Oct. 31 - I freely

Oct. 31 - I freely admit that I don't really get Quebec, and since the question of separation was settled long ago in the USA, I have a cultural bias that precludes any pretense at objective analysis. This doesn't exactly help in furthering my understanding:

QUEBEC -- Quebec's National Assembly voted unanimously yesterday to recognize Quebec as a nation, but not all parties agree on what it means.

The unanimous vote comes a day after a heated debate in the [Canadian] House of Commons in which the Liberal majority defeated a Bloc Quebecois motion also calling for the recognition that Quebec constitutes a nation. [Background here.]

The Bloc motion stated that Quebec could withdraw from new federal spending programs with full financial compensation. The National Assembly motion contained no such demands, only a simple declaration: "That the Quebec National Assembly reaffirms that the Quebec people constitute a nation."

The motion was immediately sent to House of Commons, where it will be delivered to all the federal members of Parliament.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest, who tabled the motion, insisted that the motion will not change Quebec's status within Canada. "Quebec is a nation within the Canadian nation," Mr. Charest said. "It contradicts nothing in the fact that we are both Quebeckers and Canadians."

But maybe there's more politican maneuvering than meets the eye when I remember the flack over the issue of whether Mike Harris speaks French, hmm? And then there's this, which more than anything seems to indicate that polls are useless:

As the debate over the recognition of Quebec as a nation unfolded, a public opinion poll conducted in Quebec for the Council for Canadian Unity showed support for sovereignty-partnership at 47 per cent in September, an increase of six percentage points since last April. However the same poll also showed that 75 per cent of Quebeckers were favourable "to the [Charest] government playing a very active role to help the Canadian federation work better."

Seven people were recently arrested for painting anti-Canadian slogans in a predominantly anglophone former suburb of Montreal and possession of homemade bombs. This report that there is a Quebec militia training and armed to take on the Canadian army. The militia's vice-president says the aims of the militia are defensive in nature:

"We want to act in entire legality. We want to train people to defend and help the Quebec people, for example in cases of natural disasters. We want to defend sovereigntist activists if they're attacked during a demonstration."

The group would also act if the Canadian army moves in after a yes vote for sovereignty, she said.

A former member of the group told the TVA television network that he quit after hearing people muse about blowing up mailboxes in English-speaking areas. The vice-president said such plans are not condoned by the militia.

I hardly think that the FLQ is going to make a dramatic comeback, so there's no panic!

But, and it's a biggie, under a new law recently voted into effect, the Canadian taxpayer will be footing the bill for candidates at the rate of $1.50 for each vote garnered by the political parties in national elections. That means that my tax dollars will go to funding a separatist party, the Bloc Quebecois, as well as a socialist party, the NDP. That's just so wrong on so many levels.

Posted by: Debbye at 10:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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