Drimonis: CAQ's zero-sum politics add up to a loss for Quebec
This week's news that McGill University is eyeing a 'rebrand' — which followed recent headlines about the Legault government's $30-million fine against LaSalle College for exceeding quotas on English-language students — left me feeling exhausted.
Over the last few years, I've grown increasingly tired of watching Quebec's English-language institutions spend so much energy, time and money fending off attacks by the Coalition Avenir Québec instead of focusing on what they do best: educating students.
Why would a nationally and internationally renowned university like McGill feel the need to rebrand if not for a government seemingly determined to undermine it by imposing measures that create chaos, confusion and financial uncertainty?
And why is LaSalle College — a successful bilingual school (founded by a francophone) — now having to fight for its survival over student quotas supposedly aimed at strengthening the French language, but for which no evidence exists that they achieve any such thing?
It's been demoralizing to watch English-language institutions that have benefited, shaped and promoted Montreal and Quebec around the world be treated in a consistently aggressive and underhanded way by this government. And for what? Political points?
Time and again, the CAQ has chosen division over real investments in the French language, perhaps hoping to distract from its own disastrous record. In attacking these vital establishments the government seems to be trying to convince Quebecers that any loss for English-language institutions is a gain for French. Does anyone actually believe that?
When I hear the antiquated rhetoric of those who refer to McGill as a bastion of anglo supremacy, disconnected from Quebec's francophone majority, I can't help but think these critics are the ones disconnected from today's Quebec.
Are they aware of the number of francophones who are employed by, teach or study at English-language institutions? Or the extent to which these institutions help fill labour shortages elsewhere in the workforce? It's absurd to treat them as something separate and apart from the rest of Quebec. They are Quebec.
Post-Bill-101 Quebec is no longer a place where francophones, anglophones and allophones walk separately. Most of us want to move forward, side by side, speaking each others' languages.
Quebec society benefits daily from the skills, research and innovations of its institutions of higher learning — English and French — from artificial intelligence to public health and beyond.
It's tiring to see this government repeatedly use language as a weapon and treat politics as a zero-sum game between two opponents. Are we not all on the same team?
It's been said before: a Quebec institution is a Quebec institution. Their success is the bedrock of our collective success. We all lose when one of us takes a hit.
English-language institutions are assets that contribute to Quebec's educated workforce and economic development. They deserve as much respect and protection as their French-language counterparts. We shouldn't have to argue this.
Yet this government would have us believe that when one of us is cut down, the other becomes taller. In truth, zero-sum politics are increasingly being recognized as outdated and harmful, hindering co-operation, stifling economic growth and innovation, and contributing to political divides.
Positive-sum policies, on the other hand, create better outcomes for everyone. That's what we need — governments that amplify our strengths, not chip away at them.
In a place that understandably will always worry about the protection of what makes it unique and different, it's lazy and cynical to use language as a political weapon — especially when English-speakers who are bilingual or multilingual are a fundamental part of Quebec's success, too.
The Legault government seems stubbornly stuck in the Quebec of yesteryear, fighting enemies that no longer exist. Language is a tool for communication and success, not for exclusion and suppression. We either succeed together, or we fail while pointing fingers at one another.
I know which I prefer.
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