Deconfederation: Canada without Quebec

Raymond B. Blake is a history professor at York University.

The authors, both professors at the University of Calgary, have reached
the conclusion that constitutional accommodation with Quebec has failed
and that Quebec independence is necessary to achieve economic
improvement and constitutional harmony for the rest of Canada and
Quebec. For far too long, they argue, politicians have been preoccupied
with the Quebec “problem” at the expense of other national concerns.
Without Quebec, politicians should be able to focus their attention on
the real problems of Canada.

Bercuson and Cooper argue that Canadians are afraid to talk freely
about a Quebec problem even though, since the Quiet Revolution, Quebec
has continually demanded more powers, not only to defend its language
and culture but also to create a nation state within Canada. The desire
to accommodate Quebec has created many problems, the most obvious being
Ottawa’s refusal to reform policies such as unemployment insurance
(which benefits Quebec most) and regional development strategies (which
has given Quebec a comparative advantage).

The authors do not blame Quebec for the nation’s troubles, but they
maintain that the federal government has tried unsuccessfully to
purchase the loyalty of Quebec with misguided policies. Between 1961 and
1988, for instance, Ottawa spent $136 billion more in Quebec than it
collected from the province; it removed $100 billion more from the West
than it spent there. On a more philosophical level, Bercuson and Cooper
argue that liberal democracy is threatened in Canada as long as Ottawa
keeps pandering to Quebec nationalists who refuse to accept personal
freedom and equality.

Special status for Quebec was finally accepted in Ottawa via Mulroney
and the Meech Lake Accord. However, the furor it created clearly
demonstrated that Canadians found special legal status for Quebec
unacceptable. The only option, the authors maintain, is Quebec
independence, though separation will not be easy; when the day comes,
Canada must drive a hard bargain to protect its interests.

Whatever the reader feels about Quebec, this sometimes simplistic but
always provocative book is sure to pique his or her interest.