Senator Parizeau?

Incredible, but apparently true: according to a new book, Brian Mulroney offered Jacques Parizeau a Senate seat in 1987. For his services to the country, I suppose. Mind you, at least Parizeau turned him down. Of all the separatist leaders, he was always the most honest, both with himself and others (remember the lobster pot?). Which is not to say he was honest: the whole thing was a bluff and a con, which could only succeed in the face of a completely enervated federal government -- as it certainly appeared to be in 1995. But in relative terms, he was the least deluded. A coup d'etat, followed by complete independence, was the closest thing to a realistic prescription for separation. As opposed to the innumerable models for "supranational infrastructures" and other Rube Goldberg devices proposed from various points along the spectrum of hemi-demi-semi-separatists (as the immortal Sen. Eugene Forsey used to call them) over the years. The latest example, also from Pierre Duchesne's biography of the former premier, the third volume of which has just been published in Quebec:

[An] illlustration of Mr. Parizeau's determination to break all ties with Canada following a referendum victory can be found in a key document obtained by Mr. Duchesne outlining the Quebec government's negotiating strategy in the event of a referendum victory. The negotiating committee proposed that Quebec request a seat at the United Nations but not at the World Trade Organization, arguing that Quebec's trade interests would be better served as part of a "Canadian union" team. An enraged Mr. Parizeau rejected the idea, saying Quebec would not form a country simply to allow Canada to negotiate trade issues on its behalf.

The same currency, the same passport, a binational Parliament in which Quebec would have half the seats: what madness those years were. But only because the political class in the rest of Canada, by its apparent acceptance of these and other absurdities, encouraged Quebecers to believe that, oui, c'est possible.