The Third Way

Do you think in Quebec, with the recent 3rd place finish for the PQ, the dramatic rise of the non-separatist/non-federalist/pro-automony/3rd way ADQ, that this situation obviously shows that Quebeckers don't necessarily want to leave Quebec, but they don't want federal intrusion so much. Hmmm, same sentiment in BC and Alberta I'd say.

What this also indicates is that everyone is sick of the see-saw debate between separatism and centralism. Sick of it I tells ya!

But it also exposes that the Liberals, a la Trudeau, have NEEDED the separatists to legitimize their idea of a centralist federal government for many years and the separatists NEEDED the arrogant Liberals to battle against hard federalism.

Many of us have known this for years and many of us know about the billions of loonies that has gone to Quebec, almost equating with the amount that leaves Alberta, as a bribe to stay in the country. The recent budget is definitely an indication of that, so not much has changed there.

However, there's a difference. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has declared that the fiscal imbalance with the provinces has been solved. I think what he means though is that this is the last time we're buying off Quebec, other provinces be damned anyway. After this, will there be a further break down of federal powers and overlapped spending to let provinces do their own thing, like they used to a long time ago? Perhaps.

But when the Liberals were governing, they liked to create "programs" and many a program they made, with plump Quebecois patronage, and wasteful spending there to create jobs for friends. The sponsorship scandal was the crux of a resulting corruption that had been going on for many years. This was Liberal centralism and this bribery is insulting to Quebeckers.

Stephen Harper's old roots in the Reform Party would have no money for Quebec, and more provincial autonomy. This policy was the called "Third Way" that Preston Manning used to trumpet a whole decade ago.

Conservatives shocked everyone with 10 seats last election. With the rise of the ADQ and fall of the Liberals and PQ, it appears that Quebeckers are now embracing this old idea as a new way.