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