Pander to Quebec, destroy a national institution, all in a day’s work
August 12, 2005 · By Peter Rempel
We all knew that Paul Martin was interested in reaching out to Quebec separatists a la Brian Mulroney; why else recruit the former separatist Jean Lapierre as his Quebec luitenant? But appointing a Quebec separatist as Governor General? That’s going a little far.
But the pandering to Quebec doesn’t stop there. Turns out that Michaelle Jean is also a citizen of France. Early indications were that Jean automatically gained this status when she married a French citizen, but now it turns out that that might have been something of a nose-stretcher. In fact, Jean lobbied the French embassy in Montreal extensively to obtain her dual citizenship.
Now, does it seem strange to anyone else that the new representative of the Queen of the Commonwealth in Canada is a French citizen? Maybe, but it’s also highly symbolic. The Liberal Party’s continued pandering to Quebec and their attempts to re-make the country in Quebec’s image continue unabated.
Update: As if all this were not enough, we recieve this howler of a quote from Jean via Bob Tarantino:
“Having a person like me as governor-general of Canada will mean a lot, not only to Canadians, but all abroad. I think it will mean a lot for humanity.”
Step aside Adrienne, the PM has apparently selected an egoist successor capable of filling even your shoes.
I like this wording…..The Hatian born Canadian representative of British monarchy is a citizen of France…..how many more countries can we work in there?
Jacques Rose’s name ring a bell. It should. He served 8 years as an accessory after the fact for the murder of Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte. And he renovated Madam Michaelle Jean’s library in 1994. Coincidence?
Jean Daniel Lafond, who was born in France, met a number of former FLQ members when he worked on the 1994 National Film Board documentary, La Liberte en colere.
He co-wrote the film with Francis Simard, another FLQ member who was given early parole in 1982 after being sentenced to life for his role in killing Laporte, who was strangled and found in the trunk of an abandoned taxi.