Bloquistes would presumably object on the grounds that 40 per cent of Quebeckers – translating into 10 per cent of Canadians – voted for the Bloc, so fairness requires that these voters not be “disenfranchised,” that the Bloc get its pro rata share of federal financial support.
Such an argument, though, would risk collapsing under the weight of its own irony. For Quebec's leaders have sought to protect its unique minority culture, over many decades, precisely by rejecting the principle of apportioning power or resources on the basis of raw popular numbers, without a due respect for the federalist principle.
That is why, for example, former Quebec premier Robert Bourassa sought to dilute the rest of Canada's popular majority by a Quebec veto over changes to the federal Constitution, requiring any amendment to win threshold public support in both Quebec and the rest of Canada. He also sought a guaranteed proportion of seats – again, mitigating the popular vote with a principle of regional distribution – for Quebec in the federal Parliament.
To ask that the federal Treasury support a party that is available only to Quebeckers is like asking it to support courts, parks, highways or other public bodies and spaces that are accessible to Quebeckers only, something that no sovereigntist politician has ever sought or expected.
True, the Treasury may channel funding for certain kinds of private entities to Quebec companies only, as for example with the Economic Development Agency for the Regions of Quebec, although Ottawa generally offers comparable programs elsewhere. Given their integral role in government, though, political parties don't resemble private so much as public entities – entities that, if the federal taxpayer is going to fund them, should be open to all Canadians.
We should, at the very least, engage in an honest debate about the party-allowance formula, and whether it should be more federalist and less purely numbers-based in its orientation. Yes, the politics of doing so would be daunting. But it might also be the first step toward returning to Canadians a critical option: electing governments that can take a longer view of the serious issues that confront the nation.
Andrew Stark is a professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto and a former policy adviser in the Prime Minister's Office under Brian Mulroney.
