Friday, November 24, 2006
Masterstroke or just Masturbation?
When I heard about the Prime Minister's motion to name Québécois (not, as is being reported fairly consistently, Québec) as a nation, my reaction was immediate: "Meh," I remarked. The truth is that this debate over what constitutes a nation is academic jiggery-pokery of the most banal variety. It is possible to make a perfectly accurate (if not all together compelling case) that Québec is a nation and Canada isn't (I think I actually made such a case a few years ago in the St. Albert Gazette, before I realized how little it mattered). It's possible to make an equally accurate case that Québec isn't a nation and Canada is, or that both are, or that there's no such thing as a nation, and vive le pays des pommes frites. Accordingly, Stephen Harper's move must be evaluated on exclusively pragmatic grounds. Frankly, I don't see many such grounds on which to base an evaluation. The separatists are still separatists, the federalists are still federalists, Michael Ignatieff's position is still barely coherent on a good day, and life goes on.
Much more interesting than the issue itself has been the coverage it's received. Paul Wells takes momentary leave of his senses to imply that Harper's move constitutes treason against some unspecified cause, Andrew Coyne does much the same, and Garth Turner, incredibly, calls the vote on the motion "the most important vote [he will] cast as MP".
Another amusing thread running through this is this sense from a number of media outlets that they have somehow caught Harper in some sort of lie. For example, apparently legal experts question the motion, claiming that it will have no legal effect! And what's this? Thanks to this fine investigative journalism, the Tories have admitted that, indeed, the motion will have no legal effect. That's right: admitted. Not "acknowledged", not "accepted the obvious fact that", not "when confronted with the comments of legal experts, pointed out that no Tory had ever stated or even implied that". Tories: backed into a corner!
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When I heard about the Prime Minister's motion to name Québécois (not, as is being reported fairly consistently, Québec) as a nation, my reaction was immediate: "Meh," I remarked. The truth is that this debate over what constitutes a nation is academic jiggery-pokery of the most banal variety. It is possible to make a perfectly accurate (if not all together compelling case) that Québec is a nation and Canada isn't (I think I actually made such a case a few years ago in the St. Albert Gazette, before I realized how little it mattered). It's possible to make an equally accurate case that Québec isn't a nation and Canada is, or that both are, or that there's no such thing as a nation, and vive le pays des pommes frites. Accordingly, Stephen Harper's move must be evaluated on exclusively pragmatic grounds. Frankly, I don't see many such grounds on which to base an evaluation. The separatists are still separatists, the federalists are still federalists, Michael Ignatieff's position is still barely coherent on a good day, and life goes on.
Much more interesting than the issue itself has been the coverage it's received. Paul Wells takes momentary leave of his senses to imply that Harper's move constitutes treason against some unspecified cause, Andrew Coyne does much the same, and Garth Turner, incredibly, calls the vote on the motion "the most important vote [he will] cast as MP".
Another amusing thread running through this is this sense from a number of media outlets that they have somehow caught Harper in some sort of lie. For example, apparently legal experts question the motion, claiming that it will have no legal effect! And what's this? Thanks to this fine investigative journalism, the Tories have admitted that, indeed, the motion will have no legal effect. That's right: admitted. Not "acknowledged", not "accepted the obvious fact that", not "when confronted with the comments of legal experts, pointed out that no Tory had ever stated or even implied that". Tories: backed into a corner!
