Why can't we just sell Quebec back to France and get it over with?

[Argocock]

Harper just made a motion that Quebec is a nation within Canada. And everyone else agrees with him..This is really fucked up. I say its time we just sell Quebec back to France and get it over with. So all they have to do is determine a value for the province of Quebec and send those little french men an invoice and see if they will put their money where their mouth is.

I figure the best way to do it is as a simple real estate deal, just average the price of rural and farm land out to $500 an acre, so you just count up the amount of acres in Quebec and multiply by $500. Then you charge $500,000 an acre for land with gold or copper or natural gas or whatever. And in cities where land value is more you work it out to $350,000 an acre in Montreal, and $200,000 an acre in Gatineau and Quebec City. And then $50,000 an acre for the smaller cities like three rivers and drumondvile.. And then you make the ships pay a tax every time they enter the St. Lawrence Seaway to get into the port of Montreal, just like the Panama Canal. And the ship tax goes to Canada. So this way instead of having a referendum every 10 years and holding Canada for ransom, all they have to do is come up with the money and shut the hell up.

I honestly think this Quebec as a nation thing is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Every political party seems to agree with it, which is even more fucked up.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1164193751721&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home

 

[MarkII]

I don't disagee with you at all. Love to see them stay but otherwise..enough is enough!

 

[Corey]

Quebec doesn't belong to France.

Much of the land belongs to the Natives.

 

[PHNINE]

It is obvious that Harper did this to maintain power within the NDP representatives in Quebec and ultimately keep the Liberals out of power by rallying with the Bloc Quebecois. When this issue was forced in the House of Commons, Harper's motion to label Quebec as a nation within Canada is a pretty sneaky and effective way of making everyone happy, but meanwhile clarifying that this is not an independent nation within Canada, but only a recognition of history of the Quebcois. We all know that if another referendum was to appear in the next election, Canada as a whole would still vote against an independent Quebec within Canada. Farking Quebecois...LOL

 

[Corey]

Quebecers won't be satisfied.

They're going to want legal teeth to go with that declaration, i.e. more legal weight to suppress minority rights.

Anyone who thinks this will end the national unity debate is naive.

 

[Von Wigglestaff]

First off folks this motion has no legal power so why get upset. I think most Canadians will agree that we are not the melting pot the US is. The main reason for this is that Canada was founded by two distinct societies that learned to live and govern together and as such this was a founding principal to our Country and how we view the world. Calling Quebec a Nation within a United Canada just recognizes the political reality in Canada as it always has been.



bbk

The notion that Canada was found by two "distinct societies" is false. Quebec was conquered by the British in a little understood but very significant war known as The Seven Years War in Canada; The French and Indian War in the USA, and the War of Austrian Succession in Europe. Quebec was winning the war and if France had not abandoned the colony to it's fate Vermont, New Hampshire and 1/3 of New York St would be part of Quebec today.

The British won the war by taking control of the Atlantic and sailing up the St Lawrence River. Then they governed Quebec through unofficial apartheid with the British controlling government and commerce, and the French subsisting as a working class.

 

[danmand]

As a relatively recent canadian, I never really understood why the english speaking canadians are so insistent on keeping Quebec within Canada.

If the Quebecers feel that they are a separate nation, which there is ample evidence they do, I do not understand why the rest of Canada do not negotiate a reasonable secession strategy with them instead of mounting expensive campaigns and votebuying schemes to keep them in Canada.

The world will not come to an end if Quebec separates from Canada. Looking at the history in Europe, much smaller populations have demanded and received statehood.

 

[slowpoke]

Quebecers won't be satisfied.

They're going to want legal teeth to go with that declaration, i.e. more legal weight to suppress minority rights.

Anyone who thinks this will end the national unity debate is naive.

It might help if the feds made it clear that a truly independent Quebec would have to stand on its own as a separate country. A really big part of the problem is that so many Quebecers think they're getting the shitty end of the stick compared with the rest of Canada. They also assume that an independent Quebec could still have sovereignty association with Canada ie: have their cake and eat it too. If we made it clear that they'd be on their own in the vastly reduced part of their province that they could legally remove from Canada and the aboriginals etc., they'd probably realize that separating would be a recipe for disaster. If Quebec can separate from Canada, the aboriginals can separate from Quebec. We'd also need a corridor to the east coast, customs at all Quebec border crossings. Quebec might not even have a free trade agreement with the rest of Canada. If they separated, the rest of Canada would want to punish them severely so they would find themselves in quite a jam.

 

[LancsLad]

If we do sell it , don't give them credit. France never paid its WW2 bill to the US why should they pay us now.

I know, lets nuke quebec then sell it as scrap.

 

[Corey]

Any way to put anti-radiation protective tarp over Chez Paree?

 

[danmand]

danmand,

For the simple reason, Quebec citizens wont give up the Canadian Passport or the Canadian currency. You also have to remember that France's President shares a large blame for this unrest. Read up...

I understand. I think the discussion about Quebec would be better if the non-Quebecers approached it with a more business like attitude, like: "You want to be your own country, well that is ok, if you elect a government to negotiate that, and understand that you will leave Canada and carry your proportional part of the national debt, as well as the assets. Good luck, we will stay friends, but entirely separate countries. "

 

[Svend]

danmand is right, if Canada can be divided then Quebec can be divided.
The Cree would prefer to stay with us, same with most of Montreal.

They've never voted clearly in a referendum, the question was always watered down to keep some kind of association and bargain for a better deal with the rest of Canada. The Clarity Act will make sure the next time it's a clearcut question. If they know they'll inherit their share of Canada's debt, they'll think twice - they know better.

 

[bigapple]

Time for a referendum for the rest of Canada: quebec in or out?

 

[Corey]

Let's not forget it's mainly French Quebecers, with a smattering of token anglos and ethnics, who are the separatists.

About 95% of Natives, anglos and ethnics in Quebec want the province to remain in Canada.

From now on, I will say French Quebecers want this or that...

 

[newguy27]

Almost all of the native-canadians in Quebec want to remain in Canada, Montreal does as well as many of the western townships. If Canada is divisible, then Quebec is too.

I'd say trade the rest of the unhappy Quebec to the States for New York City straight-up!!!
US gets precious land and natural resources and we get an awesome city, 2 baseball teams, NFL football, broadway, etc!!! The whining quebecors wouldn't be much of a problem for the States because they wouldnt put up with all of that crap (blackmail) that we do here. Can you imagine if say, Utah, threatened to separate from the US? You'd have marines in there the next day to enforce order!! They already went to civil war to establish one country, undivided with Lincoln. Fair trade!

 

[euripides]

Quebec is one of the few things that differentiates us from the U.S. It's also one of the most interesting and historical parts of Canada. We are extremely lucky to have it within our confederation.

Just stop sucking "out to" and "up to" the Quebecois. It's like spoiling your youngest child. You'll just keep paying.

 

[mindingmyownbusiness]

Giving away too much

If we want to let Quebec go I always say that's fine - you can have the St. Lawrence Valley and that's it! France only had approx. 60,000 people in this small area at the begiining of the Seven Year's War. The rest of what was considered french territory was only made up a a fewfar -flung trading outposts, Frontenac(now Kingston) being one, the rest was just areas where they traded with the natives. And don't forget - all that vast hydro-electric resource area - James Bay was once known as Rupert's Land, which was in fact British controlled.

 

[Egor]

The best chance Quebec has to preserve their language and culture is to remain a part of Canada.

It bears noting that Harper's motion says that the Quebecois form a nation within Canada. He didn't say the province of Quebec forms a nation within Canada. BIG difference ...

Regardless of what Quebecers might think, if they ever decide to separate from Canada, they will be giving up their Canadian Passports, and Canadian currency, not to mention many other political & financial benefits they receive from the ROC. They won't be keeping their jobs in Canada's Public Services, for example, and they won't qualify for Unemployment Insurance or Equalization payments.

Once they separate, they can march down to Washingtion and tell the Americans that they have to learn how to speak French if they want to deal with Quebecers. We'll see how far they get.

 

[Keebler Elf]

Argo, check your PM.

 

[Mcluhan]

Maybe the rest of Canada could get something worthwhile in trade. A bag of pucks, maybe?

Only if you are Canadian, can you talk about pucks. Careful.