Quebec Sovereignty Movement :: essays research papers

The Quebec sovereignty movement has been going on for over 50 years, and it seems, may never rest until complete. So why not let them go? How would that impact other Canadians living outside of Quebec? True, Quebec has been part of Canada since confederation in 1867, and helps connect Canada from sea to sea (as MacDonald would put it). However, Quebec is much like a foreign country anyway, with its own language, culture and civil law. The majority of Canadians in the western provinces would welcome their sovereignty. Quebec is Canada’s spoiled child. They demand to be treated as a â€Å"distinct† society, and cry for their own language, more money, more rights, and special treatment. Because a large percentage of voters are in Quebec, our Government continues to be blackmailed by Quebec, and gives into the demands. Why should Quebec receive more than other provinces? The next few paragraphs will discuss how the separation movement started and how Quebec leaving would affect us everyday Canadians. The separatist movement all started just before the 1960’s when Maurice Duplesiss, the conservative Premiere of Quebec, died suddenly. Shortly afterwards, his successor, and newly appointed premiere, also passed on . The death of these two premieres was referred by historians as the start of the Quiet Revolution, and a period of rapid change in the province of Quebec. Soon after the death of the two conservative premieres, a liberal government was elected in the 1960 Provincial Election. The party was led by Jean Lesage, who quickly went to work by imposing a Quebec education system that replaced the Canadian government run educational plan. Major funding was put into the schools and several improvements were developed. On the economic level, the government looked for francophone to control the economic spectrum of Quebec, which prior to the revolution, was largely dominated by English-Speaking Canadians. The new government brought forward a new way of thinking for citizens of Quebec. There was a cultural shift from a Canadian identity to a separated society throughout the province. French-Canadians were now Quà ©bà ©cois, and a new identity was formed. The province took care of its own, this was the creation on an Etats-Providence (welfare state). In the 1962 Provincial Election, another liberal premiere was elected by the name of Rene Levesque, who would go on to found the Parti Quà ©bà ©cois (a party focusing on a Quebec Sovereignty as its primary goal).