A vote-down will not do. Why raise it? Quebec will be offended if the Nation Resolution is shot down at Convention

I keep thinking that I have written my last post on this topic, but I unfortunately spotted Antonio's blog earlier today. As busy as I was, I could not help wondering why this is still being discussed. I had similar thoughts last night when I read about Senator Grant Mitchell's plea to Alberta Liberals about supporting Iggy's Nation resolution.

To set the record straight, the Nation resolution puts Quebec in jeopardy and was passed because of flawed processes at LPCQ.

Grassroots Liberals have put down their partisan responsibilities and have come together in the hopes of standing up for Quebec and averting the optics of Quebec being rejected by Canada again. This means protecting Quebec and Canada from the backlash that will certainly occur here when the rest of Canada arrives in Montreal for Convention and votes this down the Nation resolution. This is what many non-Quebec, non-Iggy Liberals hope.

There are however consequences. Quebecers will be insulted. The media will run with it. Bernard Landry and Andre Boisclair will try to adopt Iggy as one of their own and in so doing endorse the one who will get them what they want. Does anyone remember what happened when the Charlottetown Accord died and the Bloc Quebecois was born?

The province of Quebec is preparing for a provincial election that will be decided in large part by what success the Parti Quebecois can find in re-fuelling nationalist sentiment. This is a train wreck waiting to happen....

Quebecers will be emotionally disturbed by such a vote down that will be spun as Canada rejecting Quebec - again. No matter how they feel about Canada and Quebec today, many Quebecers will change their loyalties from a united Canada to a sovereign Quebec if the emotion or common interpretation is that the rest-of-Canada rejecting Quebec. These are the soft-nationalists who will choose Canada if there is sufficient respect but who also represent the difference - the swing vote - in any referendum on sovereignty.

For Canadians outside Quebec, the failure of this Nation resolution will fuel sovereignist sentiments here, so why risk it? To get Iggy elected leader? To "sandbag" the Convention? Take it from me and I understand what it is like to be unfamiliar will the uniqueness of this great province: if Manitoba Liberal gets his wish and votes down this resolution hard, there will be a backlash that will hurt the Liberal party, the stability of Quebec and Canada too.

Is that a reason to vote for the Nation resolution? Fear? How do we stop a moving train?

Or, is that a reason to do the honest thing and allow it to be pulled prior to convention because the process used to get it to the floor for a vote, and the vote itself was undemocratic?

The fact that the Nation resolution is flawed from both content and process perspectives is a either by coincidence or not. That depends on whether one considers the political stripes of those involved in these decisions to be a factor or not. Do process Iggys have a common approach with content Iggys? It is hard to say.

Either way, the very best thing for the Liberal party, Quebec and Canada would be for these resolutions passed via flawed process to go away. This could be accomplished easily if Liberal party members would encourage LPCQ to adopt the draft resolution when it is in its final form shortly, and replace the resolutions passed at the Special Council in Montreal last month with democratically passed resolutions from November 2005 Biennial Policy Convention.

Credibility would be restored and a lose-lose showdown in Montreal that would have overshadow the Liberal leadership Convention would be avoided.

My last post on this draft resolution will be when it is 'officialised' shortly and the ball is squarely in LPCQ's court. What happens next will be about salvaging LPCQ's reputation with credibility and as a body that respects fair process. Much would be done to restore that credibility if the "right" very releavent resolutions still are sent to convention --not those dropped in there inappropriately for the wrong reasons.