Jack Granatstein: Quebecers Hurt Canada By Dictating Foreign Policy
Quebecers effectively dictate Canada's foreign policy to the detriment of its national interest and unity, an eminent historian asserted yesterday.
Canada's decisions to stay out of the Iraq war and the American missile defence program were both driven by overwhelming opposition in Quebec -- views not shared to the same degree in the rest of Canada, Jack Granatstein told the annual Ottawa conference of the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute.
"French-Canadians have largely shaped our defence and foreign policy since 1968," said Mr. Granatstein, a former director of the Canadian War Museum.
"If it's bad policy to let Canadian Jews or Canadian Muslims have undue influence on Canadian policy toward Israel, it's similarly bad policy to let French-Canadians determine Canadian foreign policy," he said, adding: "Is that too strong, to say it that way?"
Allowing Quebecers to determine Canada's policy on Iraq and missile defence damaged our national interest, Mr. Granatstein said, since our economy depends on trade with the U.S.
"We're extremely vulnerable when the United States is unhappy with us," he said.
"In neither case was there any leadership from Ottawa to try to persuade Quebec that the economy, their jobs, their pocketbook might actually matter more than whether or not Canada supported the U.S. in Iraq or supported ballistic missile defence."
Letting Quebec set the foreign policy agenda also strains national unity, argued Mr. Granatstein, who noted that polls showed a 40-percentage-point difference in support for Canadian involvement in Iraq between Alberta and Quebec at one point.
Canada's decisions to stay out of the Iraq war and the American missile defence program were both driven by overwhelming opposition in Quebec -- views not shared to the same degree in the rest of Canada, Jack Granatstein told the annual Ottawa conference of the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute.
"French-Canadians have largely shaped our defence and foreign policy since 1968," said Mr. Granatstein, a former director of the Canadian War Museum.
"If it's bad policy to let Canadian Jews or Canadian Muslims have undue influence on Canadian policy toward Israel, it's similarly bad policy to let French-Canadians determine Canadian foreign policy," he said, adding: "Is that too strong, to say it that way?"
Allowing Quebecers to determine Canada's policy on Iraq and missile defence damaged our national interest, Mr. Granatstein said, since our economy depends on trade with the U.S.
"We're extremely vulnerable when the United States is unhappy with us," he said.
"In neither case was there any leadership from Ottawa to try to persuade Quebec that the economy, their jobs, their pocketbook might actually matter more than whether or not Canada supported the U.S. in Iraq or supported ballistic missile defence."
Letting Quebec set the foreign policy agenda also strains national unity, argued Mr. Granatstein, who noted that polls showed a 40-percentage-point difference in support for Canadian involvement in Iraq between Alberta and Quebec at one point.