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I'm sure there is lots of talk about what an independent Quebec would look like but how do you think it leaving Canada would affect the rest of the country?
Firstly, the Atlantic Coast portions of Canada would essentially become exclaves. Would they try stay a part of the country? Become independent in their current providential forms? Join to form one Atlantic coast state? or split between Quebec and maybe even the USA?
Second, would the other regions break away? If Quebec broke away and the Atlantic coast followed would we see BC, Nunavut, even Yukon or the Northwest Territories becoming independent or forming their own state in the far north?
Finally would the capital be moved? Ottawa (which was created as a compromise between Montreal and Toronto) would be located on the border of a new country Quebec, while Vancouver would be over 3500km away. Would the capital be moved to a more central location, say Winnipeg for argument sake, to try hold the country together?
Any other thoughts?
Foreign Affairs magazine had an article on this back around the 1996 referendum. Dated but interesting.
I'm not sure Atlantic Canada would seek to break away just because they would be geographically separated - they're distant from the rest of Canada already. Look at Alaska in the U.S. (Although much harder for states to leave the union). And while Canada claims we would not even open to an EU-style union with Quebec, with one currency and free movement, perhaps we'd rethink this if separation actually happened. Really, I don't know.
Quebec leaving certainly changes the electoral math as parliament is now dominated by the populous Ontario-Quebec region.
Any response from anyone is going to be just conjecture of course but I'll play along with your game just for the heck of it.
I should start by saying that I don't believe that Quebec is ever going to separate from Canada, but if it did:
The Atlantic provinces would stay the same provinces of Canada as they already are, none of the other western or northern provinces or territories would break away from Canada, and Ottawa would remain the capital city of Canada.
I don't think there are any practical, sensible reasons for anyone to make any changes such as the changes you have suggested.
Wikipedia has an interesting entry on this topic. Basically, the Quebec we are familiar with as a province would not exist as a country. It would be split in two, like this:
Wow that's so interesting, never realised that's a thing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by zortation
Wikipedia has an interesting entry on this topic. Basically, the Quebec we are familiar with as a province would not exist as a country. It would be split in two, like this:
Wow that's so interesting, never realised that's a thing!
The portion that would want to stay in Canada is "Nord-du-Quebec" region.... with large Cree and Inuit populations and they want nothing to do with an independent Quebec.
Wow that's so interesting, never realised that's a thing!
That's because it's not really a "thing". No one with any real power or authority has evoked this in serious terms.
The idea of Quebec being partitioned is even more remote than the idea of Quebec separating from Canada. And the latter would not necessarily lead to the former, despite what's sometimes said on here.
Finally would the capital be moved? Ottawa (which was created as a compromise between Montreal and Toronto) would be located on the border of a new country Quebec, while Vancouver would be over 3500km away. Would the capital be moved to a more central location, say Winnipeg for argument sake, to try hold the country together?
Vancouver and Ottawa are already over 3500 km apart today and the distance between the two cities wouldn't change if Quebec became independent.
More seriously, I doubt that Canada's capital would move from Ottawa in the short or medium tern even if Quebec became independent.
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