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Roughly 100 people gathered at the Montreal West Town Hall Wednesday to hear political leaders talk about how they plan to separate the federalist portions of Quebec in the event of another referendum on separation.
Called the 11th Province Panel, the discussion was organized by the Canadian Party of Quebec — a new political party that was created before the last election in response to the anger over Bill 96, the law that amended the Charter of the French Language of Quebec.
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Party member Keith Henderson, a former leader of the Equality Party, told the crowd they have to begin preparations now to ensure that those who don’t want to be part of a separate Quebec can remain Canadian.
Henderson quoted a public letter written in 1997 by then-intergovernmental affairs minister Stéphane Dion to his Quebec counterpart, which said, “Our governments, too, like Switzerland, could be obliged to find arrangements that would not impose secession on populations that do not want it. If you had won the last referendum, we would have been forced to deal with this issue when no one was prepared.”
“Let’s be prepared,” Henderson said to a raucous applause.
Canadian Party of Quebec co-leader Colin Standish said he was pleased with the reaction of the crowd Wednesday.
“It feels like the start of something,” Standish said. “We’re trying to give people a voice here. I think if people realize the consequences of separatism and nationalism, that divide people, they will make a different choice.”
This isn’t the first time that English communities flirted with a partition movement that would allow them to remain Canadian in the event of a referendum on separatism. In the aftermath of the 1995 referendum, when sovereignist forces narrowly lost the vote, dozens of municipal councils in the province, including many in the western part of Montreal, passed resolutions expressing their will to stay in Canada.
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After Wednesday’s event, Standish said the party has written to the leaders of federal parties and local MPs asking them to conduct a consultative referendum throughout the province to determine which parts would wish to remain Canadian in the event of a successful referendum on separation.
“We’re looking down the barrel of a gun — a potential PQ government in two years time. The federal government can do preliminary referendums to see who wants to remain Canadian regardless of what happens,” he said.
Party volunteer Claudia Ottaviano said she had been talking about the idea of partition long before it was taken up by the CpAQ.
“I love it, because people think partition was something you did in reaction to a referendum,” she said. “I always argued we could be proactive and get together beforehand. This allows us to do that.
“Western Quebec produces most of the GDP for the province, so I think financially we would be self-sufficient. But (PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre-Plamondon) has got to realize: (separation) is not just nice and clean easy with intact borders.”
Another audience member said he liked the idea of partition so much, he doesn’t want to wait for a referendum.
“The idea of an 11th province is really intriguing,” said Joseph Cotignola. “We’ve been fighting for 50-60 years. I think it’s time for a divorce. We’re not getting along.”
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