What if Quebec seceded?

[Bill McBlueState]

While we're discussing Canada...

What would the ramifications be for North American politics if Quebec seceded from Canada? As I recall the vote was very close last time.

Would the Atlantic provinces be viable on their own? It's hard to see them staying part of Canada with the hundreds of miles of physical separation resulting from an independent Quebec in the middle.

Would this encourage a province like Alberta to try to go it alone as well?

[TexasMexican]

1. I support an Independent Quebec.

[Bill McBlueState]

3. why?

just to see things shaken up a little?

I'm not sure how I feel about it, other than to say that, if Quebecers voted in favor of secession, their decision should be respected.

I'd hate to see Canada fall apart, though.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

2. The short answer is, no one knows.

The Maritimes would be the area most affected, of course, and it could spell the end of Canada, but it's impossible to theorize.

[MGKrebs]

4. What's a 'Quebec"?

OK OK, just kidding.

[sleipnir]

5. Canada would fall apart.

My best guess is that within two years, the Atlantic Provinces break off and join America. At that point, they'll have more social and economic ties to America than the rest of Canada. No sense in trying to ship things through Quebec to the "rest" of Canada. Might as well join the US and be done with it. Hell, they're not getting much of a deal right now with the current Canadian government.


The Western Provinces might still function as "Canada," but really, it won't be the same. Ottawa will retain a lot of power, but I'd look for a more confederation style government on the remaining Provinces.

Total chaos, and the end of Canada, as we know it.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

6. The ramifications for the US would be pretty wild, too...

..pulling in a parts of a country that has a pretty lefty approach to things...like national health care and such......

....there would probably be alot of opposition in the US to having these provinces join, just as theres alot of avoidance of Puerto Rico join the USA as a state.

[whirlygigspin]

7. Still waiting for an answer...

Appeal to the Inhabitants of Quebec
Continental Congress, 1774

Philadelphia

Friends and fellow-subjects,

"We, the Delegates of the Colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the Counties of Newcastle Kent and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina and South-Carolina, deputed by the inhabitants of the said Colonies, to represent them in a General Congress at Philadelphia, in the province of Pennsylvania, to consult together concerning the best methods to obtain redress of our afflicting grievances, having accordingly assembled and taken into our most serious consideration the state of public affairs on this continent, have thought proper to address your province as a member therein deeply interested."...

"Your province is the only link wanting, to compleat the bright and strong chain of union."

http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/writings/quebec.htm
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/combined.htm

[Bill McBlueState]

11. very interesting...

and I like the old-timey name for Delaware: "the Counties of Newcastle Kent and Sussex on Delaware"

so they never answered? heh.

[sleipnir]

8. True, a wild ride, I think it might end up fracturing America

New England would be more than happy to have the Atlantic Provinces, but the rest of the country? Who knows...I think it could lead to the final regional fracturing of America. Not by itself, but that would be a big step.

Honestly, most in the US want Puerto Rico to join, as they don't pay any Federal Taxes right now. And hey, America is full of a bunch of racists, and I'm sure they'd be more than happy to have a few 90% white Provinces join! Racism, the main reason most don't want PR to join the Union, IMO.

[Brian_Expat]

9. Absolute chaos would ensue in Canada and the USA

Not all of Quebec would go -- only regions that voted to separate. As a result, 90% of the province's land area (including Montreal) would remain Canadian with only a narrow strip on the St. Lawrence "going independent."

The Canadian dollar would enter free fall, and there'd be plenty of unrest in the province -- clashes between separatists and federalists. Riots. Sending in the military. Etc.

I'm also not convinced that Canada would willingly enter the USA, especially after the Bush administration's shenanigans.

Fortunately, such a vote is unlikely. Quebeckers have largely pulled back from the brink and realize what a stupid idea an "independent" Quebec would be. . . sliced into little pieces and surrounded by an English-speaking sea that suddenly wouldn't care about preserving French language and culture because it's no longer relevant to "national unity."

[AliceWonderland]

10. I cannot begin to imagine the chaos

I remember having heated debates with schoolmates in Montreal over the topic, around the time of Meech Lake. We got in a near brawl trying to debate whether a sovereign Quebec would control the St Lawrence seaway. And the opening of that can of worms -- what precisely even belongs to a province that it can "take away" and what Ottawa would claim -- would be a firestorm in federal-provincial relations.

That's only firestorm #1 in 3,492,394 potential firestorms.

I don't even want to think what this would mean for the Maritimes and Newfoundland. Newfoundland is already in a state of economic stagnation. The combination of Canada's dissolution and the battle for control of the fisheries would be the final undoing of the island. Though maybe we'd finally get Churchill Falls back, who knows.

I have friends who are Quebec nationalists and I believe in the right to self-determination of all people. However, I can't see Quebec separation benefitting anyone, and the potential disasters are far too evident. I also fear it would make Quebec and ROC (Rest of Canada, for the Americans reading, heh) unable to hold onto its thin thread of sovereignty against the United States.