Montreal vs the rest of Quebec
Excellent piece in L’actualité on the deepening fracture between Montreal and the rest of Quebec. An interview with Régis Labeaume, retiring as mayor of Quebec City, is at the heart of this piece: Labeaume is blunt in saying that immigration is a major reason Montreal is so different from the rest of Quebec, but that Quebec needs immigrants to keep its economy moving.
Lots of interesting stuff here. “Des participants issus de communautés ethniques ont affirmé se définir surtout comme des Montréalais, car ils ne se sentaient pas autorisés à se dire Québécois.” Me too, buddy. Me too.
DeWolf 12:40 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
Another interesting point in the article: people from the regions are less exclusive in their conception of who is Québécois than people in the outer ring suburbs of Montreal.
// Les habitants de la banlieue de Montréal sont plus nombreux que ceux des régions à exclure du « nous » québécois les personnes issues de la diversité et à croire que celle-ci constitue une menace à leur identité, montrent des études publiées en 2014 et en 2021. « Des gens dans nos groupes de discussion, et particulièrement ceux de la Rive-Nord, disaient se sentir “envahis” par les nouveaux arrivants quand ils vont faire un tour en ville », explique Luc Turgeon. //
It is remarkable just how homogenous some suburbs of Montreal are, while others like Brossard, Laval, etc. are now just as diverse as the city itself. Sometimes I think “the regions” are unfairly demonized because the true heartland of the reactionary, conservative, CAQ-style nationalism is suburban Montreal.
Kevin 13:20 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
@DeWolf
Someone needs to remake All in the Family and base it in Laval, and it would be just as relevant today as a show made in the 1970s.
Poutine Pundit 13:25 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
@DeWolf: That is surprising! I would’ve thought suburban Quebec City was bad as well, based on my own experience growing up there, but I looked at Turgeon’s study and it lists some of the politically conservative northern suburban ridings (Vanier-Les Rivieres, Charlesbourg) as the places most OPEN to immigration. Conversely, the Terrebonne-Mascouche-Repentigny area seems to feel the most threatened by immigrants.
Clément 13:47 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
@DeWolf: 2 Québec Solidaire MNA’s in Quebec City. 0 in the 450.
Blork 14:24 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
I wonder if there isn’t a paradox at work in these situations. For example, take a chunk of “region” somewhere, where there is hardly any diversity, and you might find people are more open to “others” because they hardly ever see them, and as such, they don’t feel “threatened” by them (I mean threatened in terms of identity). They probably welcome that one family from India, or that new doctor from Africa, etc., because it adds a touch of color to their otherwise very white community, and therefore makes them feel very urban.
Contrast that with a suburb like Laval, that has changed dramatically in the past 30 years, going from overwhelmingly white to very diverse. That diversity feels like a threat (to identity) to some of those long-standing Laval people, who see all this change and aren’t quite sure what to make of it. So they dig in their heels and push back against it.
I suspect the same thing would happen to that random “region” town if they suddenly had an influx of immigrants from Asia, Caribbean, Africa, etc. (as opposed to just a few glimmering ones).
Jack 14:43 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
« C’est gros, ce que je vais dire : il y a une crainte d’être contaminé. Ça prendrait un psychologue pour analyser ça, mais je pense que les Québécois se sont longtemps sentis ostracisés, et maintenant ils transfèrent le problème sur les minorités. » Lebaulme
I’ve argued this before, but the cultural and educational inculcation of this “trail of tears” historic narrative to describe Quebec’s past, is partly to blame.
If you are told that you are perpetually under attack and have been victimized ( Quebec bashing, take a bow) and that strong leaders will defend you. How are you expected to welcome diversity.
Look at someone like Leo Major:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9o_Major
In any other place we would name a mountain,school or street after him. Here Dollard, Delormier, Papineau, Levesque etc. function better for that narrative.
Blork 17:05 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
Well, bear in mind that people like Dollard, Delormier, Papineau, Levesque, etc. all did things FOR THE GLORY OF QUEBEC! whereas Leo Major just did something kickass that had nothing to do with Quebec.
Quebec doesn’t beatify its (secular!) saints because they they were awesome; they only beatify people who do things FOR THE GLORY OF QUEBEC!
Sidenote: Longueuil recently renamed a podunk patch of grass that faintly resembles a park as “Parc Léo-Major. Conveniently, it already had some WWII military hardware parked on it. https://goo.gl/maps/GSPW2rpkR6EwgKg67
Uatu 17:41 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
What people say is different than what they actually do. Sure they’d say on a survey that they’d accept new minorities, but let’s see what they say when my “tan” relatives and I walk down the street loudly talking in our foreign ethnic speak….
Tee Owe 12:26 on 2021-10-07 Permalink
The Montreal-Quebec divide mirrors the New York- USA, London-England, Berlin-Germany etc divides. There’s also a Toronto-Ontario divide – it comes with being a metropolis.
Tee Owe 13:20 on 2021-10-07 Permalink
Before you all pile on – of course there are Quebec-unique aspects , but then there are local-specific aspects for all of the others too. Big City vs the provinces happens everywhere.
Robert H 23:13 on 2021-10-07 Permalink
Alors, Tee Owe, c’est dans l’article lui-même:
“…les différences de mentalité entre les urbains et les ruraux est « un phénomène sociologique de base » qui s’observe un peu partout en Occident — pas uniquement au Québec.”
Donc, c’est l’édition locale à la saveur québécoise d’un phénomène mondial. Il est frappant de constater à quel point les plaintes sont similaires : le ROC envers le Québec, le ROQ envers Montréal. En réalité, ces clivages se retrouvent ailleurs dans le monde. On entend dire que les Britanniques ont abandonné Londres aux étrangers, que les Français ont fui Paris et que l’État de New York déteste la ville de New York.
Et les banlieues? J’ai toujours pensé que leur attrait pour certains ne se limitait pas aux logements bon marché et aux espaces verts. «White Flight» s’en vient au Québec.