Quebec is the most distinct province in Canada that is very proud of their cultural heritage and wants to protect its French language and way of life. Quebec has always had a very strong sense of nationalism and wants to preserve and maintain their cultural identity. Many Quebeckers believe the best way to protect their cultural identity and language is to separate from Canada and become their own nation. Quebec’s separatism has been an ongoing topic and debate that many people believe could result in dire consequences. Not only could there be great consequences for Quebec but Quebec’s separation would also largely affect Canada and The United States. Two very predominant politicians, Bill Clinton and Pierre Trudeau, have even warned and advised …show more content…
Quebeckers feel like their culture is not receiving enough appreciation amongst other Canadians. They also feel as if the English-speaking people are trying to destroy their culture (Canada 2015). Although Quebec is trying to take preventative action to keep that from happening, they also are putting their culture at risks in other ways. If Quebec were to separate from Canada they would no longer have a strong federal government helping to protect their language. Separation would give Quebec full responsibility to maintain their language since they would no longer be protected under the Official Languages Act of 1969 that Pierre Trudeau implemented. Also this would affect Canada’s culture because it would wipe out a majority of Canada’s French speaking population. Nearly 86% of Canada’s French speaking population resides in Quebec (Cornwell and Stoddard p. 318). It would be difficult to keep the French-speaking heritage a prominent part of Canadian culture if 86% of Canada’s French speaking people would be gone. Those are just a few ways that Quebec’s separation could be consequential to culture related issues. Now we have to worry about how this separation would affect economic …show more content…
Quebec’s nationalism would greatly affect foreign relations with The United States. Bill Clinton made a speech where he emphasized how The United States enjoys working with a united Canada and he hopes that will continue (Mason p. 15). His speech made it sound like The United States would not be as interested in having strong foreign relations with a country where it is unknown how reliable they will be. It would be highly unlikely that The United States would risk its people’s safety by working with a new and unstable country. The United States and Canada has one of the largest trade markets and it would be very difficult to continue this. Quebec is also where over half of Canada’s textile and clothing industry is located (Grady p. 350). This would be a big loss for Canada and either free trade or a strong foreign relation would have to be made in order to keep some of their largest industries intact (Grady p.