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Vivian Barbot, the former Bloc Québécois MP who made history when she defeated Pierre Pettigrew in 2006 in the Liberal fortress of Papineau, only to find herself ousted from office in 2008 by Justin Trudeau, has been elected vice president of her party. Barbot's narrow victory over Pettigrew — an ardent federalist and senior minister in the Jean Chrétien Liberal cabinet — remains an especially gleeful moment for Quebec sovereignists.
Will she run again?
Born in Haiti, Barbot was a teacher, president of the Quebec Women's Federation and a union activist, before entering politics. In an interview last week with NPEN, she said she remains active in the Bloc's Papineau riding association despite her defeat, although she hasn't made up her mind whether she'll run again in the next election.
Regarding her new role as vice president of the Bloc (a full-time administrative position for which she is salaried), she said, "The role is really to make links between the caucus, the members and all the militants, and also the party itself as an organization, to make sure that everything runs properly.
Sovereignty back
"You know, like right now, we're working on the next elections. We don't know what's going to come out, so my role is to make sure that all the documents and objectives are up to date." The position carries some extra responsibility for determining the Bloc's "vision for what we have to do," she added, "so it's also very political."
As the Bloc steps up the volume of its core campaign for Quebec sovereignty, in the aftermath of the failed Liberal/NDP coalition which the Bloc had supported without getting results, Barbot confirmed the party is "working very much on putting independence as a first step." And like other commmitted members of the Bloc, she maintains Quebec sovereignty would help resolve the province's economic problems.
A 'fundamental goal'
Indeed, according to a statement issued following the Bloc's Jan. 31 general assembly in Ste. Hyacinthe where Barbot was elected, she says she is very happy to find herself in the new role and to be able to contribute to achieving the Bloc's most fundamental goal, "the sovereignty of Quebec. With all our other partners in the sovereignist movement, we will have to find the means to put forward the language and culture of Quebec, to find the words to speak of sovereignty and convince those around us that the only winning option is to make Quebec a country."
In conversation with NPEN, she acknowledged, "It's true that we are in an economic situation which is worse," but "it shows how we would be better off in an independent Quebec than what's going on now." Barbot pointed out that the Conservative government cut more than $1 billion in transfer payments to Quebec in the latest federal budget, and she attributes that move by the Harper administration to the fact Quebecers send so few Conservatives to Ottawa. "Which is absolutely unacceptable in a democracy," she claims.
Battle commemoration cancelled
In addition to its long-term sovereignist agenda, the Bloc recently took a stand siding with those who protested against, and succeeded in having cancelled a mock battle that was set to take place this summer in Quebec City to commemorate the 250th anniversary of France's historic defeat on the Plains of Abraham. Officials with Canada's National Battlefields Commission cited threatened disruptions by extreme Quebec nationalists, such as the Jeunes Patriotes du Québec, as the main reason for the cancellation.
On the cover of the Feb. 12 edition of the Bloc's in-house newsletter, le Tour du Bloc, the party questioned "the pertinence of celebrating a battle which symbolizes the English conquest on Quebec territory." The Bloc maintains that the Conservatives and the Liberals wanted to "profit from this anniversary to remind us that Quebec is a conquered country, under the governance of Canada." Prime Minister Stephen Harper accused sovereignists and the Bloc itself of generating political tension over the re-enactment.
Ad by Impératif français
On page two of its newsletter, the Bloc had, in fact, published a notice, sponsored by the Mouvement Impératif français and the Société St-Jean-Baptiste, advertising a demonstration held Feb. 22 on Parliament Hill against the re-enactment. Defending her party, Barbot told NPEN, "But at the same time he (Harper) said that he knows that the Bloc and the Parti Québécois have always been against any kind of violence no matter where it comes from, so they can't put that on our shoulders."