Quebec come l'Italia?
French Catholic Quebec, like Latin Catholic Italy and Spain, is imploding demographically. The denizens of Quebec may huff and puff about preserving their cultural and linguistic heritage, but they don't care enough about it to actually produce more Quebecois. The '60s hit Quebec hard: In 1959, she had the highest birthrate in Canada. By 1971, she already had the lowest, though those of Italy and Spain are even lower than hers today. Who says the '60s revolution failed?
«Not long ago, Quebec was a Catholic Christian society, whose loyalty to its faith and historic traditions seemed unswerving,» wrote Ted Byfield in the Calgary Sun last month. «Now, having all but abandoned the Church, it has the lowest attendance rates in Canada - and the highest rate of cohabitation outside marriage, highest divorce and abortion rates and lowest birthrate. The cry of the Quebec separatists, who now sizably outnumber federalists, is they must leave Canada to preserve their heritage and culture. This is simply a lie. First to last, their culture and heritage is Catholic Christian, and they have forsaken it. What they want to preserve is somebody else's culture, Sweden's perhaps».
Also last month, prominent Quebec leader and former premier Lucien Bouchard generated a lot of protest when he condemned Quebec's combination of massive debt, low productivity, and abysmal birthrate. He pointed out that the situation could not continue much longer.
«We don't work hard enough. We work less than Ontarians and infinitely less than Americans», he said. He said that Quebec cannot sustain her large social programs and other benefits, such as low college tuition, while working much less than Americans and having few children.
«In Quebec it's like being in a big plane», he said. «It's warm and comfortable, with no problems. But when you look out the pilot's window, you see a big mountain, and it's certain we're going to crash into it». (da Lifesite)
