Quebec Independence Movement

reply to post by Ultraman2011


I understand your point but ever herd about the St Lawrence river?
it turned out to be in Quebec and is economically comparable to the mississippi river.
So that levels things out for those (never to happen scenario) economic or military compensations.

Nonetheless, due to idiotic policies by Trudeau, we all have to suffer with official bilingualism, while Quebec goes out of their way to alienate English speaking people everywhere. They even have their French Nazi police who go around giving fines to those that don't tow the line.

I like Mercer's take on it.

reply to post by incrediblelousminds


Not all politicians speak french and arret is stop in french. I guess you haven't seen that many french stop signs. also your airport would probably be an international airport thus the french signage. Your right about the packaging though.

Originally posted by pigwithoutawig
reply to post by incrediblelousminds

 

Not all politicians speak french and arret is stop in french. I guess you haven't seen that many french stop signs.

Giggle. No. I was mentioning that i've seen stop signs in french in both BC and Alberta. What else could I have possibly have meant? That it was in klingon?

Canada is officially a dual language country. dont move the goal posts.

reply to post by incrediblelousminds

Canada is only officially bilingual federally.

Originally posted by incrediblelousminds
I like Mercer's take on it.

Rick Mercer is priceless.
But beneath all of his humour, is a whiff of truth.

Canada taking it up the butt... gotta keep them Quebecois happy you know.

How about an Ignatief quote in french .

"C'est a cause du Bloc si nous sommes en erection."
The Bloc Quebecois is the reason why we are in erection.

also. speaking of airport, ever tried to be serve in french with Air Canada?

Originally posted by samusaran253

Arguments for Independence
* In Quebec the official language is French, whereas the rest of Canada speaks English

This has actually never been an argument in favour of idependence. It's not about language, it's about culture. Only tired federalists keep coming up with that one.

* The goals and policies of the rest of Canada do not necessarily always align with those of Quebec

And vice versa. All countries should be made of small groups of people who share the same culture, ideology and goals.

* Quebec's French culture is dying and arguably without independence or autonomy, it will eventually become like the rest of Canada

This is straight out of the 60's...

* Many separatists in Quebec feel as though the Canadian government didn't live up to it's promise for a new constitution in 1970

The federal government did not live up to it's promise as Quebec was excluded from this new constitution. But all Quebecers, seperatists or federalists, agree on this point.

* Some websites recognize Quebec's distinct cultural differences from Canada, such as how Yahoo! has both Canadian and Quebecker Yahoo! Answers websites

Yep, let's base our future on whether or not Yahoo believes in us... What's the point of this argument anyway?

Arguments Against Independence
* Quebec already maintains a degree of autonomy as a province of Canada

But very limited. As long as it is agreable to the government of Canada

* The French language is dying out in Quebec and being replaced with English

Hiliarious!!!

* The withdrawal of Quebec from Canada could significantly hinder Canada's political, economic, and military strength

Do you really think anyone in Quebec, seperatist or federalist, actually cares?

* The majority of the population of Quebec don't support independence or autonomy

The 1981 referendum, asking the mandate to negotiate a Sovereignty Association, which would then be passed through another referendum, was turned down 60%-40%. Many observers believe this is because it didn't go far enough. The Meech Lake referendum, asking if Quebecers wanted to stay in Canada, as is, was turned down 60%-40% (60% refused to stay in Canada). The same referendum in Canada, asking to bring Quebec back into the constitution was also turned down by the majority of Canadians. The 1996 referendum on independence resulted in 50.1% against, 49.9% for. A difference of 15,000 votes. Remember that a few weeks before the vote, the Canadian government gave 25,000 immigrants in Quebec, their citizinship at least 6 months ahead of time, thus giving them the right to vote on the issue. (This is nothing against immigrants; you cannot expect someone to vote on seccession of a province when they've just obtained citizenship).

* Terrorism committed by pro-independence guerrilla factions drives people away from supporting Quebec sovereignty

This happened in the late 60's, up to 1970. There have been no other terrorist or guerrilla factions since. And they did not drive anybody away from the movement.

* If Quebec became independent, it would create a barrier in the middle of Canada, separating Eastern Canada and Western Canada

Do you really think anyone in Quebec, seperatist or federalist, actually cares?

* It is questionable whether or not Quebec could be economically self-sufficient without the aid of Canada

All independent studies show that the Quebec economy would be around the 27th largest in the world. Not bad for 8 million people.

* Quebec has no pre-existing constitution or framework for government

Quebecers live in trees and spend their evenings picking lice off of each other. How could anyone believe something so idiotic?

* Quebec is made up of many different ethnic groups, and an independent French-speaking Quebec could easily abuse minorities

85% of the population is of French (as in France) descendence. 5% of English (as in British descendence). 10% are of native or other descendence.

* Historically speaking, the former French government of Quebec often ignored, suppressed, and mistreated the aboriginal population

As all North American governments, but less so than the others.

* Many of the leaders of the separatist movement are discriminatory against the aboriginal population, including the former leader of Quebec, Robert Bourassa

After the Meech Lake fiasco, Bourassa had the mandate (and the obligation in view of the results of the referendum) to declare unilateral independence of Quebec. He did not. He was not a seperatist, but a full-fledged fedralist. As for the rest of the quote, it is pure racism and based on no facts whatsoever.

* Many aboriginal tribes in Canada have expressed concerns regarding Quebec sovereignty, and some have even threatened to leave the confederacy

They actually want non-natives to leave all of Canada, so this is false and irrelevent anyway.

* The ideas on how an independent Quebec should be governed are very different, with many different parties and organizations, each with different ideological idea on what the future of Quebec should be. Many of the groups are far-left communist groups, while others are center-right and far right..

There is only one separitist party and it is left-center. Communists??? Far-right??? They are both practically non-existent in Quebec.


This whole article is based of false federalist claims from the 1960's. These claims were made to scare Quebecers into "taking their place" and being quiet. The OP is spreading ridiculous fallacies across the web.

Originally posted by pigwithoutawig
reply to post by incrediblelousminds

 

Sorry Canada isn't a dual language country. Only Quebec and New Brunswick has everything in both languages.

Yes, Canada is a dual language country. You might be a bit confused as to what exactly that means. EITHER English or French are accepted as official languages. Now, Quebec does not have everything in both languages, in fact, there are many parts of Quebec where English is shunned upon or outright forced out of the local area. Conversely in my province of Alberta, there are several franco only schools, both public and private. Also, go purchase something, anything, anywhere. The labelling will be in both French and English, in any province of this country.

My dad was born in Montreal and speaks English as a first language but is fluent in french as well. He told me about living through the FLQ crisis a couple of times. My tante is the absolute picture of Quebecois from an old family and everything. I've never picked up any resentment or want for separation from that side of the family or their friends. We always get super drunk when we get together too so it would have slipped out. I think at this point its just a few people on either side going "well I don't like those people cause they talk funny".

What else is new? Sure people from Quebec probably self identify as being from Quebec first and Canada second. But hey people from Ontario do the same. Newfies do the same, I'm pretty sure everyone does provincialism trumps any kind of patriotism.

I guess my point is it's not the 70's anymore. Talk of independence is most likely just political rhetoric which will never come to pass like basically anything else any Canadian politician talks about.

Just don't forget that Quebec was a french country before , annexed to the UK when we lose the war

Originally posted by incrediblelousminds

Originally posted by The Sword
Reply to post by Ultraman2011

 

Is "socialist" a boogeyman term or is there ACTUAL socialism in Quebec?

Well, they have a pretty awesome province-wide child care plan. I think residents pay a flat rate of about $8 a day.

Equalizations. Funny how Ontario and Alberta can't afford to do this, yet they send Quebec tens of billions of dollars every year for them to do it.