#1Sep 22nd, 2012
Mulcair firms up NDP policy on Quebec sovereignty
That sums up the more demanding new position on a Quebec sovereignty referendum that Thomas Mulcair has taken, now that the election of a Parti Québécois government has made the question less hypothetical.
The official policy of Mulcair’s federal New Democratic Party, contained in the so-called Sherbrooke Declaration of 2005, is that Quebec has the right to “achieve sovereignty” on a referendum vote of 50 per cent plus one.
But in an interview broadcast on the Radio-Canada television program Les Coulisses du pouvoir on Sunday, Mulcair implied that the federal government would not necessarily have to agree to sovereignty after a simple-majority vote.
Asked about the Sherbrooke Declaration, the leader of the NDP official opposition in the House of Commons referred instead to the 1998 opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada on Quebec secession.
Mulcair said that a majority of 50 per cent plus one meets the court’s “quantitative” standard for a “clear majority” to a referendum question.
And he said twice (in the second of the five segments of the online version of the program) that such a vote would give Ottawa an “obligation to negotiate” with Quebec.
But contrary to what his party’s Sherbrooke Declaration implies, Mulcair never mentioned an obligation to agree to sovereignty.
Even the obligation to negotiate, he said, would depend on whether the referendum majority also met the Supreme Court’s “qualitative” standard–that is, such conditions as “how is (the referendum) held, are the rules clear, is the question really about the subject.”
The Sherbrooke Declaration mentions no such conditions. On the contrary, it recognizes that the Quebec National Assembly is free to choose the question and Quebec voters are free to answer it.
And Mulcair implied that Ottawa could take a tough negotiating position in response to a weak referendum majority. ”If it’s a very narrow majority, that gives you what as negotiating strength?”
Mulcair firms up NDP policy on Quebec sovereignty | Montreal Gazette
That sums up the more demanding new position on a Quebec sovereignty referendum that Thomas Mulcair has taken, now that the election of a Parti Québécois government has made the question less hypothetical.
The official policy of Mulcair’s federal New Democratic Party, contained in the so-called Sherbrooke Declaration of 2005, is that Quebec has the right to “achieve sovereignty” on a referendum vote of 50 per cent plus one.
But in an interview broadcast on the Radio-Canada television program Les Coulisses du pouvoir on Sunday, Mulcair implied that the federal government would not necessarily have to agree to sovereignty after a simple-majority vote.
Asked about the Sherbrooke Declaration, the leader of the NDP official opposition in the House of Commons referred instead to the 1998 opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada on Quebec secession.
Mulcair said that a majority of 50 per cent plus one meets the court’s “quantitative” standard for a “clear majority” to a referendum question.
And he said twice (in the second of the five segments of the online version of the program) that such a vote would give Ottawa an “obligation to negotiate” with Quebec.
But contrary to what his party’s Sherbrooke Declaration implies, Mulcair never mentioned an obligation to agree to sovereignty.
Even the obligation to negotiate, he said, would depend on whether the referendum majority also met the Supreme Court’s “qualitative” standard–that is, such conditions as “how is (the referendum) held, are the rules clear, is the question really about the subject.”
The Sherbrooke Declaration mentions no such conditions. On the contrary, it recognizes that the Quebec National Assembly is free to choose the question and Quebec voters are free to answer it.
And Mulcair implied that Ottawa could take a tough negotiating position in response to a weak referendum majority. ”If it’s a very narrow majority, that gives you what as negotiating strength?”
Mulcair firms up NDP policy on Quebec sovereignty | Montreal Gazette
