By Teresa Smith OTTAWA — A separatist politician wants two paintings by a staunch federalist from Quebec, that until recently hung in a government building in Ottawa, handed over to a museum in his province.
Yves-Francois Blanchet of the Parti Quebecois says he is disappointed — but not surprised — that the paintings by Quebec artist Alfred Pellan have been replaced by a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
“I don’t believe that it was ill-intended; I just believe it shows the lack of respect this minister has for Quebec culture and for this province, in general,” Blanchet said.
“This government has been elected with a strong majority in the rest of Canada, with only very little representation in Quebec,” said Blanchet, the culture and communications critic for the separatist PQ.
“They don’t seem to know Quebec very much. They don’t seem to be interested in Quebec very much and their attempts to make some gains in Quebec in the last election were answered accordingly.”
The office of Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said it had nothing to do with the decision to remove the paintings, which had hung in the Lester B. Pearson Building in Ottawa for almost 40 years.
Spokesman Chris Day said the wall where the switch took place is called “The Sovereign’s Wall” and is “a tribute that befits our head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of her upcoming Diamond Jubilee in 2012.”
Day said the wall honours “the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the Pearson Building on July 1.”
Blanchet says it’s a perfect example of the federal government’s disregard for Quebec’s interests.
“The young couple came, and the minister wanted to please them, so he removed the paintings from the guy from Quebec and replaced it, not with a Canadian piece of art, but with a portrait of the Queen of England. I am a Quebecer, and I say ‘What the hell is that?’ ”
“If he has that little respect for Quebec, he shouldn’t have a problem sending them to a museum in Quebec where they will be given the treatment they deserve.”
It seems, however, that Baird’s office has no intention of sending the paintings — two complementary pieces called Canada West and Canada East —to Quebec.
“These paintings belong to all of Canada and all Canadians. The Alfred Pellan paintings will be redeployed at a later date elsewhere as there is great demand and competing interest for them across government,” Day wrote in an email.
For Blanchet, it’s not enough.
“I want the population of Quebec to have access to these paintings and to know more about this man who was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century in Quebec,” he said.
Blanchet has asked Quebec Culture Minister Christine St. Pierre to demand the return of the paintings to Quebec.
Pellan, who died in 1988, had a varied style, which went from the abstract to the simplistic and surreal. He painted canvases, murals, designed theatre costumes and stained glass and illustrated books.
His works are displayed in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa and across the nation.
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