Social and Economic
• French-Canadians point to the past domination of Québec's economic institutions by Anglophones as evidence of discrimination against French speakers. Sovereigntists argue that separation from Canada will allow Québec to enjoy a greater share of the benefits of economic development in the region.
In the largest political rally in Canada's modern history an estimated 150,000 citizens gathered in Montréal on October 25, 1995, to show their opposition to a simple referendum question: Do you agree that Québec should become sovereign? At stake was nothing less than the nation's future as a united country, for if the referendum passed, negotiations over Québec's separation would begin in earnest. Adding to the urgency of the rally, pre-election polls showed that the referendum had the support of a majority of Québec's voters, few of whom were expected to change their minds at the last minute.
Québec Premier Jacques Parizeau and Bloc QuebeÄois chief Lucien Bouchard, both leaders of the pro-referendum campaign, confidently expected its passage and derided the last-minute outpouring of sentiment toward Québec from across Canada as little more than political desperation. Their own campaign emphasized the benefits of Québec sovereignty in maintaining the cultural and linguistic heritage of the province's French-speaking majority and countered predictions of the province's economic devastation by pledging to keep Québec tied to Canada through mutually beneficial exchanges, possibly based on a common currency.
This is a free page. This page contains 186 words. This
article contains 6,287 words (approx. 21 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Article with our Splitting a Nation: Québec Separatism in Canada Access Pass.
