would you do it again? The answer is always the same. “No, sadly I would not.” This response, by the way, comes from several of the key organizers of the rally. Some of those I questioned have specific complaints, chief among them the whole issue of bilingualism, but for the most part it all boils down to the fact that the passion they once felt for national unity has been displaced by indifference and weariness.
One of the most common responses I get when I ask why they have changed their minds is a simple shrug of their shoulders. As in the case of Jimmy Wainman they just don’t care anymore.
There was a time when setting the phone lines ablaze on my radio show was easy. Just toss out a few words like, “Quebec sovereignty,” “Quebec separation” and you were guaranteed two hours of heated debate. It was almost like dropping a nice fat fly into a pool of starving trout. All dashing to the bait! Not today. Oh you’ll still get a few calls about a French voice answering the phone at City Hall, or mandated French signs in Greely, but even those calls lack the kind of passion we used to see.
But the threat of Quebec separation? Sorry, Nothing but dead phones.
Well that’s not entirely true. It all depends upon how you phrase the question.
CHAPTER FOUR
WOULD YOU TAKE THAT TRIP TO MONTREAL AGAIN?
On March 18, 2013, with the Charbonneau anti-corruption inquiry at full throttle, I decided to test the waters a bit with a different kind of question on the Lowell Green Show.
“Be honest with me,” I said. “If Quebec, for whatever reason, decided to leave Confederation would you really care?” I went on to say, “I’d really like to hear from some of you who took that trip to Montreal back on October 27,1995. Given similar circumstances would you do it again?”
If ever there was any doubt that another “Unity Rally” would fizzle out, it was surely dispelled during the next two hours. And again the next day. Even the few callers who professed they still cared enough to take that trip to Montreal once more, confessed to becoming as one caller expressed it “battle weary.”
But for the most part callers agreed with me that there may have been a time when they were willing to sport bumper stickers saying “My Country Includes Quebec”, but that no longer is the case. Some callers, as you might expect, launched into anti-Quebec, or anti-bilingual rants, but for the most part you could sense that the callers were just like Jimmy Wainman, tired of the same old, same old and had finally come to the conclusion that an amicable divorce might be best for all.
The following with some editing for length, spelling and grammar, is a cross section of emails I received following the March 18 show. Only when the author provided specific permission to use their full name have I done so.
VOICES
No, I do not care if they separate—just let them do their thing—with no help from the rest of us. Thanks.
Joyce T, Ottawa, ON
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I moved from Montreal to Ottawa almost five years ago because I was fed up with mismanagement at both the municipal and provincial levels. Quebec boasts a relatively low unemployment rate, but that’s because one of every six workers in Quebec works for some level of government. That’s 16 times