Of Lobsters and Mobsters in Quebec

Crustacean political dishonesty and crusty unionization have the province headed for trouble.

PQ leader Pauline Marois’s latest blunder is “her ‘lobster trap’ moment,” writes the Montreal Gazette’s Don MacPherson. He’s referring to former PQ leader Jacques Parizeau’s infamous statement that if Quebeckers voted Yes in the 1995 referendum, they would have as little chance to turn back as a lobster in a trap. That statement made Parizeau seem less than trustworthy, and Marois pulled a similar trick this week when she told a party convention that she intends to make unreasonable demands of Ottawa in order to cause a political crisis and boost support for separation. “[W]hile the sovereignist defeats in the two previous referendums have been blamed for weakening Quebec politically within Canada,” writes MacPherson, “Marois might accomplish the same thing without even holding one. For she has made it possible for the federal government to justify rejecting any Quebec position as long as a Marois government is in office.” The only thing The Newsroom would add to MacPherson’s analysis is that even such a misstep may not hurt her chances to become Quebec’s next premier, such is the unpopularity of Charest’s Liberals.

Responding to a recent report that found Quebec is one of the most unionized places on Earth, Sun Media’s Eric Duhaime describes la belle province as a “haven for big unions and a hell for small workers.” Quebec regulations permit employees to unionize without taking a vote, require a majority of employees at any unionized business to join the union, and the province is one of only two North American jurisdictions that prevent employers from hiring replacement workers in the event of a strike. “Quebec is the most indebted, the most taxed and the least attractive province for private investments because it is the most unionized on the continent,” writes Duhaime, who’s exasperated that MNAs are about to worsen the situation by strengthening anti-scab laws. We in the Newsroom can see why such powerful unions would be bad for the overall economy, but Duhaime doesn’t explain his unorthodox stance that they are “hell” for workers. Last we heard, workers enjoy things like inflated wages and job security.