A law written up in 99 would make it legally binding.
It would not matter though. Ottawa can’t afford to let us go. They would appeal to the UN, it would get ugly. There’s no way they will let their bread basket go.
But... democracy... Right?
It would not matter though. Ottawa can’t afford to let us go. They would appeal to the UN, it would get ugly. There’s no way they will let their bread basket go.
I am not sure what weight the UN will have on the issue.
The Canadian situation reminds me of the secession of Southern US states from the United States of America in 1860-1861. Economic interests between the North and South caused the US Civil War. The Northern economy would be at a great disadvantage without Southern exports of cotton, sugar, etc., that had made up the great bulk of US exports that allowed the US to import a similar value of imports. The North was treating the South as though it was a colony from which to extract wealth. Something similar appears to be going on in Canada between the eastern and western provinces.
A majority of the 13 original states had said in their documents ratifying the US Constitution in the 1787-91s that they could either resume/reassume their own governance or they proposed 10th Amendment-like statements that meant the same thing. The Tenth Amendment was later ratified in 1791 and became part of the US Constitution. The Republicans in the Northern states in March 1861 passed a new tariff on imported goods that was much higher than what the seceded Confederate States had just passed for their own tariff on imported goods (which was similar to the previous US tariff). The new northern tariff immediately started reducing the number and value of goods imported to the North port cities causing many import businesses in Northern ports to close and Northern tariff revenue to decrease at a time when the US government was in a serious bind for revenue. Federal expenditures had increased substantially in the few years before the war.
Lincoln worried to others about where the money would come to run his government (tariffs being how the government financed itself at the time). Northern newspapers called for the blockade of Southern ports to stop the Southern ports from taking a big share of US imports which had previously been warehoused in Northern ports until they were sold to purchasers throughout the states.
Lincoln did not have the power under the Constitution to stop secession or blockade the Southern ports. But he assumed that power by provoking war with the South by sending a war fleet to Charleston with instructions to force their way into South Carolina waters if necessary. This he did ostensibly (i.e., for public consumption) to provide food to the US soldiers in Fort Sumter. He did this in spite of promises to South Carolina to withdraw the US soldiers from Fort Sumter and in spite of the fact that the Confederates had made food available to Fort Sumter from the Charleston markets until word came that the US fleet was coming to force their way into the fort. Lincoln thus got the war he needed to bolster his administration and institute the blockade of Southern ports. The US Supreme Court ruled that the war began with Lincoln's proclamation of a blockade.
It may indeed be hazardous to mess with those who assume they control or suppress your economy for their own benefit.
Canada being a Confederation of Provinces could separate easier than the states of a republic.
Greater Toronto and Central Montreal are the problems, because they have so many Federal seats, they decide who becomes the government. It is like two little pieces of fly shit on half a continent that rule the whole rest of nation. If they were removed from Canada they would fade away in very little time.