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Blog of Adam Daifallah -- author, journalist, law student. Lover of politics, writing, golf, curling, fitness, fashion, bacon and maple products -- not necessarily (but probably) in that order. Partisan of the Anglosphere. Contact me via email at adam@daifallah.com. This summer I am joined by Keir Wilmut and Omar Soliman.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
All nation, all the time
The whole nation debate is starting to die down. Reactions were as expected, with the vast majority of the press opposed -- especially in the English media. Andrew Coyne, aka the Prophet of Doom, predicted the end of Canada. Some were a little more nuanced, if not agnostic. And others were just confused -- such as Jason Cherniak, who in typical Liberal fashion decided at first to support the measure only to reverse his position 180 degrees and oppose it about an hour later.
The biggest problem here, as I've discussed a couple of times in the past, is language. In French a nation does not equate to a country or nation state. It is thought of more as a community of people with similar defining characteristics. For that reason, and after having lived here for a couple of years, I've come to accept and even embrace this fact. As I said a few weeks ago, this thing isn't even a debate in Québec. It was agreed upon a long, long time ago. Yet it still gets people immensly worked up in the other provinces.
Recognizing Québecers as a sociological nation, which the resolution to be voted on next week does, is just affirming a fact. A lot of people don't like it, but I see it as nothing more than recognizing reality. Whether the "nation" concept can or even should be constitutionally enshrined is another debate.
UPDATE: Apparently Harper and his staff aren't sleeping much these days, because there's yet more coming down the pipe. This is a great idea. I cannot keep up with all the announcements coming out of Ottawa.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:51 PM
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