An earthquake in Haiti is an earthquake in Quebec,” La Presse columnist Marie-Claude Lortie wrote last week. With 130,000 people of Haitian origin living in the province, Ms. Lortie observed that the Haitian community is “so omnipresent” that “it's impossible to walk three steps” in Montreal without running into someone “a colleague, a friend, a neighbour, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a doctor, a teacher, a taxi driver, a babysitter” who has been personally affected by the tragedy.
In the days immediately after the earthquake, editorials in all the major Quebec dailies expressed solidarity with the Haitian community and demanded action from the federal government. In an editorial published last Wednesday in La Presse, André Pratte called on the government to “supply Haiti with any aid possible, rapidly and without political calculation.”
For the past week, the Quebec press has been keeping tabs on the Harper government's handling of the situation, and the overwhelming majority of pundits in the province have concluded the Prime Minister has done an excellent job so far. In fact, it is safe to say that Stephen Harper's handling of the Canadian response to the crisis in Haiti has garnered him more praise in Quebec than anything else he's done in the past year, if not ever.
Mr. Pratte's colleague, Vincent Marissal, didn't seem to expect much from Mr. Harper at first. In his Wednesday column, he pointed out that “foreign affairs have never been a strength” for the Prime Minister. But Mr. Marissal had to admit that Mr. Harper had responded rapidly and had demonstrated “a great determination to rush to the aid of the Haitian people.”
Le Devoir's Josée Boileau seconded Mr. Marissal's praise for the government's quick response. Ms. Boileau concluded that Mr. Harper's timely dispatch of DART, combined with his announcements of financial assistance showed an “impeccable” handling of the situation. Le Soleil editorialist Pierre-Paul Noreau was effusive in his praise for Mr. Harper, declaring that the Prime Minister's “diligent, well-targeted and generous response” had “brought honour to Canadians.”
Even Chantal Hébert managed a (perhaps somewhat backhanded) compliment for Mr. Harper's handling of the crisis in her Monday column for Le Devoir. “Over the course of the past week,” Ms. Hébert wrote, “Prime Minister Stephen Harper has directed his propensity for wanting to control everything toward the Canadian response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti. The results have been impressive.”
On the same day, La Presse's Alain Dubuc cautiously joined the chorus of pundits praising Mr. Harper. He acknowledged that “up until this point […] the Harper government has reacted vigorously and swiftly.” Mr. Dubuc explained that he used the phrase “up until this point,” because he wondered “how long this momentum will last.” He predicted that the public will eventually “get used to this drama […] and our collective passions will move on to something else.” Mr. Dubuc went on to declare that “one of the biggest challenges of this international relief effort will be finding a second wind, so that the political will of the donor countries and the level of aid might survive this predictable decline in interest.”
Column of the Week
Vincent Marissal observes that Michael Ignatieff's former Quebec lieutenant, Denis Coderre, has been “omnipresent” in the media since the earthquake in Haiti. Mr. Coderre represents a riding with a large Haitian population, speaks Creole and was once the cabinet minister responsible for Haiti in the Martin government. Mr. Marissal contends that, despite past power struggles between Mr. Coderre and Michael Ignatieff, and despite the fact Mr. Coderre does not have any official mandate to speak about Haiti on behalf of the Liberal Party, his public presence on the issue is a given. In any case, Mr. Marissal suggests that Mr. Ignatieff is really in no position to complain about Mr. Coderre's self-appointed role as spokesperson, since “the Liberal party hasn't been this visible in Quebec for months.”
In a response to Mr. Marissal's column on her blog, Ms. Hébert poses this question to Mr. Ignatieff's advisors: “Isn't it time to normalize relations between Michael Ignatieff and Denis Coderre by formally conferring upon Mr. Coderre the Haiti portfolio?”
