A modest proposal

When the people of Nunavik discover that they suffer from a shortage of social housing, Quebec City sends $50 million to build more. Not to be outdone, Ottawa throws in an extra $50 million of its own.

A hundred million dollars over five years for social housing — that’s a pretty good score for a region only a third the size of Nunavut.

It’s an especially good score when you consider that when the people of Nunavut petition Ottawa for some relief from their own appalling shortage of social housing, Ottawa sends only hugs from Claudette Bradshaw, followed a year later by hugs from Adrienne Clarkson. Though these may be more pleasant gifts than hugs from the likes of Bernard Landry and Lucien Bouchard, Nunavut’s growing numbers of shivering plywood-shack-dwellers would surely trade hugs for houses any day of the week.

In contrast to Nunavik, over which Ottawa and Quebec City appear to be engaged in a perpetual contest over who can pour the most fat into government services, poor benighted Nunavut is expected to subsist on a low-calorie diet of scraps and chewed-over dog bones.

We therefore offer our own humble contribution to the intractable problem of how to extract enough cash from Jean Chrétien’s tightwad government, a modest little proposal for which we beg your deep indulgence. Or at least, as much of your indulgence as you can spare.

Our proposal is this: that Nunavut immediately apply to join the province of Quebec, an action that would heal the wounds inflicted by Quebec Boundaries Extension Act of 1912 and reunite the artificially separated peoples of Nunavut and Nunavik. Most of all, such a move would surely guarantee that the people of Nunavut would at long last enjoy the benefits of a government capable of meeting their basic needs.

Imagine. Daycare centres whose fees don’t drive parents into penury. Schools where teachers aren’t driven mad by stress. A civil service that people can afford to belong to. Houses that aren’t stuffed with three or four families a piece. Health centres staffed by — believe it or not — doctors.

We’re sure that those who govern la belle province would be more than happy to enfold the lands of Nunavut within their affable embrace. Which brings to mind another benefit of union with Quebec — national unity. Surely, once having absorbed a gift as rare as Nunavut, could Quebec ever again contemplate separation from Canada?

There are of course, small matters such as self-government, aboriginal rights, political independence, the land claim, and so on to consider. But Ottawa’s tacit message to the people of Nunavut appears to be this: You can join Canada on your own terms and have all the political independence you want— as long as you’re prepared to live in poverty.

If, however, you’re fortunate enough to be in a province that’s constantly threatening to separate from Canada, you can have whatever you ask for. JB