Kill the ‘Clarity Act’
In June, 2004 – speaking in Sept-Iles Quebec
– Jack Layton for one brief moment put the NDP on the map in Quebec.
He stated the obvious – that the so-called
“Clarity Act” was divisive, and that he would repeal it if
elected to office.
This is a position that can break the log-jam of
Canadian politics. Give Quebec workers a choice – to vote for the
party of the trade union movement, and know that party will defend their
right to self-determination.
And begin a debate in English Canada about the danger
posed by the Clarity Act – a harsh intervention into the right of
Quebeckers to determine their own future.
But Layton came under massive fire for his stance.
Liberals like Stéphane Dion condemned him. But
so did luminaries inside the NDP.
And when pressed by Gilles Duceppe in the
leaders’ debate, Layton refused to come back to the subject.
NDP prospects in Quebec sank with his silence.
And when he condemned the Tories, earlier this year
for allying themselves with the “separatists”, it was a wonder
that any support at all remained for the NDP in Quebec.
Many in the workers’ movement in Quebec will
vote for Duceppe and the BQ, almost by default. And given the terrible
stance on Quebec by Layton and the NDP, this is not surprising.
But we must remember that the BQ resulted in a split
from the bosses’ Tory party, and that their counterparts provincially
– the Parti Québécois – have shown themselves to
be a party that rules in the interests of Quebec business, not Quebec
workers.
Vote for the NDP in Quebec – but campaign hard
for a repeal of the Clarity Act, and to demand that the NDP leadership
defend Quebec’s right to self-determination.