OLDCORN: Guilbeault’s ‘imagine’ post ignores reality on Quebec independence and France

Steven Guilbeault wants Canadians to believe something that never happened. In a post on X, he wrote, “Imagine one second that the Qc separatist movement reached out to France to help with Qc separatism, people in English Canada would be rightly outraged… This is no different, @Dave_Eby is right!” .That “imagine” is doing heavy lifting, because the thing he asks people to picture is not some wild hypothetical. Quebec and France have been meeting, signing agreements, and coordinating policy in the open for decades. This is not rumour. It is the record.France’s foreign ministry itself says France has had “direct and special relations” with Quebec since the 1960s, and notes Quebec has maintained an official delegation in Paris since 1961. You don’t need a tin-foil hat to see it. You just need a web browser.Guilbeault’s timing is not an accident. The post rides on real outrage over reports that Alberta independence leaders held meetings with US officials and discussed foreign backing, including talk of a massive credit facility. British Columbia Premier David Eby called it “treason,” and the story has ricocheted across the country. If Guilbeault wants to argue that seeking foreign help to break up Canada is reckless, he can make that argument straight. But he didn’t. He tried to sell a moral comparison that depends on the reader forgetting a basic fact. Quebec’s international outreach is not new, not secret, and not limited to friendly culture talk.And here’s the part Guilbeault won’t touch. This kind of outreach is not unique to one side of the country or one era..Toronto Star columnist Chantal Hébert, speaking on CBC, recently acknowledged what plenty of Ottawa hands already know — that US officials used to talk with Quebec sovereigntists, too, to understand what was going on. “US back then did have conversations with people from the Parti Québécois and the sovereigntist movement to inform their analysis of what was happening,” she said, according to a widely shared clip..So, yes, foreign governments meet with movements, opposition parties, and “civil society types.” That is how states gather information. The US State Department basically said as much in response to the Alberta meetings, stressing these contacts can be routine and come with no commitments.The hard question is not whether contacts happen. The hard question is what was asked for, what was promised, and who benefits. That is where journalists should dig and where politicians should be careful with their claims.Instead, Guilbeault tossed out a line that collapses under a light touch from history. Here are public examples of Quebec–France contact since the end of World War Two, with the most recent first.In April 2024, Quebec and France produced new joint documents at their high-level alternating meetings, including a record of decisions and a declaration focused on the French language.In November 2023, Quebec and France signed a declaration of intent on critical and strategic minerals. A big-ticket economic file tied to industry and security.In 2009, Quebec and France expanded mutual recognition of qualifications to support labour mobility..In 1995, during Quebec’s independence referendum campaign, France’s Jacques Chirac publicly signalled that France would recognize Quebec if it became independent.In 1977, France’s approach was summed up by the phrase “non-ingérence, non-indifférence” — no interference, no indifference — a formula meant to keep France close to Quebec while avoiding a direct breach with Ottawa.In 1967, Charles de Gaulle’s “Vive le Québec libre” moment put France’s political weight into Quebec’s domestic debate and triggered a diplomatic blast with Canada’s federal government.In 1965, Quebec and France signed an education and cultural cooperation agreement that helped set the template for the relationship that followed.This list of contacts is not controversial. It is the timeline.Guilbeault is free to argue politics. He is not free to invent a pretend world where Quebec reaching out to France is unthinkable. It has been thinkable for generations. It has been normal. It has been celebrated by elites who now act shocked when another region tries to play the same game.Canadians deserve a serious discussion about foreign influence, independence opportunism, and national unity. What we do not need is a minister using a made-up “imagine” to steer the public away from the facts he finds inconvenient.