Canada begins the official process of Balkanizaion

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061128/wl_nm/politics_quebec_dc

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Parliament recognized Quebecers as a nation within a united Canada on Monday, backing a controversial proposal that has already prompted one minister in the minority Conservative government to quit.

The House of Commons, Parliament's elected chamber, voted 266 to 16 in favor of the motion, which the government said it saw as a way to head off pressure from separatists who want to break away from Canada.

But critics said the proposal could actually bolster the separatists, and the pro-independence Bloc Quebecois said it would use the change to demand extra powers, including Quebec's right to speak at international meetings.

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Michael Chong resigned over the vote, and said the separatists would use it to sow confusion.

"I believe in this great country of ours, and I believe in one nation, undivided, called Canada," Chong, whose cabinet brief included Ottawa's ties with Quebec and Canadian provinces, told a news conference.

"They (the separatists) will argue that if the Quebecois are a nation within Canada, then they are certainly a nation without Canada."

Chong's resignation does not threaten the government's survival, but it does underline political tensions over the status of Quebec, which has already held two closely contested referendums over whether to break away from Canada.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper drafted the motion last week in response to one from the Bloc that recognized Quebecers as a nation, but did not include the words "within a united Canada."

Chong said he remains a Conservative member of Parliament and was loyal to Harper.

He was the first minister to leave the cabinet since Harper defeated the Liberals in January. Chong quit after the government said it would dismiss cabinet ministers if they did not vote for the proposal.

French-speaking Quebec already calls its legislature the Quebec National Assembly and calls Quebec City its national capital.

"It won't change anything in their day-to-day lives," Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, a leading Quebec legislator, insisted during Parliamentary debate. "It won't give Quebecers more powers."

Many Canadian politicians have welcomed the motion as a way of mollifying Quebecers. But others said it risked opening the door to the break-up of Canada down the road.



Hopefully when they break up the non french speaking west part of Canada will finally join the lower 48.

Not too thrilled with it. But it is essentially meaningless.

do I have to make a snarky comment or is just enough ?

He was cursing Canada, like "may your firstborn be a female" or something equally venemous.

hey now, I simply posted the article and made a light hearted joke at the end. Lets discuss and please keep it civil.

That being said do any of you think this will actually ammount to anything in th elong run, and if it did lead to Quebec leaving Canada how would the rest of Canada fare? More a question for the Canadians to answer.

Based on previous posts, I'm pretty sure that you would be pretty happy to have Canada join the US. If Canada did begin to dissolve I would imagine that few provinces would try to join the US, my own included, but most would either try to remain a single country, or form small nations of their own. It might help to remember that most of our provinces are larger than most nations in the the world.

Can someone throw up a little background as to why Quebec wants to leave Canada all of a sudden (to me, at least)?

French Canadians have never felt as though they were part of Canada, rather that their own cultural identity sets them apart. This is the core of the Sovereignty Movement, and every couple of years, it comes up as a referendum, and always fails, due to non-french canadians in quebec, and a large contingent of French-Canadians that feel such a measure is unneccesary.

I didn't see anything uncivil, I thought the content of my "curse" made it clear that I was being silly =)

Molly-coddling their derrieres is a mistake. To try to make the rest of Canada pretend to be bi-lingual is a huge waste of effort and ink.

BUT...Canada has Quebec, the US has The Republic of Texas. And anyone who is or knows a Texan is aware that they are Texan first, US citizen (close) second.

Wow, I'm so glad someone else knows that much about what I think of my citizenship!

Thanks for helping!

Speaking as a Canadian, one of the things I value most about my country is that we respect the diversity of our population. The people of Quebec are the original "Canadians" and contribute to this county in ways that are hard, if not impossible, to quantify. If they chose to leave, I will respect that, and I hope whatever government that is in power at the time agrees with me. But we both would be much diminished by their departure and I would mourn the loss.

Free New England!

Well said. It would be a devastating loss and take away at least a part of my identity as a Canadian (especially since my grandmother was as French-Canadian as can be). Some days, especially considering how close they came to leaving us before, it seems like it's inevitable though.

Lordy, that would fuck up a lot of americans. They would be shocked to learn that you can go further north and east of maine.

We should see if we can get the Canucks to conquer Buffalo and Detroit again. Hopefully this time they won't make us take them back.

Honestly though, I think the Candians secretly took over the Upper Peninsula of Michigan about 30 or 40 years ago. Just aboot everyone there sounds Canadian, eh?

I think the "Native Peoples" who had their land and possesions seized by the 'French" invaders who conquered their lands and raped their women may beg to differ with you.

Not as in the original inhabitants of the land. The French were the first people to call themselves Canadians, or more accurately Canadiens.

As a proud Canadian, I have only this to say about the issue:
Fuck Quebec.
That is all.

Agreed.

Quebec isn't going anywhere. They need us.

It must be tough being French Canadian, you have to deal with being French...and Canadian.

yes thats why I said hopefully the West part of canada, IE everything to the west of Quebec. How was that hard to understand.

Indeed, I edited soon after posting, but you seem to have caught it anyway.

I like this approach better...

Ptuj! You see? Canadian is the pussy. They cannot Balkanize. To Balkanize you must be the man. You must have the hate and the strong cock. We have created entire ethnicities in order to fight the race war over the issue of whether Jadwiga ever brought back the cup of sugar she borrowed from Ludmila eight hundred years ago. Fuck the Canada, they are weak. You can set them on fire and they only scream and run around. They have not the hate and the strong cock. Ptuj! Ptuj I am saying!

Why would Alaska be part of Jesusland? Aren't they reasonable?

And where does Hawaii fit in all this? I want Hawaii.