CHAPTER 13

A new beginning

 

"They are us."[109]

                   -- Jacques Parizeau

Things are good for Quebec as a province of Canada. I don’t understand why its people would want it to become independent.

If a majority of the Quebec population truly feel that Quebec is a nation then they should have the boundaries of an independent nation to reflect that reality.

Nations come into being because the diverse forces existing on a land find some commonality of purpose and values in the forging of a union. Canadian Confederation was such an example. The commonality of values contained in Canada’s first constitution, the British North America Act, reflected the national will at that time. And the nation has continued to grow and evolve from those original values.

Today, however, many of those values are no longer shared by all Canadians from coast to coast. Things have changed…irrevocably so. The two founding peoples find themselves split on the values that are supposed to structure a nation.

A realignment is in order. Independence, I suggest, is a way to realign those values so that each entity -- Quebec and what’s left of Canada -- can reflect their unique values

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