As a guy who lives in Toronto, but works for a company based in Quebec for the last 12 years, I'm in Montreal and the rest of the province at least half of the year. As such, I have a unique opportunity to observe the politics and culture first hand.
I have often joked (but with a tinge of reality) that they should rename University Avenue in Toronto "Rene Levesque Street" because he built it. Seriously. Levesque and his policies of discrimination destroyed Montreal. When I was a kid growing up in Hamilton, Montreal was always THEE Number One City in Canada. I'd ask questions about Canada and my parents would always tell me that "Montreal was the biggest city in Canada", etc. etc. I remember it seemed impossible that Toronto would ever catch up with Monteal. Montreal was this mythical place where the action was. Now? Montreal will never, ever catch up with Toronto.
In fact, I don't think the population of Montreal has recovered to where it was in 1976.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Montreal
The separatist policies of Levesque drove hundreds of thousands of people down the 401 to Toronto. They brought with them their talent, their skills, their know-how. They came to a welcoming city, a city where they could put a sign up in Chinese, or Greek, or Arabic. No-one cared.
Having watched the dynamic between Montreal and the rest of Quebec, I must say that Montreal is its own animal. It is not like the rest of the province and I have witnessed how Quebec city people (for example) make a lot of disparaging remarks and statements about people in Montreal. People in Montreal are laid back, more tolerant of the Anglo / Franco thing. Montreal is a fairly cosmopolitan town. This is exactly what the Separtists despise. The Separatists don't want Anglos and Francos getting along like they do in Montreal. I swear to God, Levesque and his buddies were thrilled when half the city packed up and moved to Toronto. It got rid of the guys who would never vote for them and never vote for an independent Quebec. In short, Levesque deliberately enacted policies he knew would destroy Montreal, but he didn't care. He gutted Montreal in order to bring his dream to reality. (The end (an independent Quebec) justified the means and the result (driving hundreds of thousands of people out and destroying the city).
How any Montrealer could possibly hope for separatism is beyond me.
Just look at real estate values in Toronto vs. Montreal. Toronto's real estate prices have increased dramatically since 1997 (whether that is a good thing is a topic for another thread). Montreal? Not so much. Definitely no comparison to Toronto, or Calgary, or Vancouver. Part of the reason is that immigrants from all over the world want to come to Toronto and Vancouver and Calgary. They really would rather not settle in Montreal unless they are francophones. No immigrant play = less increase in property prices.
Another referendum? Look out below. I just don't understand how anything postivie could come out of separation for the average Quebecer. The only people who will bennefit from separation in Quebec are the likes of Pauline Marois and her ilk. They will NEVER be Prime Minister of Canada, but maybe they can be Prime Minister of an Independent Quebec.
