Canada's parliament has recognsed Quebecers as a nation

[whiteballz]

Canada's parliament has recognsed Quebecers as a nation within a united Canada.

Canada's parliament has recognised Quebecers as a nation within a united Canada.


It backed a controversial proposal that has already prompted one minister in the minority Conservative government to quit.
The House of Commons voted 266 to 16 in favour of the motion, which the government said it saw as a way to head off pressure from separatists who want to break away from Canada.

But critics said the proposal could actually bolster the separatists, and the pro-independence Bloc Quebecois said it would use the change to demand extra powers, including Quebec's right to speak at international meetings.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Michael Chong resigned over the vote and said the separatists would use it to sow confusion.

"I believe in this great country of ours, and I believe in one nation, undivided, called Canada," Chong, whose cabinet brief included Ottawa's ties with Quebec and Canadian provinces, told a news conference.
"They (the separatists) will argue that if the Quebecois are a nation within Canada, then they are certainly a nation without Canada."

Chong's resignation does not threaten the government's survival, but it does underline political tensions over the status of Quebec, which has already held two closely contested referendums over whether to break away from Canada.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper drafted the motion last week in response to one from the Bloc that recognised Quebecers as a nation, but did not include the words "within a united Canada".
Chong said he remains a Conservative member of Parliament and was loyal to Harper.

He was the first minister to leave the cabinet since Harper defeated the Liberals in January. Chong quit after the government said it would dismiss cabinet ministers if they did not vote for the proposal.
French-speaking Quebec already calls its legislature the Quebec National Assembly and calls Quebec City its national capital.

"It won't change anything in their day-to-day lives," insisted Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, a leading Quebec legislator, during Parliamentary debate.

"It won't give Quebecers more powers."
Many Canadian politicians have welcomed the motion as a way of mollifying Quebecers. But others said it risked opening the door to the break-up of Canada down the road.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Can...476185313.html

[Egg Nog]

Yeah, this was totally out of the blue for all Canadians. There's really no need to try to isolate their culture - why go beyond equality? It's especially strange an uncalled for considering the huge populations of english-speakers in Quebec (and francophones outside of Quebec). What's going to happen to them? What was wrong with the current situation? There are millions of Asians in Canada, why not them too? There's a good reason: Everyone is Canadian. There's nothing to be gained from secluding culture. Cultures and sub-cultures are already accepted here in full harmony.

Basically, the new Conservative government is making a desperate appeal to a group of people who generally hate them. Unfortunately, it has the potential to polarise Canada and isolate culture. It caught everyone off-guard when they suddenly annouced all of this and it somehow became a big issue. Stephen Harper is a vote-hungry asshole.

[fpv_gtho]

This sounds like something out of Star Wars. "Seperatists"?

Maybe you can help us out EN and tell us whats behind this?

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Theres no canada like French canada, it's the finest canada in ze land......

this is an unusual move to say the least. has there always been this sort of seperatist mentality regarding Quebec?

[clutch-monkey]

so.... do we invade now, or what?

[Egg Nog]

Maybe you can help us out EN and tell us whats behind this?

Didn't I already?

If you're wondering, Quebec isn't going to be a new country. The politicians are just screwing around with semantics. They mean nation in the sense that they are a cultural sub-group will be recognised differently by the government (it is the same way with aboriginal Canadians). The thing is, there's no reason for it. French-speaking Quebec residents are only different in one way: They primarily speak French. There's no reason to polarise the country by trying to put everyone in their own categories. It's just a total waste of time and resources.

Seriously, nobody saw this coming, it was totally out of nowhere. It's not like anything has really changed though - our Prime Minister is just trying to gain party support in a really sneaky, unorthadox way. There's absolutely no reason why Quebec would need to be recognised as a "nation within a nation" or whatever the hell they're saying.

It's totally superfluous.

[henk4]

Attendez la Nouvelle Orleans....

[fpv_gtho]

Didn't I already?

If you're wondering, Quebec isn't going to be a new country. The politicians are just screwing around with semantics. They mean nation in the sense that they are a cultural sub-group will be recognised differently by the government (it is the same way with aboriginal Canadians). The thing is, there's no reason for it. French-speaking Quebec residents are only different in one way: They primarily speak French. There's no reason to polarise the country by trying to put everyone in their own categories. It's just a total waste of time and resources.

Seriously, nobody saw this coming, it was totally out of nowhere. It's not like anything has really changed though - our Prime Minister is just trying to gain party support in a really sneaky, unorthadox way. There's absolutely no reason why Quebec would need to be recognised as a "nation within a nation" or whatever the hell they're saying.

It's totally superfluous.

So basically....they want a level of differentiationi between themselves and the rest of Canada due to speaking French rather than English? Interesting...

[fisetdavid26]

I guess I should clear things up: the separatist mentality does not come only from the fact that we speak french, there's a lot of political reasons also which are kinda long to explain. The two main cities here in Quebec, Quebec City and Montreal, has there lot of english-speaking people, especially Montreal. We're only 700,000 people here in Quebec City and the majority here speaks french, however, everybody under the age of 40 or so speaks english too. In Montreal there is a huge proportion of english-speaking people. So I don't think it's a great idea from Harper to seperate us only for the language. The separatist movement was strong in the 80's but kinda faded away after the 1995 referendum did not pass (51% no, 49% yes) for the independance of Quebec. I admit I didn't see that coming. Why on earth Harper did this? I don't know.

[m5child]

I wonder why I didnt' see this on any american newspapers or in the news even... and howcome its in an Australian paper to begin with... then again, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough...

[Egg Nog]

I admit I didn't see that coming. Why on earth Harper did this? I don't know

Totally.

What's the need? There's no way in hell it's somehow going to improve acceptance (which is essentially already a non-issue).

[henk4]

Totally.

What's the need?

to stir up an otherwise pretty dull country?

[DesmoRob]

Yeah, this was totally out of the blue for all Canadians. There's really no need to try to isolate their culture - why go beyond equality? It's especially strange an uncalled for considering the huge populations of english-speakers in Quebec (and francophones outside of Quebec). What's going to happen to them? What was wrong with the current situation? There are millions of Asians in Canada, why not them too? There's a good reason: Everyone is Canadian. There's nothing to be gained from secluding culture. Cultures and sub-cultures are already accepted here in full harmony.

Basically, the new Conservative government is making a desperate appeal to a group of people who generally hate them. Unfortunately, it has the potential to polarise Canada and isolate culture. It caught everyone off-guard when they suddenly annouced all of this and it somehow became a big issue. Stephen Harper is a vote-hungry asshole.

You would make a better candidate than Harper anyday.

[Eric S.]

well if there's another referendum, anything is possible :S

[Egg Nog]

You would make a better candidate than Harper anyday.

Thanks man, although I guess I wouldn't consider "better than Harper" to be a compliment, because it doesn't mean much. I'd never want to be a politician though. I think that's part of the problem; people in power tend to be people who want power, so it's inherently biased. I hate doublespeak and logical fallacies. You can't be a "successful" politician without involving both of these.