Everyone who stayed awake in Social Studies knows that some people want Quebec to separate from Canada. People who paid attention know they already tried: twice.
Separatists say Quebec has been given the short end of the stick more than once. From the Patriation of the Constitution to the failure of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords, the “carpetbagger” federalists have repeatedly, in the words of former Quebec premier Rene Levesque, “stabbed [Quebec] in the back.” These failed accords have given some supporters of sovereignty leverage to say the diplomatic solutions won’t work.
That’s all well and good, you say, but isn’t it just a little 1995? After all, the separatist Bloc Quebecois lost 43 seats in the last election and replaced nearly all of them with the NDP, a federalist party (arguably). Isn’t separation old news?
The simple answer is this: not anymore. Quebec’s provincial election in 2012 replaced Jean Charest and the Liberals with Pauline Marois’ Parti Quebecois (PQ). Currently, the PQ has a minority government in Quebec, but that could change in the short term.
Polls show that an election called tomorrow could really end a number of ways for the governing PQ. However, one thing is evident, should history repeat itself: a PQ majority would mean a separation referendum.
A referendum would be a headache for a number of reasons. First, and most obviously, it will divide not only the people of Quebec, but all Canadians into one of two camps over an issue that, like most things in politics, isn’t just black and white.
Even a majority “oui” vote won’t necessarily affect any change. Currently the federal Clarity Act says that Quebec could only separate if their referendum produced a “clear majority on a clear question.” If you aren’t sure what that means, welcome to politics.
I make no value judgements on the merits of a sovereign Quebec. But to suggest that Quebec separating is merely the pipedream of a few babbling malcontents is to forget everything we learned in Social Studies. Remember, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
Separatist sentiment might not be as strong as in past years, but let’s not pretend that federal seat counts and a general lack of discussion in the west begin to tell the whole story.