Quebec Sovereignty Essay, Research Paper

In past centuries, many countries have had political problems within

themselves.Some took care of the problem but most of them didn’t and

there for either made changes in their constitution, separated the

country like Russia, formally known as U.S.S.R, and there is also those

who are still dealing with the problem like Canada. Canada has had for many years its share of political problems with Quebec who wants either more political power or sovereignty. The reasons why Quebec sovereignty is a

valuable option is because it would help them keep their culture, and also

not only they wouldn’t have any problem surviving economically but

sovereignty would actually help the economy.

For a long time, Canada has been a bilingual country. The reason why the

Quebec government accepted the 1867 confederation agreement was to attain culturalfreedom all over Canada for French speaking population:

French Canadians in Quebec, the Metis out west and the Acadians in the Maritimes. However, soon after the agreement, French schools were threatened

to be shut down in New Brunswick, just like they were in Manitoba and

Ontario in 1916. This made Quebeckers feel that their culture had to be conserved. This is the reason why they want independence, they feel

threatened, they don’t want the French language which has always been

part of their culture to be taken away from them. By becoming independent,

they could be assured that Quebec will be a French speaking country and that nothing could change it. They would then be able to conserve their culture. According to a census, in 1993, the francophone minority in Canada was of

3.6% and it was reducing at a fast pace (these numbers have been taken from censuses that measured the minority of French speaking Canadians by the

primary language spoken at home) (A. Bernard p.166). Quebec tried to keep

the French language within the culture by imposing the 101 law, which

enforces the French language. Unfortunately, statistics showed that the

French Language was still in a big minority and that means independence

is the best and only way to bring it back alive and to conserve it. These reasons show how sovereignty would be good for Quebec and how it is the

only way they could keep their culture. Here is another fact; according

to some recent studies, it is expected that by the year 2010 Quebec becomes

an English Speaking province (D. Drache and R. Perin p.129) (that is mostly

due to the fact that there are many American companies investing in Quebec

and also the media that influences the English Language). If Quebec was a

French Speaking country and not a bilingual province like it now, these investors would make sure to respect the French language and would only

place French adds and express themselves in French. Same thing would go

for the English media and TV shows.

Finally, the reason why a sovereign Quebec would be helpful for the French

speaking province is that it would be able to survive economically. What

frustrates the Quebec government the most is the fact that the amount of

money distributed to the Quebec government by Ottawa is inferior to the proportion of taxes which they pay (A. Bernard p. 162). In other words,

Quebec pays more taxes then other provinces and doesn’t receive back as

much as they should. The only years when Ottawa gave a fair proportion

of money to Quebec was because of the economical crisis which Quebec

was going throw and desperately needed economical support. Another

fact is that Quebec receives only about 15 % of federal expenses

although it regroups 25% of Canada’s population ( A. Bernardp.163 ).

These are the facts that makes the Quebec government angry. Quebec

wants to control its own money and take care of its economy independently.

That way the Quebec government is sure to get the right proportion of

money so that it can help its economy and lower the dept. That is why Quebec wants a different system, the government feels like Ottawa isn’t

proportionately distributing the money and it is by becoming sovereign

that it will be able to control its own economy. Also, Quebec wouldn’t

have any problem surviving economically as many would say. What these people forget is that we have companies to support our economy like Bombardier

Which is one of the largest international companies.They fabric all kinds

of products for aerospace, defense, transportation and consumer products,

in another words from snow mobiles to airplane engines all around the world. There is also Hydro Quebec that could be a high source of income for the province. Hydro Quebec distributes electricity not only in Canada

but also in the United States. By becoming sovereign, they would not only receive money from the states for the amount of energy which they distribute

to them but also from Canada since they would no longer be united.

To conclude, these reasons prove that a sovereign Quebec would be a good

option to help the province keep its culture and maintain a good economy

which would only be possible if the government had total control which

would only be possible trough a winning referendum. However, at the present time, people don’t want to here anything about a referendum. Many polls show that the separatists are far behind at the present time and that only an economical crisis could bring to a winning referendum. However the only

problem for the separatists would that a winning referendum would not automatically mean a sovereign Quebec, Ottawa would certainly bring the

case to court and wouldn’t let Quebec get out of their hands easily.

Bibliography:

Andr Bernard, Probl mes Politiques Canada Et Quebec( P.160 – 167 )

Frank Scott and Michael Oliver, Quebec States Her Case( p.1 – 10 )

Daniel Drache and Roberto Perin, Negotiating With A Sovereign Quebec

( P. 125 – 130, 156 – 170 and 173 – 190)

Boucher, Marc T. , A Quebec Perspective( Document )