René Lévesque spied on

The feds were spying on René Lévesque and were particularly interested in his sex life. They followed him to his bedroom. This is what we were taught The newspaperyesterday, following a revelation by historian Frédéric Bastien, also a candidate for the PQ leadership, who unveiled unpublished documents on the subject.

We can immediately guess why: it was a question of finding elements to make him sing.

Let’s say it right away: if the maneuver is shocking, it does not surprise. Such tactics are as old as the world. States are doing all they can to neutralize those they see as their enemies.

And yet, many Quebeckers will be very surprised to learn this. They are so convinced that Canada is a beautiful, great, exemplary country that they cannot imagine it using methods other than democratic persuasion to convince Quebeckers not to part with it.

Ottawa

They do not imagine that the Canadian state is ready to use all the means necessary to destroy the Quebec nationalist movement.

History confirms to us, however, that he does not hesitate to take great measures.

Just think of the role of the RCMP in the history of the FLQ or of the military occupation during the October Crisis.

Think of the unilateral repatriation of the Constitution against the will of Quebec, which represents a coup against Quebec.

Think of the astronomical spending at the time of the last referendum to ensure the slim victory of the No camp in 1995.

Think of the sponsorship scandal, through which the feds made the choice to corrupt a whole fringe of Quebec’s elites, by investing massively to buy their loyalty, and thus contributing to the degradation of our democratic life.

In other words, for Ottawa, anything goes to save Canadian unity.

This history lesson recalls the fundamental imbalance in the Canada-Quebec confrontation. For the feds, democracy is only one instrument among others in the fight against the separatists.

Conversely, sovereignists have always believed that democracy was the only legitimate path to independence. They want to be so morally irreproachable that they even come to prohibit themselves from using public funds to ensure the advancement of their option once they are in power, as if it were scandalous that a elected party works openly to promote its raison d’être. They would like to make independence with the permission and blessing of Ottawa.

Incapacity

The sovereignists seem to believe in the immaculate conception of independence: a day will come when, following the intervention of the National Holy Spirit, Quebec will be fertilized by the idea of ​​country and will finally become a sovereign state.

It is what one could call an angelic vision of the national combat.

It is not about wanting to use the same means as the feds. In any case, Quebec would not have the means. But it is about remembering what means we used against us, and in one way or another, that we still use.