Реферат: Canadian National Unity Essay Research Paper Canadian
separation both Quebec and English-speaking Canada would be better off,
financially and otherwise. Without addressing this contention, the same
assumption occurs here: after Quebec leaves, Canada remains united. The
assumption that Quebec voters would not accept the economic costs and risks of
separation and were not subject to romantic sentiment on this issue proved
wrong. Until a week before the referendum, virtually no one predicted the
closeness of the vote. Only an enormous last-minute rally in Montreal by the no
vote halted the separatist surge. An index of the bind in which Canada now finds
itself is that the solution Ottawa has proposed to meet Quebec’s demands is
exactly the one a large majority of English-speaking Canadians oppose. To quench
Quebec’s desire for separation, Prime Minister Jean Chr?tien has proposed three
things: acknowledgement that Quebec is a distinct society; creation of a veto
against constitutional change, usable by every region including Quebec; and
Quebec control over worker retraining. A nationwide poll at the end of 1995
showed the massive dislike among English-speaking citizens with such attempts to
save Canada. Eighty-three per cent of respondents across Canada did not want
Quebec to have a constitutional veto. Indeed, the same percentage disagreed with
Quebec nationalists on the issue of whether Canada is composed of two founding
peoples, preferring instead to think of Canada as ten equal provinces. Some 61
per cent said that Quebec should not even be constitutionally recognized as a
distinct society. (MacLeans, pg. 14, Nov. 6/95) Given the bitter history of
constitutional struggle in Canada and the current public disfavour toward
reform, Quebeckers can hardly be faulted for their skepticism that the legal
reforms will ever be constitutionally entrenched. So, despite the welcome
boldness of the prime minister’s legal initiatives, neither English-speaking nor
French-speaking Canada, in the end, accepts the terms of these initiatives.
Separatist preference is generational. The youth are most supportive. As each
generation ages, the support within that generation retains its strength. If the
trend in support for Quebec independence is to be reversed, the federalists need