Bouthillier's obsessionThe Bloc Québécois wasn't the only sovereignist organization to choose a new leader last weekend. The Société St. Jean-Baptiste de Montréal selected UQAM professor Guy Bouthillier as its new president. Bouthillier, a longtime activist and orator, says he will work to cure Quebec and Canada of its "ethnic obsession." "We are far too preoccupied with ethnicity," Bouthillier says. "Our society is deeply marked by people's differences. Over time, this can become a threat to democracy. We need to de-ethnicize our rhetoric." What does Bouthillier think of Jacques Parizeau's now-infamous speech? "Had I been him, I would not have blamed people. I would have remarked on a public culture which systematically prejudices people against sovereignty. I'd have said, 'Let's break that system.'"
Bouthillier is also the author of a new book on this subject, L'obsession ethnique, published by Lanctôt.
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