Quote:
Originally Posted by New Brisavoine
Then the PQ and other separatists must be doing something wrong.
It's not just the Scottish National Party. Even Marine Le Pen manages to attract quite a few immigrants, and have people from immigrant background in top positions in her party (for example Malika Sorel, daughter of Algerian immigrants, has just joined Marine Le Pen's party and been catapulted #2 on their party list for the European election next June).
Perhaps what sets Scotland and France appart from Québec is we have a strong sense of nationhood (with symbols, heroes, past achievements, glories, etc), and that may be attractive to some immigrants. Québec, in comparison, seems always to be unsure about who they are, whether they are a nation at all, whether they should be independent or remain a Canadian province forever, whether it isn't in fact racist and reactionary to promote an identity separate from Anglo-Canada. When the Francophone 'pure laine' Québécois are themselves divided about what Québec should be, perhaps it's no wonder the concept of a Québécois nation and Québec independence is not something that will "galvaniser" the immigrants and their children, the way "la Fraaaaaance", or "our braaaave Scotland" can arouse children of immigrants.
|
I don't know about that. Scottish independence hasn't really been any more of a consensus than Quebec independence, and the Rassemblement National isn't really about independence anyway. Their support goes up and down just like any other party's. They haven't necessarily had highs that the PQ hasn't attained at various points in their history.
And I was just looking at the current cabinet of Scotland, which is dominated by their equivalent to the PQ, the Scottish National Party. OK so the top guy (equivalent to a Premier here) is a minority fellow, but all of the rest are white Scots and seemingly of some form of British origin.
The last PQ government ministers were generally dominated by French Canadians as you'd imagine, but also had people like Zakaïb (Syrian), Facal (Uruguay), Curzi (Italy*), Kotto (Cameroon), and Malavoy (born in Germany but actually French).
*I know that in France and the US, Italians are considered super-French and super-American and indistinguishable and assimilatable, but in Quebec it's not really a given that a long-established person of Italian origin is going to be a fully integrated Québécois. Pierre Curzi was born in Montreal to Italian parents.