Stephen Harper is the first non-Quebecker to serve as prime minister of Canada for more than nine months since Lester Pearson. That’s more than four decades.
Pierre Trudeau, who was from Montreal, Quebec, was PM from 1968 to 1979 and again from 1980 to 1984 – a total of 15 years. Brian Mulroney, who was from Baie Comeau, Quebec, was PM from 1984 to 1993 – nine years. Jean Chretien, who hailed from Shawinigan, Quebec, was PM from 1993 to 2003 – 10 years. Paul Martin was born in Windsor but realized that only a Quebecker can lead the Liberal Party and become Prime Minister in the modern era, so he moved to Montreal and represented the federal riding of Lasalle-Emard. He too was a PM from Quebec, in power from 2004 to 2006 – a period of two-and-a-half years.
Trudeau, of course, was a Liberal as were Chretien and Martin, while Mulroney was a Conservative. But what about other prime ministers over the past 40 years? Well, for starters we have Joe Clark, a Conservative from Alberta who did all of nine months in 1979. Then we have John Turner, who was actually born in England but raised in B.C. and Ontario, and when he took over the Liberal Party from Trudeau represented a constituency from B. C. Turner did but a three-month shift in 1984. And finally there is Conservative Kim Campbell, who was from B.C. and lasted but four months in 1993.
Now math was never my forte, but if we look at our history since 1968, it’s clear that the province of Quebec has been awfully well represented in the top office of the land. Until Mr. Harper came along a little over two years ago, Canada was served by a Quebecker as prime minister for some 37 years and by a non-Quebecker for less than a year and a half – 16 months to be exact. In fact, we might conclude that prime ministers from Quebec are measured in years, if not decades, while prime ministers from TROC (The Rest Of Canada) are measured in months.
What about the Supreme Court? Did you ever wonder where those mysterious judges, whom as we all know are appointed by the federal government, hail from? Well don’t look now, but the Hon. Justice Michel Bastarache is soon to retire and his position will have to be replaced, but M. Bastarache is still with us and he was born in Quebec City, so he’s a Quebecker.
The Hon. Justice Louis Le Bel was born in Quebec City as well. The Hon. Justice William Binnie was not born in Quebec City – wouldn’t it be ridiculous if every Supreme Court justice was from the same town? – but he was born in Montreal, so he too is a Quebecker. Believe it or not, the Hon. Morris Fish was also born in Montreal. That’s yet another Quebecker. And just to ensure that Quebeckers have the majority in the Supreme Court of Canada, the Hon. Marie Deschamps was born in Repentigue. That makes five out of the nine current Supreme Court justices who are from the province of Quebec.
Ontario, which has 13 million people or 4.5 million more than Quebec, has but one judge who was actually born in the province – the Hon. Louise Charron, who is from Sturgeon Falls. The other members of the Supreme Court are the Hon. Marshall Rothstein, who is from Winnipeg, Manitoba; the Hon. Rosie Abella who was born in Germany (but raised in Ontario); and Chief Justice the Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin who is from Alberta.
Where am I going with all this? The current leader of the Liberal Party of Canada is Stephane Dion and guess where he’s from? What makes this so ironic is that the first words about the man on the party’s website are: “Stephane Dion is a voice for change.” But I ask you, what kind of change is having yet another Prime Minister from Quebec?
There are all kinds of reasons why a Canadian citizen would vote for one party and not another, but one thing is crystal clear about the Liberal Party of Canada. It is focused on Quebec and has been for the past 40 years. What kind of country is this when our leader is always from Quebec and when five of our nine Supreme Court justices are also from Quebec?
I’ll tell you what kind of country. Cockeyed, that’s what. At least, that’s what we are if you don’t live in Quebec because that province seems to be getting pretty good value for itself. As for the rest of us, we are the Cockeyed Rest Of Canada or CROC for short. Add a ‘K’ and you have CROCK, which pretty well sums up the kind of leadership we’ve had for the past 40 years – unless you’re from Quebec.
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