2014-03-11

Et Tu, Canada?

Scotland, Catalonia, Crimea......and Quebec.

Parti Québécois promises to hold a referendum on sovereignty when time’s right
In a speech that was as self-congratulatory as it was deprecating toward her chief opponent, Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard, Marois positioned herself as the true defender of the Québécois nation, the heroine who can steer its people toward their collective destiny, declaring a PQ government would publish a white paper on sovereignty before the end of its next electoral mandate. The party platform pledges to hold a referendum “when it is deemed appropriate.”

“When we arrived in government, Quebeckers’ pride was at half-mast,” said Marois, who took power as the province’s first female premier with a minority government in September 2012. “It’s time to put aside moroseness and renew the determination that characterizes our people. . . . The Québécois won’t apologize for existing.”
All appeals to the Québécois.

In her speech, Marois claimed Couillard doesn’t have the true interests of Quebeckers at heart, accusing him of acting like he’s the Liberal leader of Canada.

“What’s more important to him: defending the interests of Quebec or the interests of Canada?”

The PQ’s sovereignty agenda has become a focus for many campaign watchers given the prospect of a separatist majority in Quebec City for the first time in more than a decade.

“We’re capable of governing ourselves, and we know the choices that are in front of us,” she said. “We don’t occupy ourselves with the federal agenda.”
Quebec is very, very important. Were Quebec to declare independence, it opens up all of Anglo North America. The Western (not West Coast) provinces of Canada are closer to the Mountain-Western states of the U.S. in their libertarian outlook. A peaceful Quebec sovereignty would also be a positive example for the U.S. It doesn't mean Canada would break apart or that U.S. states would secede, but it would open the door to secession that was supposedly closed by the Civil War. If it came before a period of extreme negative social mood, it could also prove the push that leads to a major political realignment in North America.

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