I honestly believe that if Quebec were going to separate, it would have done so during the nationalist fever that ran through the province during the first couple of decades of the Quiet Revolution after the Duplessis regime. It didn't and a lot of nationalist passion that ran through that time has largely been exhausted now, replaced by more sensible approaches.
Separation is never talked about now, Sovereignty Association is, but it's clear that the rest of the country will have nothing to do with a special status province that cherry picks the parts of the Canadian union it wants to retain, while removing all patriotism and responsibility to Canada as a whole.
That means Separation or Status Quo are its only options, and most Quebecois realize that small Latin countries in the Americas do not fare well. They end up dominated by the United States, engulfed with American culture. Their language and their heritage are far more at risk in that situation than with the buffer, and attention they receive, in Confederation.
So i doubt it will ever come to it, but if it did come to Separation, i believe it would draw the heart of soul out of the Canadian identity. I'm very pessimistic that the whole country by regions wouldn't fragment and go their separate ways in that scenario. And we'll all be the poorer for it.
