Canada's Breaking Point ten years later || The Joseph Planta Commentary ||

Canada's Breaking Point ten years later

By JOSEPH PLANTA

Sunday, 30 October 2005

VANCOUVER - As a bit of a student of Canadian politics and history, I can't say for certain how many times I've seen the masterful three-part Donald Brittain documentary, The Champions. The series chronicles the life and times of Pierre Trudeau and Rene Levesque, which looks at their formative years straight through to 1985 when Levesque is stepping down as leader of the Parti Quebecois, and Trudeau has been out of office one year. It's a remarkable documentary that includes much archival footage as well as interviews-not with the men themselves-but with their contemporaries and opponents, thereby demonstrating again, just how potent and enigmatic these men were.

It was with some anticipation that I recently viewed the CBC's new four-hour documentary, Breaking Point (Point du Rupture, in French). The film, which re-airs tonight and tomorrow, looks at the last Quebec referendum of 1995. Breaking Point is a much-needed look at those events, and timely considering it is ten years today that the vote was held. As well apt what with the first Gomery Commission report due Tuesday. Enough time has past it seems, with those active in the arena, out, able to expound a bit more freely. However, the problems that took us to the proverbial edge as it were are still simmering.

One thing noticeable is that there's a whole chunk of history that is seemingly undocumented, at least in film. The Mulroney era seems incidental to the grand narrative of recent political history. Perhaps with Peter C. Newman's recent book, as well as Mulroney's forthcoming memoir, there'll be that much needed look, not to mention much revisionism to come.

Most of the major players participate in Breaking Point. Jean Chrétien and Jacques Parizeau are interviewed, though Chrétien isn't nearly as candid about his anxieties about nearly losing the country. Perhaps the filmmakers didn't ask, he wasn't forthcoming, or the producers didn't use the footage. Lucien Bouchard did not participate in this film, though he is seen liberally in archival footage, as well as in interviews he gave in the past. A present-day review from the man at the centre of the storm is desired.

What made The Champions a bit theatrical, in the sense that Levesque and Trudeau were held out to be giants who represented the dichotomy within Quebec, was the absence of both offering their own thoughts. Both wrote memoirs, while Trudeau participated in a lengthy documentary, but their legend was heightened thanks to their non-participation. In a way, without Bouchard, Breaking Point perhaps magnifies his role in the whole convulsion the nation when through ten years ago.

When viewing Breaking Point it is interesting to do a bit of 'Where Are They Now?' when seeing some of the political players of the day. Paul Martin, despite being the country's finance minister at the time, doesn't figure very much in the narrative. You see the current Prime Minister usually standing behind someone at some rally, usually behind Chrétien or Daniel Johnson, who was the then Quebec Liberal leader, and who was the de facto leader of the 'No' campaign. Someone else standing in the periphery is Jean Charest, then Progressive Conservative leader, and the current head of the Quebec Liberal Party, and Quebec's Premier. One forgets that at the time, he was viewed as prime ministerial material, even though he had but two seats in the House of Commons, his and Elsie Wayne's.

Chrétien and Parizeau are out of the arena, while Preston Manning and Lucien Bouchard though out of elected office are still making headlines with the occasional policy prescription for the state of the nation. The Bouchard phenomenon however is rooted in the potency of his appeal. After the 'no' vote, Parizeau resigns the next day. His comments about the ethnics and money causing his dream to die don't help, and perhaps necessitate his departure. Bouchard leaves Ottawa to succeed Parizeau to become premier. He hesitates to hold another referendum and goes on to hold office rather unspectacularly until 2001. Despite his personal popularity and his amazing appeal, he's more a pragmatist than anything else. It confounds the hardcore separatists, like Parizeau, but they have no alternative but to seek his leadership.

His is still a tremendously fascinating character. And compared to Daniel Johnson, who like Parizeau is seen as imperious and hardly men of the people, he's still widely popular as a political figure. Despite his separatist credentials, it's easy to forget he was lured into politics inspired by Trudeau, and he gives federalism a chance when his former Laval law classmate Brian Mulroney offers him the ambassadorship to France, not to mention a cabinet post. It was a fine team the two of them were, and when the Meech Lake Accord failed in 1990, Bouchard fled and the friendship fissured. It's something deep that both haven't talked about to this day, and what's most fascinating is how this personal fallout affected the nation's politics so.

Then of course, there's the flesh eating disease that Bouchard gets, bringing him literally to death's door. He's a martyr in Quebec, and even his opponents in Ottawa applaud his remarkable courage and conviction. Not since Levesque has Quebec seen such a figure of immense proportion who galvanised support for sovereignty, as well as support against.

Breaking Point is an excellent study of the events of ten years ago when this country was nearly lost. It's also a great primer on just what happened to bring us to the brink we're seemingly on today. Gomery on Tuesday will be blockbuster news whatever the report's contents, perhaps triggering another federal election. And the fact that support for sovereignty in Quebec is on the rise, is something that can't be overlooked despite the disarray in Ottawa and elsewhere. Ten years after reaching the breaking point, it looks like we're back where we started.

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The lead item in this morning's Page Six column in the New York Post has to do with a sex tape that's being floated around starring Colin Farrell and Playboy Playmate Nicole Narain. It reminds me of Larry the Cable Guy, the popular comedian whose album and book are each selling millions of copies. It seems there are two women who are pushing sex tapes of old Larry. Isn't that the case, when you get famous you've got relatives coming out of the woodwork? Git-R-Done.

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