draper
Perspicacious Poster
Quebec is not going anywhere. Regardless of what the BQ & PQ have claimed before the previous referenda, it is completely absurd to suggest that Quebec would need only a 50 % + 1 majority to seperate...in practise, they would need an exceptional mandate to seperate...I would guess somewhere in the high 50's or 60's, which they are not going to get under any circumstances.
An influential former-separist (his name escapes me) once said, [paraphrased] "After the BQ were elected Official Opposition, I thought to myself, a 'Wow, a democracy in which a party hellbent on destroying the democracy itself can be elected Official Opposition is definitely a democracy worth saving." I would agree.
I'm not sure if Illuminatus is right in saying that support for federalism is at an all-time high in Quebec...from what I have read it is actually around the same numbers as it was at during the '95 campaign, give or take a bit either way. But, regardless of that, if push were to come to shove, I just don't think Quebec would vote to seperate.
IF Quebec were to seperate, Canadian has quite a few cards they can play. Many Quebeckers that would vote 'yes' on Quebec soverignity only do so with the assumption that they would still enjoy the benefits of Canadian citizenship...and once Quebec agrees to seperate, that essentially becomes a question for the Canadian Parliament -- do we want some 6 million (or is it more like 9 or 10) non-citizens of Canada [Quebeckers] to enjoy the benefits of Canadian citizenship without making any financial contributions to the Canadian government?
If they're willing to go that route, then they could use citizenship as a major bargaining tool in dividing the debt and other assets - if they wanted to be hard-nosed, they could simply say that citizens of an independent Quebec would not enjoy the benefits of Canadian citizenship. Personally, I would only support parties that took that stand -- I will play hardball with Quebeckers any day to save Canada.
A similiar bargaining tool also exists in the use of Canadian currency, as well.
Remember that before the '95 referedum, a LOT of major Montreal/Quebec city multinationals packed up for Toronto or elsewhere in Canada, and a lto of Quebeckers lost jobs over that (as well as the Quebec economy losing a lot of money overall), and that component of seperation makes enough people uneasy enough to stay within the federation.
If they do however choose to seperate, should we respect it? Maybe. We have a moral and legal obligation to look after the rights of Quebec aboriginals, they voted some 95 % + in the last referedum in favour of staying in Canada as far as I know.
But, I strongly believe that Canada is worth fighting for, and I think letting Quebec go would have to be a last, last, last resort type of thing.
An influential former-separist (his name escapes me) once said, [paraphrased] "After the BQ were elected Official Opposition, I thought to myself, a 'Wow, a democracy in which a party hellbent on destroying the democracy itself can be elected Official Opposition is definitely a democracy worth saving." I would agree.
I'm not sure if Illuminatus is right in saying that support for federalism is at an all-time high in Quebec...from what I have read it is actually around the same numbers as it was at during the '95 campaign, give or take a bit either way. But, regardless of that, if push were to come to shove, I just don't think Quebec would vote to seperate.
IF Quebec were to seperate, Canadian has quite a few cards they can play. Many Quebeckers that would vote 'yes' on Quebec soverignity only do so with the assumption that they would still enjoy the benefits of Canadian citizenship...and once Quebec agrees to seperate, that essentially becomes a question for the Canadian Parliament -- do we want some 6 million (or is it more like 9 or 10) non-citizens of Canada [Quebeckers] to enjoy the benefits of Canadian citizenship without making any financial contributions to the Canadian government?
If they're willing to go that route, then they could use citizenship as a major bargaining tool in dividing the debt and other assets - if they wanted to be hard-nosed, they could simply say that citizens of an independent Quebec would not enjoy the benefits of Canadian citizenship. Personally, I would only support parties that took that stand -- I will play hardball with Quebeckers any day to save Canada.
A similiar bargaining tool also exists in the use of Canadian currency, as well.
Remember that before the '95 referedum, a LOT of major Montreal/Quebec city multinationals packed up for Toronto or elsewhere in Canada, and a lto of Quebeckers lost jobs over that (as well as the Quebec economy losing a lot of money overall), and that component of seperation makes enough people uneasy enough to stay within the federation.
If they do however choose to seperate, should we respect it? Maybe. We have a moral and legal obligation to look after the rights of Quebec aboriginals, they voted some 95 % + in the last referedum in favour of staying in Canada as far as I know.
But, I strongly believe that Canada is worth fighting for, and I think letting Quebec go would have to be a last, last, last resort type of thing.
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