Unholy Alliance by Don Gutteridge Page B

party whose forward-looking economic policies
coincide with his own.”
    “You might even say,” Hincks added when Marc
had translated Robert’s response, “that this situation, very much
in our favour, is step one of step two.”
    LaFontaine almost smiled. “That much I do
see,” he said, “though are we not in danger of getting tangled in
our own steps? It’s still not clear where we would step next.”
    “Let me try that one on,” Hincks said with
his customary and sometimes off-putting enthusiasm. “Robert is
saying that the time is ripe to establish on a practical basis, in
the new set-up, a working arrangement with Poulett Thomson that
resembles responsible government as we understand it. Once it is
seen to operate to the economic and social benefit of the two
provinces and provided that party cohesion is maintained, it will
become impossible for the Governor to alter the arrangements. This
time the vast majority of the populace, conservative and liberal,
will be behind the new arrangement, even if they do not all agree
on our policies. To go backwards would bring chaos and economic
ruin: too many citizens will have benefited to let that happen.
Indeed, we see the extremists on both sides becoming marginalized
very quickly.”
    “But His Excellency Mr. Poulett Thomson is
not our monarch,” LaFontaine said. “Nor is his health good.”
    “How do we know that his successor will not
be another Lord Gosford or General Colborne?” Tremblay cried,
striking the table with his two-fingered hand. “These governors
come willy-nilly from anywhere! Your lieutenant-governor, Sir
George Arthur, was known as the Executioner of Van Dieman’s Land
before he arrived here in ‘thirty-eight to start hanging every
rebel he could see.”
    “That is a concern,” Robert conceded. “All we
can do is make sure that conditions here will make it more
difficult for future governors to become tyrants. For now, the Whig
government in London is backing us. ”
    “A Whig government that is close to
collapse,” Bergeron said, indicating that he was well-versed on the
state of English politics, “with the unsavoury prospect of Robert
Peel becoming the new Prime Minister.”
    “Facing a Tory government in England will be
step three,” Robert said calmly. “Establishing the habit of cabinet
responsibility to the majority in the Assembly is step two, and
should occupy us for the next two or three years. That is all the
grace period we shall need. Step three will begin when the first
fresh and unsympathetic governor arrives, and none of us can
predict the outcome. But we can’t get to that step without the
first two, and their accomplishment lies entirely within our
power. With the program of reforms now agreed to, I am asking for a
solemn commitment to the formation of a coalition party with the
authority to act as such in the new Legislature.”
    In the brief silence that followed these
remarks, Bérubé said, “In the least we will be able to get the
canals improved, the roads built, and the banks brought to heel –
before the roof falls in! Right now, we’re all stewing in our own
juice.”
    “And we could get the French language
approved for the Assembly,” Bergeron said, “and legal protections
for our Catholic schools and colleges. And local government of some
kind – ”
    Hincks interrupted to say, with a rush of
enthusiasm, “Mr. Baldwin has already sketched out a bold plan for a
county governance system that combines the best features of the
British and American models.”
    Maurice Tremblay startled the room by
bringing his maimed fist down upon the table so smartly the coffee
cups rattled in their saucers. “Damn it all!” he shouted, glaring
at his colleagues and their schoolboy exuberance. “Don’t you see
what is happening here?”
    Marc started to translate but was waved off
by Robert.
    “We French are being taken for fools once
more! We will be used and tossed aside as callously as