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NELSON: Quebec complains but it will stay in Canada

FACE TO FACE: If Parti Quebecois wants cash, should Canada let Quebec go? P auline Marois' sovereigntist Parti Quebecois will likely win next week's Quebec provincial election. "Oh, really?" say most of us. "Merde," spits my melting-pot colleague.

FACE TO FACE: If Parti Quebecois wants cash, should Canada let Quebec go?

Pauline Marois' sovereigntist Parti Quebecois will likely win next week's Quebec provincial election.

"Oh, really?" say most of us.

"Merde," spits my melting-pot colleague. Renewed talk of Quebec sovereignty is enough to make him choke on those little doughnuts he bought at the PNE.

"Good riddance!" he says. "Let 'em go!" And, "Think of the money we'd save in transfer payments, government contract favouritism and bilingual cereal boxes."

Lighten up. It's Quebec. Sure, Quebecers complain but Canadians mostly don't mind; we all complain, that's part of the Canadian deal.

I don't much like Toronto's centre-of-the-Earth mentality, Alberta's drill-baby-drill, damn-the-environment attitude, or the way Maritimers pronounce "car" and "bar" and play squid jiggin' music. But the fact that I don't like it doesn't mean I don't embrace them as Canadians.

I readily admit that complaining about mistreatment by English Canada seems as important a part of Quebec culture as poutine, tourtiere and the Habs. And it's undeniable that Quebecers are remarkably unappreciative of the efforts of anglophone parents all over Canada to give their children a French immersion school experience.

Still, that's what Quebec does. Despite Quebecers' chronic dissatisfaction, we steadfastly embrace our two founding nations and bilingual Canadian heritage. Like Europeans, we consider it a privilege, not a burden, to be of two founding nations.

Our First Nations people express dissatisfaction over the loss of their lands, culture and way of life. We know there is legitimate basis for their complaint and that we should talk about it - sometimes fruitlessly, but talk none the less.

Similarly, Quebec sovereigntists trade off the not-unfounded fear that if they are not vigilant, their language and culture will be nibbled away. It's understandable, predictable and will always be thus.

We should all chill and get over it. Quebecers will always complain and they will stay in Canada unless anglophone hysteria drives them out.

Have you seen Quebecois Olympians striving to win gold for Canada? Tell me they don't love Canada and wouldn't sob at the playing of our national anthem.

We westerners see Quebec as one of 10 provinces. Quebecers don't. They see themselves as one of two founding nations.

It's a fundamental disagreement but it's not terminal.

Face to Face columnist Jim Nelson is a retired Tri-City teacher and principal who lives in Port Moody. He has contributed a number of columns on education-related issues to The Tri-City News.