Discover why the Quebec referendums of 1980 and 1995 happened and their results. Incredible to think that Canada could had split if these referendums would have passed.
Hey mate, very well explained. As someone who loves living in Québec I find this topic very interesting, and I can totally see where Québecois are coming from; I honestly admire them quite a bit, overcoming the grip of the church and building contemporary Québec has been a huge endeavour and no easy task, my country attempted this transition and sadly failed, the church still holds a lot of power and backwards attitudes are prevalent. Also, Québecois french is great, the sacrés should be protected at all cost, the joual is still to advanced for me though. However, I am glad the referendums didn't pass because of two reasons: 1) Québec is vital to Canada, I would argue that it is the axis of the country, it provides access to the Saint Laurent, as well as the Atlantic Provinces. Without this Canada would not only be split, but it would lose essential access to the Atlantic and key transportation advantages. This would be extremely dire for the Praires in particular, however the remaining country would be severely crippled, I doubt it would be possible to maintain a status of "developed country" which such limitations, for both Québec and the rest of Canada. Which brings me to 2) Having the US as a neighbour. I'm Mexican, and a historian, neighbouring the US has been crippling to the development of my country. It has been instead a major factor for its underdevelopment. Québecois did not even consider this, as relations between Canada and the US have been quite good since WWII, however this would quickly become an existential threat. The US would be the biggest winner of this imaginary split, in the best case they would be able to set their own terms to trade with both Canada and Québec, imposing unequal trade agreements, in the worst, well, Canadians would remember why our government was very weary of them before the World Wars, and some parts would probably be annexed. Canada has been lucky of being considered as an equal by the US and European powers, as well as being protected so long by the British, otherwise, it would've been in the same predicament as Mexico, and my friends, it's never easy to be the underdog against a world power, just ask to the Polish. All that said, I think there is one scenario in which this could work, which is both the US and Canada splitting into smaller countries, in that way a some sort of balance could be reached, however the process would be very messy.
Hi there, love this comment! I would have to agree with all you are saying. Unfortunately I didn't consider the trade relations that would had probably formed with the US if Quebec would have became independent. I agree that the US would had dominated the relationship. Very interesting to consider! Also, like you say, this would have split Canada into two entities. The fate of Atlantic Canada would have been put into question. So I agree, probably best for everyone that the referendums did not pass and that Quebec can enjoy can still enjoy some autonomy and preserve their culture while being part of Canada!
I'm from Quebec, my family and I used to be verry independentism oriented but time made me reconsider a Independance lot. Not only for those reasons you said but also because the world, despite what recent developments would suggest, tends toward a globalization of culture. Since my teens, the internet has been changing a lot of things, culture is getting more and more homogeneous, as a French Canadian I've seen the population education relating to language go from a 95% of French only speakers to a large margin of bilingual individuals, specially in the Montreal region. I think language is called to change globally as we mix more and more and splitting now would just weaken our "bargaining" power in the new socioplolitical meta in the long therm. While Quebec is quite distinct from Canada on some cultural aspects, we share a lot of fundamental values that tend to be more important to us than our differences. So as you said, we would be weakened and assimilated more easily. I also think that the existence of French speakers helped to force English speakers to be more aware than let's say US citizens toward minorities, allowing the current multiculturalism to exist and make this country a very welcoming one, relative to much of the world. (not saying we are perfect, but at least we try) Long therm,this situation is a powerful tool to expand the population of Canada nowadays, edging the country slowly toward the rare status or (relatively) peaceful super power as climate change affect the globe and thaw the Great White North. As a humanitarian at heart I hope my home can become a home for displaced population in this century as lots of places become unlivable. To that effect we need to keep our multi-cultural and tolerant approche toward likeminded individuals and the existence of Quebec as a province helps a lot to train for that. While I love my cultural identity and want to see it flourish, I don't want that to be to the detriment of other people across the globe. The world will need us as a stable anchor in the near future, not divided. We will need it as tensions rise due to food and water shortage. I hope Canada will become a haven for those in need. If I had to choose between a powerful nation and no climate change I would go no climate change but reality ain't so, so I'll take the next best thing, "un tabarnack de gros radeau" ( a fucking big raft) to keep people from all around the globe from drowning in this troubled period of human history. In a way, Quebec is like the training wheel Canada needs. Let's not forget that in the 80's Canada was one of the only countries if not the only country to getting closer to the Apartheid regime in South Affrica, a lot of changes happened quickly since and I don't think it would have happened without Quebec independance movement causing a serious shockwave.
@@shorgothThis is an interesting though a little naive take on things. You really count on Canada for protection? The country is already falling apart, losing its identity and it's significance and it's not Québec's fault.
it doesnt matter if quebec is vital to canada they could and should cooperate after independence. This country was built on the efforts of killing/assimilating NewFrance wich is Québec and that has to be outplayed
Good video ! I'm a quebecer and I thought it was well done ! But there were a few things that weren't talked about that I think are worth adding. - There are documents that were produced by the Grenier commission about how the ''Camp du Non'' exceeded the legal budget in publicity and spending. Thoses documents were put under an obligation of non-distribution and non-disclosure for ever. Which is particularly strange. Normally when you aren't guilty, you don't hide stuff.. - During the Lake Meech agreement, the provinces met during the night to sign the constitution without the Quebec prime minister. This was an offence to all quebecers and it was called ''la nuit des longs couteaux'' (The night of the long knives). - Another final thing to add, the english were oppressors in Quebec. The english elite were making deals with the clergy to keep the quebecois under its control by giving the clergy power in hospitals and schools, keeping the french poor and uneducated. French people had to speak english in the workplace, they were told to ''speak white'' and were paid atrocious wages and working conditions. In summary, the quebecois were dominated economically, culturally and politically. One last thing... Maybe take a few minutes to correct the grammar mistakes before posting.. It doesn't take long and it looks much more professional !
I was always fascinated with Québec, the more I read/watch the more I understand how different and unique is the Québec culture that being said i which they remain part of Canada.
If we stay in Canada, we will lost our soul. Canada and Quebec have not the same goals. Canada should be an alliance of 4-5 different countries (Atlantic, Québec , Ontario, etc) . Like Europe. If Canada continue with this exact immigration policies, Québec will represent 15 % of Canada in 2070.
@@Thierryhavefunbruh Quebec is Canada and Canada is Quebec, Canada was created in Quebec by both the Anglo and Franco with the goal of one united Canada. Both Anglo and Franco have the same rights serving as Canadian nationals. Stop being delusional I guess?
Will you still call us delusional when we'll eventually reach that percentage? lol how I wish we would leave this post-national, bland, soulless country and do our own thing. You guys stole nearly everything from us and claimed it as yours: Our national dish, the national anthem, without us Canada is the Walmart of North-America.
Great video and loved the editing style but could you share some of your sources as i have a school project on this and would love to go more in depth.
Love your videos. Is there any way you could make them louder? I like to listen to them while walking etc. and it can be a little hard to hear. Love from Ohio
I've always found it astounding when I hear it said that "Quebec didn't sign the Constitution" in 1982. There are literally only four signatures on the act. One is the Queen's. The other three are those of Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien, and Andre Ouellette. And guess where they're all from? So who didn't agree? The separatist premier of Quebec. Seriously, what could they possibly have offered him that he could have taken home to the rest of his party and told them "I've locked us into Canada..."? Nothing. So what's the point of complaining about it? The timing was unfortunate; that's all.
No Quebec PM has ever signed it and believe me, we've had liberals in power for a very long time in Quebec so it's not a matter of sovereignists not wanting to participate in Canada.... It goes deeper than that. About the names, that's the frustrating part. Federalists in QC think they are legitimate to agree on behalf of Québec to any constitutional deal and to impose it on Quebecers because they personally are from Québec like Pierre Trudeau did or like Jean Chrétien did with the Clarity act while for sovereignists, you need to win a 50+1 referendum to change the constitution (and to have 7 provinces representing 50% of the population now thanks to the Supreme court) but hey, if you're a federalist, you get a free pass on the last one... The reason Lévesque was against it now was the fact that it stripped Québec from its veto right in the constitution that used to be present before that. It meant for Quebecers that they were becoming totally powerless and at the mercy of what the English speaking majority of Canada wanted as a constitution. For example, Bill 21 today is based on a different interpretation of the religious freedom in the Charter of Rights and freedoms between both places but English Canada imposed their view of the issue on the whole country so the Supreme Court and the English Canadian constitution gets to decide what's acceptable or unacceptable for Québec... And you have every right to be against Bill 21, but if you are and you don't like the decision, put your head on an electoral publicity and defend your ideas and the people will judge. QC is a democracy... You also see the ongoing colonial mindset of Canada with multiculturalism and the postnational ideas which are again from Justin Trudeau, which states that Canada is a postnational country. So, if you're a postnational country, it means that there are no nations to which newcomers have to integrate. You therefore replicate international dynamics in the country itself and in what language do people communicate when they don't know each other's mother tongue and are at the international, in English... So behind the curtains of the allegedly open project of multiculturalism stands the good old Durham/MacDonald colonial project of having one Canada which is English. It's evolved yes, you don't have to be a white person from the British Isles anymore but it's still constant in its will to make a unilingual Canada... In Quebec, we prefer to talk about interculturalism but Canada still doesn't recognize that. Quebecers are attached to Canada, I really do think so, but they want total powers on their choices in terms of culture, social services, rights and freedoms, language, education, online legislation of platforms and more importantly, that these choices be respected by the rest of Canada, not challenged to court by our own taxpayers money every time Quebec is doing one thing that triggers the Rest of Canada or that the money being transferred from Ottawa comes doesn't come with such high conditions that the autonomy Quebecers have is autonomy on paper only. I have now completely lost hope that Canada can change its constitution to really accept the nations that are on the territory and not try to erase them from the map by being completely ignorant of their needs, their aspirations and their unique reality. I really hope the Yes side wins in a 3rd referendum, cause I don't want to be the powerless witness of my culture and language slowly losing traction and dying all around me for the 50 + years I have left according to the most recent life expectancy average. I'd rather move out of Quebec to move anywhere else where they have a dynamic culture which is not English speaking than to be the powerless bitter witness of that...
Btw it isn’t the attempt to build a nation… we are a nation we just wished for autonomy or decolonization of the Canadian country… then the constitution and revolution tranquille really showed how limited the québécois were insaide the Canadian confederation
Interesting topic. The CBC documentary “Breaking Point” is a must watch for all those interested in the referendum of 1995. There were so many facets and factors at play. From what I gathered, both sides were not ready for this. The Quebec government wasn’t ready in case of a NO vote, and the Federal government wasn’t ready in case of a YES vote. And it came really close…I think both sides were convinced they would win and simply dismissed the idea of losing. I think panic only started a few days before the actual referendum (in the case of Ottawa). I was also surprised France’s cold attitude towards the whole referendum. Maybe the French government would have changed its tune had Quebec voted yes and just didn’t want to meddle into Canadian internal affairs, but nonetheless it was odd to see them remain neutral throughout the whole run up. Wasn’t all that surprised about the United States - they backed Canada and I think Clinton even went on to state the Quebec would not be included into NAFTA (or would have to renegotiate or something). But I would love to hear your views (or anyone’s views) about a YES vote…and what would have happened (sort of like alternative history). I’m not sure where I read this (or heard this), but the Government of Quebec had sent letters to all military installations based in Quebec stating that if the YES vote had won, that they were to pledge allegiance to the new sovereign government in Quebec City and capture all disarm all Canadian Customs officers on the US/Quebec border and setup checkposts on the Ontario-Quebec border. I also heard that in response, the Canadian Air Force began quietly moving its fighter jets based in Quebec into Ontario and New York State. Crazy if this would happened. It would have been a big mess….
They stoled the referendum in 95 with 217 000 assermentations, and about the double of the money limits Fk. Str8 up Jean Chrétien and all the M.fker, the canadian gov.
11:26 Much of organized crime didn't want Canada to separate because it would be harder for them to do business with more borders. They are businessmen at the end of the day.
Also, in the 1982 constitutional agreement negotiations, it was discovered that Claude Morin who was the guy responsible of Quebec's negotiations strategy was on the RCMP pay roll...
I lived there in 1980 and there was a lot of careless talk that we'd have had to join the States. The reality is almost certainly that Canada would have entered into a customs union with Quebec, there would have been no noticeable difference at the borders, and people simply would have continued to move back and forth, trade, spend their money, and left the politics to the politicians. Odds are by the mid-80s you would hardly have known the difference in most day-to-day respects.
Reminder that only Montreal overwhelmingly voted for the liberals, primarily anglophones and non-francophones. The rest of Quebec usually overwhelmingly votes for the Bloc.
Parizeau made not great comment?? You mean by saying directly how it as it was and what he thought?!?! I still don't get what is so offensive about that?!?! Especially since it was exactly the reason why it didn't happen.
Miko, Parizeau went out there and said, in barely-couched language, "Par l’argent, puis des votes ethniques, essentiellement." The ethnic vote? Hmm, I wonder _which_ ethnicity? Ah! The one with _the money,_ of course...! Now I don't know how you say "dog whistle" in French, but I heard him say it, and even in French I knew what he meant, and so did everybody else. Basically, he said "the Jews". Same old song from backwoods Quebec, even in 1995. It's a big part of why he resigned so quickly. It was a real embarrassment, but as they say, in vino veritas.
@@AChapstickOrange I guess anybody can choose to believe what they want to. However, the words were not targeting one specific ethnicity, not even close. And I never heard an opinion like yours before...
@@MsBones1 Good but respect your commitment for the next referendum. Don't come cry in our arms and cheat on the electoral rules. If Canada had played within the established rules, Quebec would already be sovereign.
I’m from Ontario and I love Quebec. My parents would take me and my siblings there once every season to admire the natural beauty and the family oriented attitude. I plan on doing the same with my kids. Quebecers love their country. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
As an African who grew up in France and knows english pretty well, I can say I would be disheartened by Quebec leaving Canada. I don't like to see the West falling apart, and love both francophone and anglophone culture. I'm pretty sure both Quebec and the rest of Canada would suffer terribly from the split.
Le Canada est un bateau en train de couler. Le Québec a son canot de sauvetage, c'est notre langue et notre culture. Le Canada ne peut pas accepter notre différence comme peuple et nation. Le Canada devient un état "post-national" et c'est une vision que nous refusons pour nous-mêmes.
Plusieurs pensent comme vous, mais les pays qui ont obtenu leur indépendance ne veulent pas revenir en arrière, je ne vois pas pourquoi ça serait différent pour le Québec, surtout que nous avons beaucoup plus de ressources de toutes sortes que la presque totalité des pays qui sont devenus indépendants.
Votre choix de dedrires les anglos comme etant ..evils..est tres revelateur,ne sommes nous pas les ..evils..des anglos,tout ces etiquettes n ont rien a voir avec la legitimite,la legalite et tou la facon democratique que nous voulons realiser ce projet.Vive le Quebec libre.
@duolingo0552 the Sikhs in India don't want to be separated from India . It is only the Canadian Sikhs so why don't they form their so called Khalisthan in Canada ?
Atm I think Quebec is the province that has most favor, there have been so many advantages that the province has compared to the others that the difference is becoming glaringly obvious. I’m for the homogenization for all the provinces, but Quebec keeps wanting to be its own little world. I think by now there are more immigrants than there are Québécois, and that times are changing. And on a personal level every québécois has seemed like they’ve wanted to spit in my face for speaking English. Hey, I’m still learning French! Give me a break!
Of course Québec wants to be it’s own little world, it’s culture is different to the rest of Canada, and it spent 200 years fighting continuous attempts to be forcibly anglicised.
You know what they say. If everywhere smells like shit, check under your shoe. Maybe they can pick up on the fact that you think their culture should disappear, who knows?
Le Québec envoie 90 milliards par année au fédéral et c'est sans compter les retombées économiques du Fleuve Saint-Laurent pour tout le Canada. C'est plus que n'importe quelle province par capita.
monsieur, I think your comment is the exact opposite, Quebec received the largest sum from the federal vs all other provinces. Alberta pays the most taxes to the federal.@@mrowniii
@@patrickrimbao4233 no, my comment is right and data to prove it easily available. This is sad you guys keep spewing that bs propaganda youd been fed with without even giving it a thought.
@@renjiththariath7831 they know they can’t that’s why they abandoned the idea of separation. If they do, they have no army, they need to print their own currency, most of Quebec which owned by the natives still prefer to be with Canada, they will only have a strip of land from east side of Montreal all the way to gaspe. Then Americans will move in to buy them and Anglofy all signs.
