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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201ccarpetbagger\u201d federalists have repeatedly, in the words of former Quebec premier Rene Levesque, \u201cstabbed [Quebec] in the back.\u201d These failed accords have given some supporters of sovereignty leverage to say the diplomatic solutions won\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s all well and good, you say, but isn\u2019t 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\u2019t separation old news?<\/p>\n
The simple answer is this: not anymore. Quebec\u2019s provincial election in 2012 replaced Jean Charest and the Liberals with Pauline Marois\u2019 Parti Quebecois (PQ). Currently, the PQ has a minority government in Quebec, but that could change in the short term.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t just black and white.<\/p>\n
Even a majority \u201coui\u201d vote won\u2019t necessarily affect any change. Currently the federal Clarity Act says that Quebec could only separate if their referendum produced a \u201cclear majority on a clear question.\u201d If you aren\u2019t sure what that means, welcome to politics.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Separatist sentiment might not be as strong as in past years, but let\u2019s not pretend that federal seat counts and a general lack of discussion in the west begin to tell the whole story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-january-22-2014"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t