Quebec referendum?

[bomber317]

Saw an interesting article on the herald this morning.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Ca...113/story.html

The political landscape in Quebec is moving "quite quickly" toward the creation of a new country that puts the United States at the heart of its foreign policy, Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe said Friday in Washington.
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"It will be in everyone's interest to resolve this political situation quickly and smoothly," Duceppe said. "A sovereign Quebec will be a win-win outcome for Quebecers, Canada, the U.S. and the world for everyone except those who are nostalgic for a Canadian dream that no longer exists in reality."

I didn't think Quebec wanted to separate? Or is this just the extremists?

[flylock shox]

Burn him for treason.

[Shazam]

They always start to whine when the economy goes down.

[burn_this_city]

I'd love to see them go it alone without our transfer payments. Float their own currency and receive no benefits from Canada.

[Pinner]

Again...

[CaptainCrunch]

Its the same kind of blackmail that Quebec always uses. We want to seperate unless you give us more money so that we can pay for social programs that no other Canadian will get and no other province can afford.

I do find it offensive that as a MP and the leader of a major party he is expousing Anti-Canadian views while representing Canada on the International Stage.

I've always pretty much wished for a Prime Minister that would look the Bloq right in the eye and lay out any conditions of seperation.

1) Any Quebec employees of the Federal Government would be deemed a security threat, terminated immediately and sent back to their country of origin.
2) Your share of the national debt is payable before we allow for seperation
3) We will demand a referendum by the native's in Northern Quebec, if they vote to stay with Canada their land will immediately become Canadian Soil
4) No shared passport
5) No shared currency
6) They bank of Canada will be happy to loan you money, but you have no credit rating so we will need some collateral, like all of your strippers.
7) All Canadian property and assets including all military hardware will be returned to Canada. All Quebec members of the Canadian Forces will be discharged, if they serve with the Quebec forces they will lose their pensions.
8) The Quebec Hydro Deal will be renogotiated based on your status as a new country. If you don't like that we can just cut the lines
9) There will be no free travel, Canada Customs will now treat Quebec as a seperate nation
10) There will be a environmental toll based on your usage of the St Lawrence.
11) Canada's primary language will become English only, thanks for the massive savings.

In otherwords, if you want to seperate sir . . . please seperate.

[Cheese]

amazing how they want to separate, yet if and when they do they will be swallowed up by the giant to our south and lose the one thing they have now...their language and identity.

I will Laugh out Loud if I am still alive to see it.

[peter12]

I say if they try again, let them go. Except we get to keep Montreal.

[Knut]

A good light read from a Canadian author.

One of the things that a Canadian isn’t supposed to think, let alone say, is: “Maybe the rest of Canada should hold a referendum on whether or not Quebec can stay in the confederation.” This sort of outrageous proposal is off limits for polite Canadians, and unimaginable in the mouths of our politicians. Even if, secretly, very secretly, and with a burning sense of shame, a good number of Canadians might think such a referendum wouldn’t be a bad idea. And, after all, why not? Why should Quebec get to decide, on its own time table, the fate of the country, while the rest of the provinces sit back and wait?
Starting with this big, thick Canadian scab, Scott Gardiner’s novel, King John of Canada, picks away at cherished Canadian beliefs and long-held agreements about what is proper and what is not in the political life of the country. He also lets flow a torrent of what ifs: what if someone with charm, a good heart, and an intolerance for moral compromise came along, with regal power, and shook up Canada? What if, with sheer common sense and the credo, “the best way to protect against a punch in the nose, is a punch in the nose,” that same person was able to fix all of the problems our polite earnestness keeps us from addressing? It wouldn’t be just the problem of Quebec that would be dealt with, but also the gun registry, Toronto’s fiscal crisis, Indian Affairs, the CBC, our relations with the USA and Saudi Arabia, and the health crisis. What if Canada had a king?

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Cheese

amazing how they want to separate, yet if and when they do they will be swallowed up by the giant to our south and lose the one thing they have now...their language and identity.

I will Laugh out Loud if I am still alive to see it.

If you think the U.S. wants any part of quebec you're kidding yourself.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

And yet they want $170 million in Federal money to build a hockey arena. What happens if they separate? Build a smaller arena?

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Its the same kind of blackmail that Quebec always uses. We want to seperate unless you give us more money so that we can pay for social programs that no other Canadian will get and no other province can afford.

I do find it offensive that as a MP and the leader of a major party he is expousing Anti-Canadian views while representing Canada on the International Stage.

I've always pretty much wished for a Prime Minister that would look the Bloq right in the eye and lay out any conditions of seperation.

1) Any Quebec employees of the Federal Government would be deemed a security threat, terminated immediately and sent back to their country of origin.
2) Your share of the national debt is payable before we allow for seperation
3) We will demand a referendum by the native's in Northern Quebec, if they vote to stay with Canada their land will immediately become Canadian Soil
4) No shared passport
5) No shared currency
6) They bank of Canada will be happy to loan you money, but you have no credit rating so we will need some collateral, like all of your strippers.
7) All Canadian property and assets including all military hardware will be returned to Canada. All Quebec members of the Canadian Forces will be discharged, if they serve with the Quebec forces they will lose their pensions.
8) The Quebec Hydro Deal will be renogotiated based on your status as a new country. If you don't like that we can just cut the lines
9) There will be no free travel, Canada Customs will now treat Quebec as a seperate nation
10) There will be a environmental toll based on your usage of the St Lawrence.
11) Canada's primary language will become English only, thanks for the massive savings.

In otherwords, if you want to seperate sir . . . please seperate.

Quebec taxpayers certainly have a right to some portion of Canadian military property.

Quebec would certainly suffer enhanced borrowing costs on the international stage in the event of a split . . . . . although that would probably happen to Canada too.

Splitting debt would probably be a big issue . . . . many Quebecers, rather perversely, think they've been propping up bloodsucking Canadian leeches all this time rather than the other way around and do not think they have to take any debt when they leave.

There's a substantial anglophone community in Quebec and pockets where, if I remember right, anglophiles are the majority. There would have to be substantial negotiations regarding their rights in this matter and how they might be treated. (There's also a pretty interesting francophone majority in northern Alberta around places like Falher and MacLennan and Jean Cote.) There's great potential for violence in a split like this, if history around the world is any guide.

I think, however, as we've marched beyond the 1960's through early 1990's, that a majority of Quebecors have probably come to the realization they are better insulated from the economic bullies of the world within the structure of Canada than would be the case on their own.

Passions can always be inflamed, of course, but I think the moment has passed where this is a big issue. There's always going to be that 25% to one-third in Quebec, the most corrupt province in Canada, who carry the torch but even in the most inflammatory of periods, they never carrried the majority.

We are stronger together.

Cowperson
s=7

[HotHotHeat]

Oh goody. We need some excitement in this country.

[Cheese]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

If you think the U.S. wants any part of quebec you're kidding yourself.

Not what Im saying. By separating, Quebec will have no alternative but to anglicize themselves by dealing with the devil to the south.

[PowerPlayoffs06]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Its the same kind of blackmail that Quebec always uses. We want to seperate unless you give us more money so that we can pay for social programs that no other Canadian will get and no other province can afford.

I do find it offensive that as a MP and the leader of a major party he is expousing Anti-Canadian views while representing Canada on the International Stage.

I've always pretty much wished for a Prime Minister that would look the Bloq right in the eye and lay out any conditions of seperation.

1) Any Quebec employees of the Federal Government would be deemed a security threat, terminated immediately and sent back to their country of origin.
2) Your share of the national debt is payable before we allow for seperation
3) We will demand a referendum by the native's in Northern Quebec, if they vote to stay with Canada their land will immediately become Canadian Soil
4) No shared passport
5) No shared currency
6) They bank of Canada will be happy to loan you money, but you have no credit rating so we will need some collateral, like all of your strippers.
7) All Canadian property and assets including all military hardware will be returned to Canada. All Quebec members of the Canadian Forces will be discharged, if they serve with the Quebec forces they will lose their pensions.
8) The Quebec Hydro Deal will be renogotiated based on your status as a new country. If you don't like that we can just cut the lines
9) There will be no free travel, Canada Customs will now treat Quebec as a seperate nation
10) There will be a environmental toll based on your usage of the St Lawrence.
11) Canada's primary language will become English only, thanks for the massive savings.

In otherwords, if you want to seperate sir . . . please seperate.

[troutman]

J'aime Quebec.

[Ozy_Flame]

Remnants of an old guard still lingering.

I'd like to see the numbers of 18-34 year old Quebecers pushing for sovereignty. I highly doubt it's the political issue today as it was 15 or 20 years ago.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

Quebec taxpayers certainly have a right to some portion of Canadian military property.

Except that the equipment is property of Canada, there's no provincial jurisdiction over that equipment. Quebec didn't buy individual bits and pieces of it, they supplied money as an overall picture. While Quebec might receive some compensation, I have a hard time believing that the Canadian Government would let them to take from our global arsenal.

As a hilarious side note, Quebec is fairly anti military, it will be quite funny for Duceppe to try to sell his population on deploying troops over seas.

Originally Posted by Cowperson

Quebec would certainly suffer enhanced borrowing costs on the international stage in the event of a split . . . . . although that would probably happen to Canada too.

Canada would suffer but Canada has far more revenue generating potential to back it up, while Quebec does not. Canada also has a larger tax base. I also have to wonder if Canada would fight to keep a Quebec nation out of Nafta.

Originally Posted by Cowperson

Splitting debt would probably be a big issue . . . . many Quebecers, rather perversely, think they've been propping up bloodsucking Canadian leeches all this time rather than the other way around and do not think they have to take any debt when they leave.

I would hope that the government would stand fairly strong on this. However the transfer payments would stop and the government of Quebec would either have to chop a lot of their transfer supported programs or massvily increase their taxation base.

Originally Posted by Cowperson

There's a substantial anglophone community in Quebec and pockets where, if I remember right, anglophiles are the majority. There would have to be substantial negotiations regarding their rights in this matter and how they might be treated. (There's also a pretty interesting francophone majority in northern Alberta around places like Falher and MacLennan and Jean Cote.) There's great potential for violence in a split like this, if history around the world is any guide.

Sure, I agree, however while I've and we've all heard rumblings in the past about the Northern Natives and their resource areas having no interest in being a part of a Quebec Nation, we hear no such thing from the Franco communities in Alberta for example. However that may change when they hear that a Canada without Quebec no longer needs to support the hideously expensive biligual programs. But it might be as easy as offering them exit visa's and airline flights to the Nation of Quebec.

Originally Posted by Cowperson

I think, however, as we've marched beyond the 1960's through early 1990's, that a majority of Quebecors have probably come to the realization they are better insulated from the economic bullies of the world within the structure of Canada than would be the case on their own.

I agree, there's no way that they want to separate. However it would be nice to confront them with this, crush the Bloc Party and put this issue of national unit to bed for all times.

Originally Posted by Cowperson

Passions can always be inflamed, of course, but I think the moment has passed where this is a big issue. There's always going to be that 25% to one-third in Quebec, the most corrupt province in Canada, who carry the torch but even in the most inflammatory of periods, they never carrried the majority.

We are stronger together.

Cowperson
s=7

Sure in theory we're stronger together, but the amount of money that we spend and the unfair status of one province within many, serves to weaken everyone but Quebec. By catering to one segment of this country over many has created an unhealthy resentment which means that its difficult for use to ever see this country as truly united in pulling in one direction.

Personally the reason why I want to see the Military equiptment removed is to lead the way to the mass invasion two days after they declare independance.

[mykalberta]

If it means we stop sending money to QC, let them leave if they dont want to stay, the women in Quebec can be replaced.

Treat them like any other country, dont let them use our currency, foreign offices, passports, etc etc etc.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Sure, I agree, however while I've and we've all heard rumblings in the past about the Northern Natives and their resource areas having no interest in being a part of a Quebec Nation, we hear no such thing from the Franco communities in Alberta for example. However that may change when they hear that a Canada without Quebec no longer needs to support the hideously expensive biligual programs. But it might be as easy as offering them exit visa's and airline flights to the Nation of Quebec.

I don't know what it's like in Alberta but in Eastern Ontario, francophones are insulted when you call them Quebecers.