Political myths, says Montreal journalist Michel C. Auger, “are more dangerous to democracy than deliberate lies.” Fake news is the creation of the moment, but sketchy beliefs may have generations of faith behind them.
With a provincial election coming in October, Mr. Auger has published a book in which he tries to defuse some dodgy ideas that many Quebeckers repeat to each other as fact. 25 mythes à déboulonner en politique québécoise (roughly, Debunking 25 Myths of Quebec Politics) reads like a handbook for the politically misled, with a short chapter for each myth and an even shorter initial summary of its antidote.
Is French in decline in Quebec? Does the province take too many immigrants? No and no, writes Mr. Auger, noting that the questions are often linked in the public mind. He points to a census finding from 2016 that says 94.5 per cent of the population can converse in French. Other figures show that Quebec needs workers, and retains only 75 per cent or less of the 50,000 immigrants who arrive each year – a lower rate than in other provinces. By Mr. Auger’s account, the real problem with immigrants is that Quebec doesn’t do enough to encourage them to stay.
But didn’t immigrants defeat the 1995 sovereignty referendum, as premier Jacques Parizeau said at the time, and won’t they guarantee a similar outcome in the future? No again, says Mr. Auger, waving another number: 81.5 per cent of Quebeckers claimed French as their mother tongue in 1995. If all those people had voted “oui,” the motion would have passed easily, instead of being narrowly defeated.
As these examples show, many of Mr. Auger’s myths are freighted with fear or suspicion. He invariably looks for a sunnier reality.
Is Quebec really the most corrupt province? Mr. Auger notes the campaign-funding reforms of the Lévesque era, does a quick tally of allegations against premiers in other provinces and concludes without further proof that Quebec is probably “in the middle” of the pack provincially. He pretends not to notice that in Quebec, “corruption” often refers to something more fine-grained and systematic. The Charbonneau Commission heard lots of testimony about graft allegedly committed by contractors with colourful nicknames, such as “Mr. Sidewalk.”
Another chapter sets out to deflate the belief that the federal government will never reopen the constitution for ratification by Quebec. Mr. Auger notes that some of Quebec’s constitutional beefs have been settled through legislation and court rulings. He also says that the agenda for any future constitutional talks will be driven by Indigenous issues. But does that make a constitutional conference more likely, or less?
Mr. Auger’s debunkings are part of a mini-genre of books that hold a mirror to Quebec society to reveal truths pleasant or not. Le Code Québec, by a trio of authors including pollster Jean-Marc Léger, combed census and survey figures to identify seven broad traits among Quebeckers. Le Code Québec finds them creative, fun-loving, entrepreneurial people who value consensus. They’re also more talk than action, according to the book, and feel victimized and thwarted – which is where Mr. Auger’s book comes in.
Quebec’s greatest myth-buster was the late Marcel Trudel, a prolific historian who loved to prove that things everyone knows just aren’t true. Prof. Trudel’s 1960 exposé of the extent of the French-Canadian slave trade shocked those who had always claimed that slaves were an English commodity. He later published five volumes of essays called Mythes et réalités dans l’histoire du Québec.
Compared with the sunny contrarianism of Mr. Auger’s book, Prof. Trudel’s essays are mischievous gems of feel-bad research. He examines writings of eminent Quebec historians of the 19th and 20th centuries, and finds a strong current of racism. He weighs Lord Durham’s 1838 claim that the Québécois were “a people of no literature and no history,” and finds it true – since they had produced no written histories (aside from The Jesuit Relations), and only one novel.
As Prof. Trudel well knew, Lord Durham’s words were much more powerful as a perceived insult than as an uncharitable statement of fact. They had an explosive effect on French-Canadian letters, and contributed to a defiant blossoming of Quebec arts and culture that continues to this day.
The power of political myths lies in their ability to stir and focus emotions. Mr. Auger’s useful book implies that when facts and figures are presented and understood, the myths will die. But what is most dangerous to democracy is not that people believe things that aren’t well-founded. It is that bad ideas feel better to some people than good ones.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misidentified a construction contractor, known to some by the nickname “Mr. Sidewalk,” as a civic employee.