It's still early in the 2014 Québec provincial election and the public conversation has already devolved into discussions of nationalism, sovereignty and the practicalities of an independent Québec. These are not new ideas, the concept of an independent Québec has been the subject of decades of discussion and theoretical scenarios involving borders, passports and currency.
The problem with this kind of discussion is that it is so passionate and so divisive that it eclipses all other issues in the election conversation. It gives a voice to radicals on both sides of the debate and leaves very little air time for rational and sober analysis of more immediate and troublesome realities.
I use the term realities because that is exactly what they are. Jobs, the economy, cost of living, public debt, degrading infrastructure and a fractured healthcare system. These are real problems that citizens of Québec will have to deal with on April 8th, regardless of which party is elected to serve Quebeckers. What is most troubling is that these issues will likely persist until the next election.
As an anglophone, you might think I would be prone to blame the Parti Québecois (PQ) for steering the conversation towards sovereignty, after all it has been at the core of the party's political constitution since its inception. But is it really the PQ that we should be blaming for the current public discourse? English media outlets like CJAD, CTV, The Gazette, Global Quebec and others, seem just as complicit in finding ways to ramp up the sovereignty discussion. From newspapers, radio, television and social media, we have been fed a steady stream of the PQ's current vision of an independent Québec. Again, a theory, not reality.
So why exactly are the English media so obsessed with pressing the PQ on a subject for which they are more than pleased to discuss? It seems somewhat disingenuous to criticize politicians for engaging in a divisive conversation when English media outlets are more than willing to lap it up and spew it back out.
Why are reporters not asking questions about concrete plans to deal with Québec's massive debt problem? Or how it plans to create real and sustainable employment? Or making our roads safer, our healthcare system more accessible, and ease the heavy burden on tax payers? These are issues that every single voter, of every single political and cultural stripe, have to face every day of their lives. People with families, mortgages, rental payments, student loans and a myriad of other concerns.
As one who relies on media sources to provide a reasonably informative account of the issues of the day, I expect reporters to press candidates to address these issues. When candidates attempt to redirect the conversation, then I expect an explanation as to why. What we don't need is a parroted version of political spin.
Of course, the French media has its own issues at the moment, complicated ones, but that is a conversation for another blog. Right now it is the English media's apparent unwillingness to demand answers on subjects pertaining to real-world issues that is most disconcerting. At the very least, I would like to know why we are engaging the PQ in a conversation that ultimately makes them unaccountable for their record in office?
The citizens of Québec have earned the right to expect their politicians and media to frame the public discourse around issues that directly affect our lives. We deserve responsive governance and factual reporting, not ideological clashes and hyperbolic fear-mongering.
English media needs to step up and press political candidates to respond to the realities faced by Québec voters. Obsessing over sovereignty serves only to reinforce the impression that anglophones are incapable of embracing the complex political landscape of Québec, and that we are as one-sided as we accuse PQ hardliners to be.
We've had enough theory, get to the facts already, and stop being part of the problem.
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