Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: fanfan

Serious question...despite all the jokes we conservatives make about the Blue States..especially California and Massachussetts, we really don't understand what it's like to be living in a nation where there is a very strong sentiment among the population of one province to secede. And they keep on coming back to it, referendum after referendum...a cancer on the body politic, if you will...and the most effective treatment for many types of tumors is to remove it surgically..to cut it out, before it grows further..So, what's yout honest assessment of the sentiment among Canada's Conservatives, as a party, and conservatives..philosophically, about letting Quebec go?


4 posted on 05/03/2005 4:34:01 AM PDT by ken5050 (The Dem party is as dead as the NHL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: ken5050
In public, no Conservative would support Quebec separation. In fact before the last referendum, it was many prominent Conservatives who organized a rally of 10,000 in Montreal to support the "No" vote.

Privately, many of us are getting fed up with the tail wagging the dog all the time.

5 posted on 05/03/2005 4:48:51 AM PDT by fanfan (" The liberal party is not corrupt " Prime Minister Paul Martin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies ]

To: ken5050
You didn't ask me, but I will answer your question. The attitude is "let them go" and let's get on with the negotiations. Quebecers are living in a dream world. Many of them are federal civil servants. They actually think they will retain their jobs, use Canadian currency, and keep their Canadian passports. They also think they can leave Canada with their present territory. History and the Indians will have a lot to say about that. In fact a sovereign Quebec will have a lot of problems with their indigenous population. Then there is the question of road, rail, air and sea access to the Maritimes from the rest of Canada. Also the question of international treaties like the one covering the Seaway, NORAD, and NAFTA. Quebec will not automatically be a signatory to any of these.
10 posted on 05/03/2005 6:32:23 AM PDT by Former Proud Canadian (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies ]

To: ken5050
Just to play Devil's Advocate, one could argue that the majority of Quebecers are actually ahead of the political curve in their now long-standing repudiation of the morally bankrupt Liberal Party.

Two mistakes, IMHO, that many outside Quebec make in trying to understand it:
1. they view Montrealers as representative of all Quebecers when this is likely as realistic as forming an opinion of English Canada based solely upon Torontonians.
2. they fail to differentiate between the relatively small number of authentic separatists and the probable majority of Quebecers who are actually nationalists. (sometimes wrongly called "soft separatists")

In the latter case, the error most likely finds its basis in the fact that, as a group, Canadian Anglophones take no pride whatsoever in their own language, history and culture and accordingly have great difficulty in comprehending people who do.

I'd argue that people who do deem these things worth standing up for are more deserving of our respect than those who plainly don't. Sometimes - as with "French Only" sign laws - you have to go too far to go far enough.

Personally, I'd support similar legislation in English Canada and would even go a step further: 50+% of the wording on any public sign should be in EITHER of our Official Languages. (reading French really isn't that tough)
I'm sick of seeing signs totally in foreign languages because they tell me that those who display them want nothing to do with anyone else and simply want to occupy territory while contributing nothing in return!
11 posted on 05/03/2005 7:15:05 AM PDT by GMMAC (paraphrasing Parrish: "damned Liberals, I hate those bastards!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson