Neverendum referendum: Voting on independence, Quebec-style

BBC News ^ | 09/07/2014 | Nick Bryant

[goldstategop]

Though Canada's political centre of gravity of gravity has shifted westward in recent times - the country's conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, though Toronto-born, represents a constituency in resource-rich Alberta - this trend has not sparked a separatist revival. Paradoxically, the two referenda were held when two pro-Canada Quebecers, Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien, were Prime Minister.

A key difference between Scotland and Quebec is the simplicity of the six-word question posed in the referendum: "Should Scotland be an independent country?" In 1995, Quebecers faced a 43-word question that many voters found incomprehensible. In 1980, it ran to a riddle-like 106.

Yet however simply the question is worded, it inevitability unleashes complex and sometimes contradictory feelings about national identity, cultural heritage and economic security.

Despite two referenda, and despite the fact that it is almost 20 years since the last poll was held, the question of independence has never been settled or gone away. In Canada they even have a phrase to describe this protracted constitutional struggle - the "neverendum referendum".

[goldstategop]

In the UK, Scots have a simple question to face: to become a country or stay within the UK.

It has never been that simple in Quebec. People want independence but have always balked because the price that accompanies it is more than they want to pay.

The Quebecois are in a way a victim of their French heritage and culture. There is something Cartesian about preferring the head over the heart. And whatever romantic feelings people have about their country, leaving Canada is not something that seems like a natural impulse.

Rene Levesque may have gotten it wrong in saying "Until next time!" Michel Montaigne, the greatest essayist in history, probably is truer to the heart of the Quebec conundrum: "Who am I?"

And its one that will never go away as long there is a Canada.

[PGR88]

Quebec now has immigration policies favouring new arrivals from Francophone countries, such as Algeria and Morocco, to help preserve its identity.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

[Nextrush]

When I was in Ontario this summer a number of the French speakers in the tourist areas with me were very much Islamic.

At the swimming pool you would see a burqini mixed in with the bikinis.

I enjoyed my visit and may venture into Montreal next summer just to see how deep the Islamic influence is compared to my earlier visit there some years ago.