CHAPTER 18

Conclusion

Is Quebec a nation?

If it is, it’s going to become one by hook or by crook. And no parliamentary motion by Stephen Harper in the House of Commons saying as much will make it one.

Of course, Mr. Harper -- in full hand-me-down Sorcerer's Apprentice mode -- doesn't really mean what he says. You see, Quebec isn't actually a "nation" because, as his motion stated, Quebec does not form an independent nation apart from Canada.

I’m sure that has made Quebec Nationalists very happy. You constitute a pretend nation, Harper is telling them. To paraphrase Gilles Vigneault: "Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est une motion parlementaire". You're not a real country, you're something else; something other than what is commonly understood and recognized by the international family of nations. Something less.

Mr. Harper regards Quebec as the cranky, stubborn infant who

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