Translating the printemps érable

François-Xavier Simard       June 2, 2012

Original French Text: http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2012/06/02/le-piege-de-charest

By provoking the striking students, Quebec Premier Jean Charest is preparing to carry out the same Machiavellian plan used by Trudeau. Older voters like me remember the parade on June 24, 1968, the eve of the first general election of Pierre Elliot Trudeau as the head of the federal troops. Despite the risk of his presence provoking Quebec nationalists, Trudeau insisted on watching the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade from the top of the grandstand on Sherbrooke Street: this was Truncheon Monday.

According to the newspapers the following morning, there were 290 arrests, as well as 43 police officers and 83 spectators injured, some seriously. Claude Savoie describes Trudeau’s attitude that night: “Like Caesar atop his tribune, Trudeau watches the carnage on Sherbrooke Street, the show ostensibly pleasing to him. […] But the next morning, when English Canadians go to vote, they will sense that Mr. Trudeau is the only man brave and courageous enough to stand up to a Quebec on the brink of anarchy.” (Les crises de Pierre Elliott Trudeau, p. 109.) Trudeau’s provocation assured him an electoral majority victory.

Charest is preparing to use the same ploy. He refuses to come to an agreement with student leaders on tuition fees despite a 13-week strike. Law 78 has instigated a social crisis. The noise of casseroles has become a daily one. All he needs now is a riot to call voters to the polls in a re-election attempt just before the findings of the Charbonneau commission on corruption in the construction industry are revealed.

Students know to avoid the trap, but how can troublemakers be prevented from taking the bait? 

François-Xavier Simard