On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 4:15 PM, frank theriault <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 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 >
I'd tend to agree with Frank here. Which is why I'm a fan of the trend towards increased provincial autonomy that the current federal government has been pushing. Being a native westerner from the heart of Reform country in southern-central BC, the West has many of the same political issues with the Federal Government as Quebec (But with a different set of Cultural issues). Moving towards a federal government that's weaker on domestic issues benefits both the West and Quebec, and reduces the stress level within Confederation. Of course, I've long been of the opinion that the Western Provinces (or more accurately, BC and Alberta) are more likely to separate than Quebec. There's a lot less economic and cultural ties between them and Central and Eastern Canada than there is between Quebec and the surrounding provinces. -- M. Adam Maas http://www.mawz.ca Explorations of the City Around Us. -- 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.
