Silly Little Country

A Day of Major Silliness

I am so happy. I named this blog after a passing comment by my mother about life in this self-important, and very silly, country, and lately it has been hard to find adequate levels of silliness in the land.

But we hit it all across the board today!!

One of the idiotic discussions that has gone on in Canada for decades is the question of whether the French (largely) province of Quebec should be a 'Nation' (which of course means many things).

There have been cycles of constitutional argument during which the discussion of whether Quebec gets special status has been tied up with this linguistic question. Whenever anyone has tried to write something into the constitution, all efforts at finding common meaning collapse.

The Liberal leadership campaign has lately been struggling with this, as Michael Ignatieff has appeared to suggest we need formal recognition of this status for Quebec as a nation (and perhaps for other groups, I cannot figure it all out). The Liberals have been desperately trying to keep these discussions under wrap.

But today in the House of Commons this took a serious turn. The Bloc Quebecois introduced a motion in the House of Commons, that Quebec be recognized as a 'nation'. Already at this point the Liberals must have been squirming as they might be forced to vote and take a position. In a counter-coup our Prime Minister amended the motion to describe Quebec as a nation inside a united Canada. This was a stroke of genius, I think, though we will have to see how it plays in the next few days. But it lets him establish a connection, and force the Liberals to take a position, the last thing they want to do.

We shall see.

These are issues of great national significance.

Could there be any better proof this is a silly country?

posted by Alan Adamson @ 5:58 PM