Читать книгу Why Now Is The Perfect Time to Wave a Friendly Goodbye to Quebec - Lowell Green - Страница 6

One of those who took that pilgrimage to Montreal that fateful October day in 1995 is Jimmy Wainman of Orillia, a distant relative. He loaded up his old Oldsmobile with four buddies, two large Canadian flags and a bullhorn and headed east.

“We wanted to tell those frenchies not to leave cause we could always work things out. We got the words to that song Al-you-etta—practiced it a bit until, to tell the truth, we sounded pretty good, then took the bullhorn along with us to Montreal, fully intending to stir up a good old sing song that we could all join in on. We never got to sing the song or use the bullhorn but we were proud just to be there, taking part in what we thought was a pretty important bit of Canadian history. Orillia in the vanguard so to speak!”

“Jimmy,” I asked, “Would you do it again?” He looked kind of sheepish for a moment. “Nah, I got to admit I really don’t care that much anymore. I don’t suppose today we’d be able to scratch up a carload to drive to Barrie to keep Quebec from leaving.” He looked at me with a half grin. “We could probably fill a bus or two though if the rally was to boot them out!”

When pressed, he admitted there wasn’t anything in particular that had changed his mind although the last election which saw the Parti Quebecois come back to power seemed to be the final straw. “ Just got tired of the same old, same old,” he said. “And all that corruption, man it’s enough to drive you nuts!”

I had suspected that the word bilingualism might crop up in our conversation, but it never did until I raised the question. “Bilingualism? Not really, “ shaking his head, “Here in Orillia bilingualism doesn’t affect us. To be honest I don’t think most of us up here in this part of Ontario give a damn about bilingualism. I know it’s an issue for you there in Ottawa but up here no one speaks French or has any need to. It’s not much of an issue really.”

He then comes back to his original theme. “Nope, it’s just we’re tired of all the same old, same old from Quebec. You know, I’ve always said if you don’t like the partner you’re dancing with, then for goodness sake, change partners! Probably you’ll both be a heck of a lot happier.”

Jimmy is my no means alone in changing his mind and suggesting that a change of dance partners might make everyone a lot happier.

I’ve asked several callers and friends who made that Unity Rally trip to Montreal the same question. Would you do it again? The answer is always the same. “No, sadly I would not.” This response, by the way, comes from several of the key organizers of the rally. Some of those I questioned have specific complaints, chief among them the whole issue of bilingualism, but for the most part it all boils down to the fact that the passion they once felt for national unity has been displaced by indifference and weariness.

One of the most common responses I get when I ask why they have changed their minds is a simple shrug of their shoulders. As in the case of Jimmy Wainman they just don’t care anymore.

There was a time when setting the phone lines ablaze on my radio show was easy. Just toss out a few words like, “Quebec sovereignty,” “Quebec separation” and you were guaranteed two hours of heated debate. It was almost like dropping a nice fat fly into a pool of starving trout. All dashing to the bait! Not today. Oh you’ll still get a few calls about a French voice answering the phone at City Hall, or mandated French signs in Greely, but even those calls lack the kind of passion we used to see.

But the threat of Quebec separation? Sorry, Nothing but dead phones.

Well that’s not entirely true. It all depends upon how you phrase the question.