On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 3:34 PM, keith_w <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Not that it actually WANTs to be, truth be known. > I think they'd much rather be an off-shore principality. Or something. > P.J.'s statement stands without correction! :-D
What I meant is that since Quebec is a part of Canada, to say that "Canada" has a problem with a part of itself doesn't make a lot of sense. And, in fact, what's really been happening is a power struggle between the government of the Province of Quebec and Canada's Federal Government. If one takes it that Quebec is the people that inhabit it (as opposed to whoever may governing from time to time) then it's shown consistently that it wants to remain in Canada. Back at the time of Confederation (1867) about 20 to 25% of the population did not want to join the Canadian Confederation. The percentage of ~hardcore~ separatists in Quebec has remained remarkably consistent ever since. If the pot is sweetened by using wishy-washy concepts such as "sovreignty association" (touted to be an autonomous Quebec that shares such things as currency and armed forces with what's left of Canada - as if The Rest of Canada would go along with that) then supporters of change can swell up to close to 50%. If the population is asked misleading questions that make it look like they're voting for negotiations rather than separation, the numbers swell. I lived in Quebec during the first referendum, and many "yes" (ie: yes to separation) voters that I knew didn't want separation, but only wanted to "send a message to Ottawa". They honestly thought that that referendum was only a mandate to start sovreignty negotiations with Ottawa, nothing more. But, when asked the simple question, "Do you want Quebec to separate completely from Canada", the numbers have rarely varied over the years. Quebec doesn't want to separate. Never has. Never will. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
