Quebec Essay, Research Paper

Quebec

Canada is one of the most unique and diversified countries in the world. It

consists of ten provinces and two territories. All parts of Canada are interesting and

contain important details to them, however, Quebec’s political situation is the most

controvercial of all. In all other parts of Canada, the main spoken language is english

and it creates no problem amongst its settlers in each province. In Quebec, the

situation differs. There is twenty four percent of a french population in all of canada,

and this population resides mainly in Quebec. this creates a issue between the French

and the English settlers because the English want the spoken language to stay english,

but the majority french population want it to be french. Due to the minority of french

speakers in all of canada, french is at a minority. In Quebec, their is a french majority

of settlers and because of that, the french are taking their dominating situation and

trying to create a french country on its own seperated from the rest of Canada. The

follwing essay will include the history of the politocal situation in Quebec.

The situation of Quebec can be best explained as the evolution of two nations.

This conflict goes back two hundred years ago to the English conquest. Both Britain

and France established colonies in Northern America in the seventeenth century. In

seventeen hundred and fifty nine, British forces had a victory led by general Wolfe and

this ended French colonialism in Northern America, yet problems persisted because the

French still resided in these areas. New France stayed part of the British Empire and

they lived within their own laws and language and were aloud to practice Catholicism.

Due to being placed as a minority, the French refused to assimilate and thus, problems

began. During the American Revolutionary war, thousands of English speaking people

came to these British colonies and this made Quebec an English speaking province. In

order to seperate the English form the French, upper and lower Canada was created.

English dominance was marked, and the French were mainly farners. In eighteen

hundred and thirty seven, a rebellion took place to make French assimilate into English

society, but the French at the same time wanted independence from Canada and did

not like that idea at all. The rebellion failed. During the confederation, federal systems

were introduced in eighteen hundred and sixty seven, and this isolated Quebec from

the rest of canada. Quebec had bilingualism instituted, however, French speakers were

forced to use the english language and the English didn’t have to use the French

language. French schools and other institutions becane vital for French speakers. In the

nineteen hundreds, Quebec was sixty percent rural and by nineteen hundred and thirty

one, it was sixty three percent urbanized. This created a bigger problem for the French

because all the jobs went mainly to the English speakers. By nineteen hundred and

sixty, French speakers were the most poorly paid workers and their standards of living

were the lowest too. The French had to learn the english language in order to survive

living in Quebec, and the english could pretty much ignore the French because they

didn’t need them. It was the Quiet Revolution in nineteen hundred and sixty that

transformed the lives of French speakers. The changes that occured, redefined the role

of the Government. The state became the instrument for change. Things like health,

welfare and education became a concern for Quebec. This marked the end to the

anglophone control of the important segments of the economy. In nineteen hundred

and seventy, a huge transformation occured, Parti Quebecois came to rise. The French

felt the only way they had to control their destiny was to create a notion that Quebec

should seperate from the rest of Canada. A man named Rene Levesque created the

Parti Quebecois wanting liberation. He created the notion for sovereignty association

sayong Quebec will still have close ties to Canada, yet be a seperate nation. Before the

election of which party was to be in power, parti Quebecois decided that if they were

elected, they would create a referendum in which people will have to chose to either

agree to seperation or not. In nineteen seventy six, Parti Quebecois was elected as

Government of Quebec and this drew attention not only around Canada, but the

United States as well. There was a referendum in nineteen hundred and eighty, but the

idea of seperation was rejected anf the loss was three to two. In nineteen hundred and

eighty five, Parti Quebecois was defeated and replaced by Robert Bourassa. With this

new Government, the french prospered more economically and in all other areas of life.

Slowly, the Francophones began to take over the Anglophone dominance. In nineteen

hundred and ninety five, there was yet again another referendum that took place in

October. The measure was defeated yet again, however, it was a close call. English

won fifty point six percent to forty nine point four percent French. Today the problem

still stands, however, peope are still reviewing what really did happen in the last

referendum and people are looking at the pros and cons against Quebec ever really

seperating from Canada.

It is unfortunate and true that the French population of Canada are at a

minority and in the past have been treated poorly and unfairly. The fact of the matter

is, no matter how much French canada wants to be equal and have independence, the

situation is unlikely and many people, including other Francophones see that too. Not

only was there much debate over whether there was fraud concerning the votes taken

during the election of nineteen hundred and ninety five, but there are also many issues

at stake. For instance, there are the Indians and their Canadian citzenship to think

about. If Canada were to seperate, the indians would have no where to turn to for

support, because the rest of Canada would no longer want to help them out since

Quebec will be independent form them. There would also be military problems

considering that the military is federal and part of Canada as a whole but if Quebec

would seperate, there would be a very small and insufficent army. If there were to be a

civil war then what military force would come to help? There would also be no more

medicare system for all persons residing in Quebec and how would people who were

on welfare be able to pay fpr operations or all other medical emergencies that may

persist. The employment rate would drop considerably and many business’s would go

bankrupt. Overall, this plan for seperation may give the French a chance to prove

themsleves that they can fend for themsleves, but it seems as thought hey are not

thinking of all the negative impacts that come along with this package of

independence.