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QUEBEC'S VALUES DIFFER FROM THOSE OF THE REST OF CANADA

Macleans Magazine (Sept. 30, 2002 issue) published a "parent poll" based on telephone interviews with 800 parents (512 mothers, 288 fathers) of children aged two to 18 years, conducted across Canada between May 28 and June 3, 2002.

One fact that this poll made clear was that Quebeckers have a markedly different view on the family and child-rearing than the rest of Canada. Quebec also has the largest number of divorces, suicides, common-law relationships (as opposed to legally married couples), abortions and the lowest birth rate in all of Canada. There may well be a connection between Quebecker's views and the unhappiness and self-destruction that seem to permeate Quebec society today, as reflected in its dismal social statistics.

Some examples of Quebecker's liberal views on child rearing disclosed by the Macleans' poll are as follows:

1. Spanking of Children

49% of parents were in total support, but just 29% in Quebec agree that parents should have the right to spank their children. (Other polls such as Focus on the Family conducted by The Strategic Counsel in March and April, 2002, found that 72% of those interviewed believe that spanking should remain a legal option for parents.)

2. Premarital Sex

Quebec's parents are more tolerant of premarital sex: 30% of respondents in Quebec consider sexual relations appropriate by age 16 Ð an attitude shared by only 5% of parents in other parts of Canada.

The actual breakdown of child rearing between Quebec and the rest of Canada, according to the Maclean's poll was as follows:

SEX AND THE SINGLE TEENAGER

Q: What's the appropriate age for teens to have sex outside marriage? (%)

Q: Should your teens be allowed to spend the night together in your home with their sex partner? (%)

3. Sexual Relationship with a Same-sex Partner

57% of parents in Quebec thought that their child having sexual relations with a member of the same sex was acceptable in comparison to 44% for the rest of Canada. On the other side of the coin, 33% of parents consider such relationships as "very unacceptable."

Quebec's History and its Differing Values

Quebec's history differs from that of the rest of Canada. Up until the 1960s, Quebec's mainly French-speaking population was dominated by the Catholic faith. In the 1960s, the Quebec population turned its back completely on religion, believing that it no longer needed the religious-based values of its childhood to achieve happiness and satisfaction in daily life.

For example, a significant number of Quebeckers refuse to commit themselves to marriage. According to the 1991 census, 16% of all Quebec couples were living common-law. This percentage was substantially greater than the proportion of couples living in a common-law relationship in the rest of Canada (10%).

By 1996, at 64%, Quebec had the lowest proportion of married couples among the provinces, which was about 10 points below the national average.

The figures recently released in the 2001 census now reveal that nearly 30% of Quebec couples live in a common-law relationship compared to 12% in the rest of Canada and 8% in the United States.

Such figures place Quebec along with Sweden, that laboratory for all things liberal and liberated, as the champion of unmarried couples in the world.

One of the problems with common-law partnerships is that they dissolve more easily than legal marriages. Among couples with children, according to Statistics Canada figures released in 1998, 63% of couples living common-law break up within 10 years, compared to only 14% of legally married couples.

In 1996, Statistics Canada released the results of its longitudinal study of 23,000 children, which disclosed that those raised in their biological, two-parent family experienced far fewer problems. Children who do not have this advantage are far more likely to experience out-of-wedlock pregnancy, poor school performance, early school dropout rates and difficulties with the law.

Since common-law partnerships are far less stable and lead to more single parent families, this undoubtedly is contributing to the instability of Quebec's society with its troubling suicide and abortion rates, as well as its exceedingly low birth rate, etc.

QUEBEC FREE TO CHOOSE ITS OWN VALUES

Obviously, Quebeckers are free to choose their own values and lifestyle. A problem arises, however, when their profoundly different values skewer our national statistics, falsely indicating that Canadians are generally much more liberal than they actually are. For example, the Liberal party's poll to gauge support for gay and lesbian marriage, conducted last July by the Pollara
polling company indicated that although Canadians are evenly split on the issue, there were, nonetheless, regional differences with the usual discrepancy on the issue between Quebec and the rest of Canada. The Liberal Pollara Survey showed that the figures in support of "marriage" of same-sex couples are: Ontario 45%, Quebec 55%, Prairies 44%, Atlantic provinces
51%, BC 51%.

There is yet another way in which the values of Quebeckers have a profound impact on the lives of Canadians. This is the fact that the Supreme Court of Canada now has four of its judges from Quebec. Two of the female judges, Mme. Justice Louise Arbour, and the recently appointed (in September 2002) Mme. Justice Marie Deschamps, true to their Quebec roots and values, have not married the fathers of their children. Mme. Justice Arbour now lives apart from her former common-law partner. Mme. Justice Deschamps, in a wide-ranging interview in the Lawyers Weekly (Sept. 13, 2002 issue), unhesitatingly acknowledged her common-law relationship with the father of her children, as well as her liberal views on child rearing. (Her common-law partner once served in the Cabinet of former Quebec Liberal Premier, Robert Bourassa.) The article stated:

... She initially had misgivings about taking the post in Ottawa. Her common-law spouse, Paul Gubeil, travels on business a great deal. The former provincial Liberal Cabinet minister is a senior officer of Quebec grocery giant Metro Inc. and a board member of Export Development Canada.

The primary caregiver for their children, Valerie, 14, and Maxime, 12, Justice Deschamps said the need to move to Ottawa "was a big concern for me and at first I did not consider it but it's difficult to resist the challenge of working on the major issues that are submitted' to the Supreme Court. "There will be adjustments … that he would support me, and also the kids are not as young."

For now, the family remains based in their Nun's Island home (near Montreal), with Deschamps returning there on weekends. Valerie, who is "very mature," will continue to live at home and attend a private Catholic girls' school. Maxime may board at this private school.

How these judges choose to live their private lives is their own business, but their personal views and lifestyle will, unfortunately, directly affect the judgements they hand down, especially on such an issue as that of traditional marriage, which these judges will soon decide when the same-sex marriage question reaches them within a year or so.

The court's decision on same-sex relationships will not be a matter of law, but rather it will be based on the personal views of these appointed, unaccountable judges. As a result, all Canadians across this country will pay the price for these judges' liberal personal views.

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