Join the new world

Imagine a researcher who should describe Quebec, but without setting foot there and knowing nothing about its economy, its culture or its demography.

It should describe Quebec from its international presence. He should, in fact, deduct it.



Cultural footprint

According to film news, he would find that almost every year for ten years, a Quebec film or a film made by a Quebecer, has been nominated for the Oscars, the Golden Globes and the Cannes Film Festival and that it is no longer rare that they leave with a prize. He would know that HBO, Netflix and other broadcast giants are flooding with scripts from directors born not far from the St. Lawrence. He would see that the Quebec logo appears almost systematically at the end of major productions of superheroes and space travel.

Continuing his cultural research, he would learn that other Quebecers have long dominated the Las Vegas scenes and that local singers regularly occupy the French and, in some cases, English sales markets. It looks like their dance troupes are recognized from Philadelphia to Berlin. He would also find that the best jazzmen, humorists and contortionists converge, each year, when there is no pandemic, to the metropolis of Quebec to share their art.

Our researcher would know, because he has comparables, that Quebec is not a cultural superpower, because it is neither Hollywood nor Paris. But he would conclude that Quebec is a cultural power.



The economic footprint

He should also fill his notebook with economic ratings. He would learn that in the metro tunnels of 40 cities and on the railways of 21 countries, from Chile to Uzbekistan, run no less than 100,000 vehicles bearing a Quebec logo, Bombardier.

He would learn that in Aerospace, the Quebec metropolis is on the podium of the three big world places and that Quebec helicopters and planes crisscross the skies of 100 countries. They land at American, Russian or African airports. Airports sometimes designed and built by Quebec engineers.



Continuing his investigations, our researcher would be interested in the political weight of Quebec. In Washington, he would learn that one of the largest free trade agreements in history, NAFTA, simply would not exist without the political weight put in the balance by Quebec almost 35 years ago.

In Brussels, they would explain to him that another historic agreement, between all of Europe and Canada, only exists because of Quebec's desire to see it emerge.

In San Diego, it was said that the alliance between California and Quebec was essential to reduce polluting emissions from cars across the continent and that this alliance now forms the basis of the only carbon market in force on the continent. .

In New York, he would be told that Quebec's electricity is one of the keys to the ecological transition in the Northeast.

In Paris, he was told that Quebec's strength of character was decisive in the design of an international convention protecting the ability of states to support their national cultures. Agreement first brought by Quebec, France and Canada, then by La Francophonie, then by all countries of the world, except two.

In several African capitals, he would learn that Quebec is one of the most influential governments in an organization that has 77, the International Organization of La Francophonie.

He would learn that, in recent years, the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec has accompanied the democratic transition in Mexico, Benin, Madagascar, Cape Verde, Tunisia. It seems to him that this body and the National Assembly of Quebec are, everywhere in French-speaking Africa, constantly active in the consolidation of democratic institutions.



The footprint in education and science

In Boston, the great American intellectual city, they would tell you they knows only one rival, in terms of the number of universities, local and foreign students: Montreal. And that the metropolis is regularly chosen as the best city in the world to study.

Being interested in science, we would explain to our researcher that the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in artificial intelligence, the Turing Prize, was awarded to Quebec researcher Yoshua Bengio, considered as one of the three spearhead of Artificial Intelligence to the world, that Montreal is one of the planetary poles of research in this matter and of the development of ethical rules to be applied in this new universe.

He would be told that Quebec’s scientific excellence is not new because one Quebecer, Pierre Dansereau, is the father of ecology, and another, Hans Seyle, first described stress. It looks like rickets has been beaten because Quebec researchers have learned how to fortify milk. He would learn that 150 million newborns have been screened for congenital hypothyroidism thanks to the work of Jean-H Dussault. Or that Bernard Belleau designed 3TC, the first drug used worldwide against AIDS.



It would also seems to him that Quebec is used to being in orbit. It is in Saint-Hubert that the Canadian Arm of the international space station was built. Quebecers were not only astronauts, but an ex-tightrope walker from Quebec was one of the first space tourists.



A footprint on public policies


Our researcher would also find Quebec fingerprints in the public policies of other countries. They come from Europe to study our social economy policies, from Catalonia to borrow our language laws, from the United States learn about our daycare centers or our Union Investment Funds, and Ralph Nader is inexhaustible on our drug insurance. France and Canada are inspired by our laws on electoral financing. The mediation practice developed in Quebec to save litigation from the slow judicial process interests European countries, Australia, Mexico and many others. And our lawyers have worked to train Chinese judges, helping to strengthen the rule of law in a country that desperately needs it.

He would understand that Quebec is present in the world, which makes him well: 350 European companies and 350 American companies have chosen Quebec, like 65 international organizations. He would smile when he learned that when the wealthy Qatar attempted to move the prestigious and imposing headquarters of the International Air Transport Association, IATA, from Montreal to Doha, the member countries overwhelmingly preferred to stay in Montreal.

We could talk to him for so long about athletes from Quebec, who regularly climb on the Olympic podiums, especially when the time for winter games comes.

If he is interested in war and peace, he will know that Quebecers have shed their blood to make the Nazis retreat, and that we remember them from Holland to Dieppe, that about twenty died in Afghanistan against the Taliban but that they are particularly proud of their role in peacekeeping missions.


Back in his office, with all his notes, what would our researcher learn? Hard to say. But it's easy to imagine what he wouldn't deduce. He would not believe that a people of only 8 millions are responsible for all this radiation. He would not believe that the GDP of this people does not raise it, at least, in the G20. It would be very difficult for him to understand that these people are not members of the United Nations and that they can hardly ever vote in forums where major issues are decided where they have so much to say and to offer.

No, from everything he learned, our researcher would draw in his report the outlines of a strong, proud and, undoubtedly, independent nation.



Happy Saint-Jean Baptiste to all of you.







PS: If you guys from Ottawa runs out of beer on July 1st, come visit us. Our stores will still be open. 😛