Angry in the Great White North

Flag of the Commonwealth of Nations

Symbol of the Francophonie

Paul Martin might be a good economic manager, but as a people person, he's lousy.

Now he's managed to insult the Commonwealth. Yup, the entire British Commonwealth:

Ottawa Paul Martin's decision to become the first Canadian prime minister to skip the Commonwealth summit is drawing fire from abroad and at home. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference have met every two years since 1971.

People may not appreciate that Canada is considered one of the preeminent members of the Commonwealth. India might be the Jewel in the Crown, but Canada has always been the dependable eldest son. In the darkest days of World War II, the plan was to move the British government to Canada.

But in recent years, since the Trudeau era when French Canada grabbed a stranglehold on Canadian politics, Canada has become, at best, a fairweather friend.

And now, apparently, not even that.

Canada will not be missing altogether.

Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew will represent Canada but, added Mr. Axworthy, a foreign minister is not an adequate substitute for a prime minister.

A francophile minister who maintains an apartment in Paris? Definitely not adequate.

So why isn't Paul Martin going? Too busy? An election in the offing? A desire to stay in the country while leading a minority government?

Leading a minority government did not stop Paul Martin from attending the Francophone Summit in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso last November:

Dear friends, allow me to conclude by expressing my hope that the values that unite us will contribute to peace and progress, not only in the Francophone space but throughout the world.

I wish us all a very productive Summit.

Compared to the Commonwealth, the Francophonie is a bit of a joke. To bulk up the numbers, it includes such countries tied by the use of the French language as Poland and Albania. Except that these 14 additional countries don't use French, officially or otherwise, except perhaps as a minority language (though in several cases, not even that). As far as I can tell, these extra countries show up for the food.

Bottom line, the Francophonie exists to promote French, or more precisely, to promote anything but English. It should come as no surprise that the"extra countries" are all new EU members -- this is just another way for France to throw her weight around inside of Europe without Britain, Germany, or the United States getting in the way. Needless to say, this anti-English aspect of the Francophonie plays well in Quebec, and there is no way a Canadian prime minister from the Liberal Party is going to pass up a chance to be in a photo op that gets good play in the Quebec media.

But where are votes in the Commonwealth? Indeed, in some circles in Quebec, showing any support or affection for the Commonwealth would lose you votes. But then those people wouldn't vote Liberal anyway. Still, it seems like a lot of trouble with little or no pay off, so why bother?

Having just celebrated a most special Remembrance Day, this is an especially brilliant example of our Liberal Party government in action, willfully ignorant of history, focused entirely on the problem of how to cling to power.

On the one hand make all the right noises about how Canada played a key role along with the rest of the English speaking world to deliver the French from the Nazis (and restored France's control over her colonies in the Far East siezed by the Imperial Japanese), a cause French Canadians didn't want to fight for, by the way.

On the other hand, as the thinning ranks of English-speaking veterans return to their homes, the government makes it clear that 60 years later this country has no time for her English-speaking cousins, but rather has cast her lot in with the French, the mother tongue of less than a quarter of Canada's citizens, and will continue to mold her domestic and foreign policy to best support France and her interests, over Britain and the United States.

"It's outrageous that the Canadian prime minister is not attending," said Derek Ingram, a British journalist and author considered the pre-eminent expert on the Commonwealth. "People here can't understand why he isn't going and they are incensed about it."

Those people who "can't understand" need a primer on Canadian politics for the last 40 years. Liberal government after Liberal government dedicated to eradicating the symbols of Canada's historical heritage, to rewriting Canadian history to reduce or ridicule the contribution of English Canadians, to firmly entrenching French control in Ottawa.

The rest of the country is merely the engine to generate tax money, money spent in Quebec out of proportion to that province's size or its importance, spent there by "federalist" politiicians from Quebec.

Remember that a "federalist" in the Liberal Party is a person who they should control Quebec with the rest of the country footing the bill. A separatist is a person who thinks they should control Quebec but believes Quebec should pay her own way.

People should be incensed about Paul Martin skipping out on the Commonwealth conference. But it is easy to understand why. If they understood it, they might just move to invite Canada to leave the Commonwealth altogether. Just to make official something that happened April 20, 1968. That's the day Pierre Trudeau took control of Canada.