Confederation of Tomorrow _A VIEW FROM THE TOWER By PHYLLIS CLARKE WEETNESS and light per- vaded the atmosphere of the opening session of the Confederation of Tomorrow Conference in Toronto this week, called by Premier Robarts of Ontario and having all other pro- vincial premiers in: attendance with the exception of B.C. Part of the euphoria undoubt- edly was created by the atmos- phere provided by the hosts, the Government of Ontario, in using the newly opened Toronto, Domi- nion Bank tower as the. confer- ence site. There is something about being on the 54th floor of the newest and tallest building, with a glorious view of the city and the lake, to give the im- pression of being one with the heavens and no longer part of. the mundane, but real, world. In other words, both the speakers and the speeches were up in the air. The opening statements were without any great surprises to anyone who has followed the positions taken on more than one occasion by the provincial premiers. Most colorful perhaps was Premier Smallwood of New- foundland whose discourse on the Procrustean bed theory of federalism — do for one only what you would do for all — while entertaining did not get down very deep into the problem of confederation as regard to the Freneh and understandably the have-not character of the Atlantic area dominates his views. Of course, this is the real hang up. There are in the minds of these premiers (with only per- haps Johnson of Quebec differ- ing to some small degree, but more on him later) not two na- ue: By CHARLES BOYLAN “There’s something unhealthy when a bunch of Quebecois come to Toronto to discuss their differences. After all it is our decision to make in Quebec.” Still Réne Levesque, author of this comment, did come to Glen- don College in Toronto to parti- cipate in their “Quebec Year 8” Conference. So did Robert Cliche, Eric Kierans, Howard Grafty, F. R. Scott, Mines Minis- ter Pepin, Giles Gregoire, Ram- say Cooke, and even Claude _ Ryan via closed circuit t.v. They came to debate the future of a nation, Quebec, ostensibly be-, fore an audience of 250 Glendon students joined by.some 74 Ont- ario high school students, 31 Quebecers and a handful of pro- fessors. But all of Canada heard them. “Quebec Year 8,” thanks mainly to Messieurs Levesque and Ryan, became a rather clear looking-glass into the reality of confederation. Either Canada continues to disintegrate piecemeal under the present federal system, 9r the. nation of Quebec wins its inde- pendence and negotiates as an equal with a united English- Canadian nation-state, mutually advantageous economic and cul- tural relations. Not surprising, the conference was loaded with one variety or English nations. But . tions in Canada but one — the Canadian nation, in which one can speak of two languages, two” cultures, but never, never, two nations. On‘ the constitution the diver- gence ranged between. those who want a new constitution, those who want repatriation (or patria- tion) to Canada, those who es- sentially want nothing done. Robarts, in his opening state- ment for example, said, “We are accustomed in Canada to spe- cial arrangements for indivi- dual provinces and regions. In principle, therefore, the term ‘special status’ does not: alarm. us. To .us the concept should mean a profound awareness that Canada is a country of disparate parts each with his own combin- ation of preferences and needs.” But on what to do he brought this profundity: “At this stage it would be premature to propose solutions to this vexing prob- lem, but we are prepared to make every effort to find such solutions.” For his part. the premier of Quebec _ had. this observation: “The 1867 constitution no longer in any sense conforms to pre- sent Canadian reality.” And in his projection of a new consti- tution, there is really little to which his confrere in Ontario could not subscribe for Johnson places it this way: “We have just outlined the Quebec government’s general objective.. To reach it, Quebec will necessarily have to obtain a new constitutional distribution . of tasks giving her broader pow- ers than she now exercises. We feel these broader powers are vital to Quebec, but this does not mean that we in any way object to the other provinces seeking exactly the same powers if they so desire.” - The western provinces were those which saw no need for any revisions, although they would go along with making the amendment process Canadian. And on no account, they under- lined, would they concede any tights to French Canadians, or French Canada, that were not universal for all Canadians. On aims for Confederation of Tomorrow Premier Robarts of Ontario started by opting for a Canadian identity as distinct from the U.S., from Newfound- land came a demand for an end to a situation of almost econo- mic colony status, and from New Brunswick came the aim of of economic equality, perhaps through a UNESCO or Colombo plan for the Atlantic provinces. Equality for all citizens .on Quebec territory was set as the ° aim of Premier Johnson along with equality throughout Cana- da. He went on to say that their nationalism was not “biological but cultural.” But he then has- tened to add that one should not take as’a prétext that be- cause there are more than 25° nationalities in Canada to say what is granted to one should be granted to all. These immi- grants should he said, “be in- tegrated into the francophone or anglophone group.” From this he presented the view of the need for equality of opportunity of people who speak French. And in this regard he-was particularly speaking about the French Can- -adians who. reside in other parts of Canada, or those Quebecers who will move to other parts of Canada. “Tt is time that Canadians get rid of the fear of writing a con- ec will decide” other of defendants of what Levesque called “one single, quiet truth, which is the status quo will go on as long as we're nice to each other.” _ The first “nice” man to ad- “dress the Conference was the English Quebecer, and father- figure for McGill students, Prof. ‘Michael Oliver. He cautioned tolerance and urged the will to act, suggesting “Ontario is the key” as to whether or not Que- bec will stay in confederation. But the Quebec student dele- gation wasn’t “nice.” As Pierre Roy, president of the University of Montreal*student union, ex- plained to me in perfect English, “We've insisted on speaking nothing but French in this con- ference to show what a farce this so-called bi-culturalism is.” The delegation also printed a statement after Oliver’s speech denouncing the fact that a mem- ber of a national minority opened a conference devoted to the fate of Quebec. Saturday's plenary saw Cliche, Kierans and Grafty pre- sent the mainstream partys’ pro- grams. Only Cliche seemed un- comfortable defending a fede- ralist point of view, arguing “Quebecers must be present on all fronts.” , Yet all of his clever witicisms DECEMBER 8, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 6. about the capitalist system couldn’t hide the fact he was in the same camp as his “class enemies,” Grafty and Kierans, when it came to the question of Quebec sovereignty. Again, like Kierans and Grafty, both old- line party hacks, Cliche was sharp in his attack on Anglo Saxon chauvinism. “When Gene- ral de Gaulle said ‘Vive Quebec libre,’ I clapped and laughed my head off,” he said. But all he could offer for Quebec was “equality” which might mean some sacrifices from Ontario. Only Levesque clearly ex- posed the root of Quebec’s na- tional need. “Equality is the latest cliche, a new catch-all,” he declared. He called Pierre Trudeau’s “per- sonal gallup poll” indicating 95 percent of Quebec’s grievances would be eliminated if French language .rights were “spread across Canada” a “sad joke.” Levesque described the histori- cal origins of real inequality, dating from the conquest and rooted in the economic power of the English minority in Quebec. The French minority in English Canada is poor and is assimilat- ed quickly, he went on. “When Bennett says B.C. schools in French are out of the question,- he’s not being very helpful to ‘ery and structure of federal-pro- While it may still to completely evalualé tribution -this con f make to the future one does feel that oY lions of words, no interesting as the C™ Debates of the last cel! will be little coming © The air of unre sified as darkness f ribbons of light OF streets seen from the®™ to stretch indefinal® aspirations and Oh people as far rem as seemingly from the politicians gathe here. - stitution,” he went on suggest- ing that it would be a good com- mon task to unite people who want to unite. Such a constitu- tion, he reiterated should include the right of Quebec to have con- trol of all that they consider necessary to maintain their cul- ture and language. _ With the first sessions out of the way the Conference was due to go on to such specific ques- tions as the role of the English and French languages, the ways in which the federal system could be improved, the machin- vincial and interprovincial rela- tionships in Canada. ESTATES GENERAL OPTS FOR SEPA The four day meeting to the Estates General 4 ; Canada last week adopted a whole series of resold gy went far beyond that of self-determination for Fren which was their position after the first day of delib “igh The. fact that the labor movement does not P® these deliberations, combined with the petty pourge ter of a majority of those in attendance, led to thes? propositions being adopted. : Among those resolutions which the meetinb were the following: e Abolition of English as an official language working language in business and industry in phasing out of English schools. oa __@ Government control of all mass media, eS5P* agencies, broadcasting and the cinema. itl e Annexation by Quebec of Labrador, the Hu half of Hudson Bay and James Bay, Baffin Island lantic coninen shield. e Resolution urging that Quebec take over in! foreign relations, defense, transport and commun! 40 economic affairs, broadcasting, health, welfare, ~ power, immigration, agriculture, housing and Tea Two motions favoring continued ties with Can a constitutional court and a new tax-sharing ° defeated after being described as too timid. Biling? also denounced as a Trojan horse for assimilation: Estates General president, Jacques-Yvan Mo! the meeting that they will press the Quebec gov accept the proposals. “No one will be able to put our conc governments will have to take them into acco much remains to be done to stop now.” ; On his arrival in Toronto for the Confederatio® row Conference, Premier Daniel Johnson refus a the decisions. English-Canadiap ahd the necessity ee y Quebec. In a dl) nar statement, i clared, “Our gf? ' to a definition © then we realize¢ _ lg our federal friends. But he is be- ing brutally frank.” “Quebec is a homeland, the only homeland of French-Cana- dians. Quebec could be content when she was ignorant . . . but the educated youth in Quebec won't accept being colonials in already a nati the their own home.” land, the cultut™ oj if He warned against the balkan- : 4 ization of English-Canada which is caused by Quebec. And he went on to describe the ‘neces- é jan sity of both Quebecers and Can- Other Canstad adians to stop the flow of capi- couldn’t une® cama ih tal out of their national .econo- ed to know tis mies to the U.S. about ‘separé f UF O the Quebecers % 4 ! n Sunday, the best the fede- tion.” An ralists could muster were veiled om Pc lass ibe”, threats from F. R. Scott and oe oie tears Deg’ Claude Ryan that an indepen- sips didn’t pave dent sovereign Quebec would be all of Canada vey? “totalitarian,” and according to j.oqc of such a Ryan, “right wing.” : ion of From discussions with Que- ne ee a bec students, this didn’t seem to peatedly emp Ov be the case. They described the the masseS Sige hundreds of students workingin jj) decide. ¢ worn the taverns, which they de- movement % coll scribed as “the new political Jue and whilé noe clubs of workers,” their strong professionals, ‘alliance with progressive Jew-" pec and make © sity ish-Quebecers and the probabil- sive society: Ls ity of independent labor action jo just as well aoe —all of which are indications of we're not W% yo! a progressive, not reactionary no better, but cu Quebec. anybody else, Finally, even some of the of Canada.