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I hope I'm not creating a firestorm when I ask this, but....
Is the Quebec separatism movement still alive and well, like it was in the 1990s? Occaisionally I hear things like "Quebec is a nation within canada" (Harper), but aside from that, is there still a strong movement for quebec to separate from the rest of Canada? How much support does the Bloc Quebecois have these days in Parliament?
The separatist Bloc Québécois has 48 of Quebec’s 75 seats in the Canadian House of Commons in Ottawa.
The separatist Parti Québécois has 36 of 125 seats in the provincial legislature of Quebec (commonly known as the National Assembly).
The most recent public opinion polls in Quebec put support for independence at 40%. Current thinking is that the movement is in the doldrums, however the 40% mark is around where support for independence was before the campaign began for the October, 30, 1995 referendum, when the separatist forces almost won, eventually topping out at 49.4%.
The last referendum had a tricky question and the general concensus is that between 40% and 45% of people in quebec want quebec to be a country. Part of the problem is that many people just want quebec to have more powers, or, if quebec does become a country, to enter into an EU-like deal with the rest of Canada. It's a much smaller number that wants Quebec to have nothing to do with Canada (polls show this closer to 25%-30%) but a much much higher number that think Quebec should have more power then it has now (polls show this near 80%)
It's not a black and white issue in terms of yes VS no, but it IS a black and white issue when you compare it to the USA's problems with race relations. The African-American population is near 25% of the US population, and the issue is always on the back of people's minds. Quebec is about 25% of the canadian population. Both issues are very sensitive to thier country, and suggestions about how to "fix" the problem, even if intended to be helpful and not offensive, can be seen in a very negative light especially if coming from a person in the other country.
The African-American population is near 25% of the US population, and the issue is always on the back of people's minds. Quebec is about 25% of the canadian population.
And just imagine most of the African-American population concentrated in one region, say the entire Midwest, where they'd make up 85% of the population.
The French-English issue in Canada wouldn't have as much oomph to it if the 25 % of French speakers in this country were spread out fairly evenly across the country, rather than forming a huge majority in the largest province in area (close to the middle of the country), the second largest province in population, and home to the country's second-largest city.
The African-American population is near 25% of the US population, and the issue is always on the back of people's minds.
You would have to halve that statistic. African-Americans make up about 12% of the US population.
I actually think Puerto Rico is a better analogy to Quebec. Both are spoils of war- The English grabbed Quebec from France and swallowed it up eventually leaving Canada holding the bag. The US grabbed PR from Spain. Neither quite fits into the whole piece.
Of course, when PR votes, there is never anything close to 40% choosing independence. Yet, like Quebec, they never emerge completely satisfied. Both are, in a sense, in limbo; a halfway house mentality that is neither here nor there.
I have met a lot of Quebecois and they sometimes embrace independence. Mostly they reject that as well as any suggestion that they are Canadian. Neither here or nor there. Of course, I have not interviewed the entire population, so this is antedotal.
Its up to Canada of course. My impression is that after a lengthy period of repression, Quebec has a lot of minority rights that minorities in other nations could only dream of. The Kurds of Turkey or the Hungarians in Romania should be so lucky.
There are some similarities between Quebec and Puerto Rico for sure, but there are many more differences.
Quebec is a full-blown province of Canada, whereas Puerto Rico isn’t even a state. And given the usual size of Canada’s provinces compared to U.S. states, Quebec is pretty much the equivalent of an entire region like the Midwest or the South. Quebec has about one quarter of Canada's entire population, while Puerto Rico's population is a small fraction of the U.S.'s.
Quebec is also located smack dab in the middle of the country, rather than on island quite far from the mainland. (I realize that this isn’t always an issue – see Alaska and Hawaii – but think of where Quebec is in Canada: four provinces are east of it and five are west of it.
Quebec is also considered by many to be the historical heartland of Canada. As our current Prime Minister Stephen Harper says, it’s where Canada as we know it really began to exist. Like it or not, separatism or not, current language demographics or not, Quebec is the closest thing Canada has to the 13 American colonies. The ancestors of the long-established French-speaking population in Quebec were the first group of humans on the face of the earth to call themselves “Canadian” (Canadien, actually).
There is also the economic factor as well. Puerto Rico, if a state, would still rank very far behind the last place state of the current 50 states in per capita income and other economic indicators. Quebec is about average economically when compared to other Canadian provinces, and actually has a higher per capita income and lower jobless rate than certain English-speaking provinces.
There are some similarities between Quebec and Puerto Rico for sure, but there are many more differences.
Quebec is a full-blown province of Canada, whereas Puerto Rico isn’t even a state. And given the usual size of Canada’s provinces compared to U.S. states, Quebec is pretty much the equivalent of an entire region like the Midwest or the South. Quebec has about one quarter of Canada's entire population, while Puerto Rico's population is a small fraction of the U.S.'s.
Quebec is also located smack dab in the middle of the country, rather than on island quite far from the mainland. (I realize that this isn’t always an issue – see Alaska and Hawaii – but think of where Quebec is in Canada: four provinces are east of it and five are west of it.
Quebec is also considered by many to be the historical heartland of Canada. As our current Prime Minister Stephen Harper says, it’s where Canada as we know it really began to exist. Like it or not, separatism or not, current language demographics or not, Quebec is the closest thing Canada has to the 13 American colonies. The ancestors of the long-established French-speaking population in Quebec were the first group of humans on the face of the earth to call themselves “Canadian” (Canadien, actually).
There is also the economic factor as well. Puerto Rico, if a state, would still rank very far behind the last place state of the current 50 states in per capita income and other economic indicators. Quebec is about average economically when compared to other Canadian provinces, and actually has a higher per capita income and lower jobless rate than certain English-speaking provinces.
All of that is quite true. There are certainly more differences than similiarities. But they are more analgous than comparing Quebec to a minority group of people as the other poster did- although to be fair, there is something to that, although not really much.
Still, the similiarities between PR and PQ, while few, are significent. Both are part of the greater whole via conquest and both really do not quite fit into the whole. And both have been given the choice to legislate their destiny, yet choose to preserve the status quo, which is inadequate as well.
But yes, Canada losing Quebec would be a lot more significent than the US losing Puerto Rico.
All of that is quite true. There are certainly more differences than similiarities. But they are more analgous than comparing Quebec to a minority group of people as the other poster did- although to be fair, there is something to that, although not really much.
Still, the similiarities between PR and PQ, while few, are significent. Both are part of the greater whole via conquest and both really do not quite fit into the whole. And both have been given the choice to legislate their destiny, yet choose to preserve the status quo, which is inadequate as well.
But yes, Canada losing Quebec would be a lot more significent than the US losing Puerto Rico.
Quebec being part of a "conquest" in the Canadian context is about as much as a Conquest as Louisiana was. In many MORE ways, PQ and LA is a better analog in that there is an acceptance of the staus quo, rather than a forcing of change.
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