If Quebec becomes a sovereign nation, whose hard-earned money will they confiscate to pay for their welfare state?

Will there be a civil war in Canada?

Canada will send it's fatuous - I mean, famous peace keepers to prevent a civil war.

I consider myself one nation - a nation of one. I guess by oj's definition, I should be able to get me a seat in the General Assembly at the UN.

These children can play at setting up statelets because they know the world government will protect tnem. Unity is a prerequisite of power, if a people is content to rely on the kindness of others to provide protection, why not set up as many "nations" as they please?

Heck, that's why there's an America. We knew the Brits had us covered.

Canadians refer to the Indian tribes as "First Nations", so in effect, this is just lumping the obnoxious Frenchies in with them. Definitely a creative solution, and one that tends to deflate "Francophonie" pretensions. (It also has ramafications with the tribes in northen Quebec, who have stated they like being a part of English dominated Canada, and threatened their own secession back into Canada in '95 if the Bloc's referendum had succeeded.)

Just wait until the whole province is turned into a giant casino and fireworks stand.

In Quebec's last referendum on sovereignty, the mush-phrases and smokescreens were out full force: e.g. they were led to believe by the PQ that sure they were gonna separate ... but nonetheless they could use the Canadian dollar as their new National currency and they could also maintain their Canadian passports. Say what?

The whole thing's really about snobbery and posing (and subsidies!). In the meantime, Quebec itself is in decline. Sometime in the next couple of years or so, Alberta, with less than half the population of Quebec, will have the larger economy of the two. Young people will inevitably go where the good jobs are, as they always have.

If there's any good to come of it, it's that it's gone on so long that now, when Quebec asks for more power, the other provinces have long since learned to say, "good idea, me too," which means the grassroots support and leverage is there for decentralization if it's wanted, tho the chattering classes generally oppose it.

ras has this right. It's a brilliant move by Harper and doesn't add up to much more than Ottawa saying what everybody knows: "Yeah, ok, you're different". Quebec brights will knash their teeth at the hypocritical perfidy, but ordinary Quebecers will appreciate the spirit of the gesture and take baseline linguistic reassurance from it, especially if the West doesn't get its libertarian knickers in a knot. If you thought Bill Clinton could stretch out debate on what sex means, you should see what we can do with the word nation.

I think I've quoted before a famous (separatist)Quebec stand-up comic from the '70's mimicking a typical Quebecer:

"Those English are so stupid. They are always asking what Quebec wants. What's the matter with them? It's obvious what we want. We want a free and independent Quebec within a strong and united Canada."

Lou:

DuBois on Quebec: "I have always relied on the kindness of strangers".

Very good.