Ségolène - 2

While "Ségo" may still be reticent about voicing the policies she has in mind for her home country, it seems that she is much more at ease in talking about those affecting people elsewhere.

There comes a time for every French president (or presidential candidate) when he or she must pronounce an opinion on the question of Quebec sovereignty, but while the last few have remained resolutely aloof, Ms Royal has now provoked the wrath of the Canadian government (!) by saying that she is personally all for it. Sovereignty, that is. Or, to use her exact quote, "I'm in favour of it. Liberty and sovereignty for Quebec reflect our shared common values."

The key word here is liberty. It makes hairs on the neck of an average pro-union Canadian stand up on end, simply because it brings back unpleasant memories of this guy, saying these things. French politicians seem to labour under the delusion that Quebec is some kind of neglected wilderness that the rest of Canada ignores, one step below Northern Ireland in terms of political injustice brough on by the British crown.

Well, err, no.


The truth is that Quebec receives more funding from the federal government than any other province, simply because it has used the very large bargaining chip of threatening sovereignty to extremely good effect over the past 30 years. Quebecers have their own National Assembly where they make their own laws, and have wielded the power of the Office québecoise de la langue française to ensure that French is Quebec's only official language. From a practical point of view, there is not a word of English on any Quebec road signs, business names or shop windows. It has its own public broadcaster, unfortunately titled Radio-Canada, but still entirely in French and watched by the majority of French Quebecers. Its economy has flourished over the past decade, and only seems to suffer when - guess what! - the sovereignty issue starts up again. But most importantly, from the point of view of Quebec separatists, Quebec has now been officially recognised by the Canadian government as a nation. To me, this says that Quebec is free to continue pursuing its policies of preservation and development of the French language and culture, and more power to them.

I used to support Quebec sovereignty for several years, and I don't despise those that still do. All I think now is that French Quebecers best chances of achieving their goals - cultural and economic - are by staying within a united Canada. As such, it doesn't need to be "liberated" from anything.

Ségolène, meanwhile, can count herself lucky that a political shitstorm in Canada tends to translate into a whimper overseas.