I don't agree with Canadians who say Quebec constantly uses seperatist threats to get what they want because it only really happened 2 times since 1867.
Two times more then any other provience in Canada and it continues to come back as a topic in the media and news every year.
The first time was in 1980 and the NO side won with approximately 60% of the vote. The referendum happened because the national identity of Quebecers was electrified in the 60s when it liberated itself from the Catholic Church's spell. Starting in the the 60s until the 1980 referendum, French Canadians (or Québecois) took action to empower themselves succesfully. They put an end to a long era of thought control by the Church and social and economic domination by Anglophones. In 1976, the PQ was elected for the first time. Bill 101 was put in place to protect French. The 1980 referendum was the result of many years of empowerment and what was at hand was sovereignty-association, not complete seperation. Sovereignty-association is often ridiculed by Canadians because they are the ones feeling threatened by Quebec's self-defining nature, so they usually fail to see how sovereignty association could actually benefit both Quebec and Canada if it was achieved with intelligence and good will.
The problem here, besides your generalizing all Anglophones as being against you and Quebec, is that we're not stupid either. Not all of those living in Quebec think as you do above. Many have even voiced that if this went through and Quebec got their sovereingty thing going along as most want, then they would use that as a stepping stone to push for complete seperation. Until you can get rid of those fools and that mentality, the above isn't fooling anybody.... and those who advocate for the seperation and plans to go ahead once the above is done, are in turn the ones holding the country's identity and the maritimes hostage to get what you want..... which to the rest of us don't see any friggin point to it to begin with.
It is only bitterness and resent that would stop a hypothetical post-seperation Canada to cooperate with a Quebec state so that both countries could keep on sharing what they've both built together. That being said, I also believe Quebecers should be very aware that if they choose to become a country, they shouldn't take anything for granted as to how Canada will cooperate.
Let's see, Quebec seperates, devides the Maritimes from the rest of Canada.... possibly losing those proviences at the same time as Quebec pulling this stunt, causing a lot of money flying out the window for all... the economy going to crap, other nations trying to snag some artic territory at the first chance they can get in between territory disputes... the cost of revamping the entire government structure and elections to suit one provience now absent, possibly four others on top of that, new border/air space restrictions.... basically one big screwed up headache.... and you don't see any reasons why Canada might be bitter or not want to deal with Quebec?
How can you have in the same paragraph post-seperate Canada/Quebec still wanting to trade/deal with one another to keep on sharing what both have built together, when Quebec would be destroying exactly what both have built by seperating to begin with? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
The next referendum was in 1995 and it was a lot closer that time... 49%-51% in favor of the NO side... That referendum was the culmination of 15 years of dialogue and arguments between the newly empowered Quebec and the ROC. It really is all about the Constitution and what kind of country Canadians and Quebecers want. A majority of Quebecers want a higly decentralized Canada in which Ottawa minds its own business and lets Quebec and the the other provinces do their things without being bothered. Canadians however are attached to the concept of one grand nation united under one flag. In that view, it's normal for Ottawa to have its say in pretty much everything that's going in the country. The 2 views are completely opposed and the tension between Quebec and Canada is quite strong because of that. However, it is to both Canada and Quebec's great merit that these tensions have never manifested itself violently, except for the FLQ incident in 1970, which by the way was caused by an extremely small minority of extremist seperatists.
and based on my previous post, that is starting up again by the looks of things. The reason why this whole seperatist thing keeps on going is because of the small margin of people wanting to not seperate won in 95'.... for whatever reason why they won, they won.... but we all know there is going to be yet another big one coming along for everybody to vote on.... and then another and another until those who want to seperate get their way. That is why most still considder Quebec a bunch of moaners and complainers who hang the seperation over the rest of our heads constantly..... and it is because of this that most are getting pissed and fed up over the damn thing.
It was voted on twice before, those who wanted to seperate lost twice.... it's dead and done with, yet we all know it'll just come back again and again. Either stomp the hell out of these moaners and sh*t disturbers and deal with the government the way the rest of us all do, or yes... GTF out of the country and take your chances on the rest of the country being pissed off and not dealing with you guys.
That's just MO of course.
After the complete failure of the Meech Lake accord, what followed was a new empowerment of Quebec nationalism but this time, it was more out of frustration with Canada than out of a desire for independance... at least that is how I understand it... many would disagree. The referendum in 1995 wasn't a true victory for anyone in my opinion. The NO side won and Canada as we know it survived, but so did the divisions.
What I'm trying to get to is that it's very simple-minded to accuse Quebec of consantly threatening Canada to seperate. There's a long list of political, economic, social and cultural factors that are rooted in a multi-faceted history that can explain why Quebecers have become so outspoken and defiant within Canada.
And so had Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and a slew of other proviences based on what we all deem as unfair economics, social and similar things.... but we're all not threatening to leave the country... we deal with it the way everybody else deals with it in the country. Just because you speak french, doesn't make the situation any more special.
When the English took over New France and French-Canadians suddenly became ''subjects'' of the British Crown, what happened is that the French-Canadians had a head start into defining themselves as a nation. French-Canadians had no more allegiance to France. And they never had any true allegiance to Great Britain. French Canadians were on their own and their identity was born before the Canadian identity. The Canadian identity was born out of national faithfullness to the British Crown but the Quebec identity was born out of a loss of nationalism... Therefore French Canadians started creating their own national identity that was neither really French (in relation to France) nor English (from Great-Britain) but something new.
There might be a different identity then other proviences in Canada, but each provience is different from the other in their own rights. I personally see nothing more special about Quebec over other proviences. New Brunswick has both French and English citizens in their provience and they seem to work together quite well. I don't hear too often cries of trying to keep their herritage pure.... to kick out forigners who come to Canada/their provience who don't speak French.... not hiring people who only speak english and all the other small minded, intollerant ways of Quebec.
What about Newfoundland? They're more distinct then most other Proviences in Canada, yet I don't hear them complaining about wanting to seperate to the level of Quebec.
I believe Quebec seperatism will keep on resurfacing periodically as a major issue as long as Canada lives in denial of its own Constitutional failures in regards to the inclusion of Quebec.
WTF? Failures in regards to the Inclusion of Quebec in the constitution? Compared to what?
Quebec had their identity long before Canada did? Hell... Nova Scotia still has a population that still speaks not only French but also Gaelic in Cape Breton. This identity has been here since people began to settle, yet that's no identity?
I think you need to understand that the collective of proviencial identities in Canada are exactly what makes up Canada's Identity..... and if you think the other proviences don't have an identity to speak of, or isn't on par with Quebec's, then that shows your own intollerance and simple-mindedness you referred to above in regards to the rest of Canada.
I understand very clearly what you are trying to say about Quebec's perspective and position, but I still don't see anything remotely different from other proviences that would warrent you guys any justification for seperation, besides sometimes not always getting what you want.....
guess what? Nobody ever does.
