Canada, the country, is also a mysterious existence in recent history.
This country, which sounds very developed, does have its own "heart disease", that is, Quebec.
It may be difficult for us to understand why this region is still able to live so freely and freely, while the Canadian federal government has nothing to do with them.
As long as Quebec makes trouble, the government will coax it like a child, and in the treatment of Quebec, Canada is always "the spear of the son against the shield of the son".
As Canada's largest province, Quebec can be described as full of toughness, once said: If Canada dares to fool around with Britain and the United States, it will dare to become independent from Canada.
Who gave the courage to become independent of Quebec?
The origin of history is relatively long, dating back to the era of great navigation.
Then the West has not already sprouted capitalism, begun primitive accumulation, capital is not stupid, want to obtain wealth, relying on their own country's labor force alone can be timely?
It is also in this way that Western countries have gradually begun to move towards the road of exploring the world, and due to the huge pressure of competition, no one is willing to fall behind and run farther and farther.
In 1534, the French came to Quebec, which became a French colony.
Subsequently, when the French dynasty began to decline, followed by the rise of the empire that never set, the world has always been the strong man to decide, the British do not care whose colony you were, as long as it is a feng shui treasure land, the fight is finished.
England and France had been fighting on this land since 1754, and for seven years, France was no longer a rival to Britain, and Quebec became a British colony.
For many years to come, quebecers seemed to get used to this colonial life.
I don't know what the British think, after they took Quebec, they did not change the habits here, most quebecers still speak French, only a small number of people speak English, so that the influence of France on Quebec is deeply rooted.
While people were living like this, something big happened in the north: the United States became independent.
This incident gave Canada a great encouragement, and with the joint efforts of everyone, Canada finally got the right to independent diplomacy in 1926, and later in 1931 and 1980 respectively, it was the legislative power and the right to amend the Constitution, and at this time, Canada became a country in the true sense.
But Quebec does not seem to be willing to go along with Canada, where most of the people living here are of French descent, which is not the same for the people of other provinces, and even the living habits are fundamentally different.
Coupled with the fact that France lost Quebec through the 7-year war, the seeds of hatred spread across the continent.
Therefore, after Canada's independence, most of the country's territory maintained the habits left by the British, which made Quebec look very unhappy, so once the federal central government of Canada made any policy, Quebec felt that its interests were damaged.
So, a very primitive and useful way came to mind: voting.
In 1995, Quebec held a referendum on its sovereignty, and everyone was very excited, and the Canadian government did everything it could to prevent the vote from succeeding.
In the end, there was only a slight gap between the yes and no votes, and this time Quebec did not succeed in escaping.
But for the Canadian government, this issue also has to be taken seriously, if the next time to make a vote, their own intervention is not timely, then Quebec may really become an independent country.
According to 2015 data, Quebec has a population of more than eight million, and the proportion of people of French descent has reached 80%, of which 80% of them speak French.
However, although the two referendums in history are closer to victory than the last, the final voting results also show that a considerable number of Quebecers are willing to maintain the status quo.
It was certainly not a matter for the Canadian government to allow Quebec to run wild on the road to freedom, and in 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada, which flaunted democracy, ruled that Quebec had no right to unilateral independence from Canada.
Probably feeling a little weaker, Canada announced a bill on the Quebec referendum two years later:
Even if Quebec passes an independence referendum, it must be passed by the other nine provincial councils before it can finally declare independence.
It can be said that 1995 was the closest Quebec to freedom, and now the Canadian government has blocked all the back roads and is determined not to give Quebec a chance.
And Quebec does not seem to give up the "struggle", always trying to run out.
Whatever the outcome, it must be approved by the federal government to take effect.
Whatever agreements are on the head, according to polls over the past decade or so, Quebecers' thinking about independence has not changed much.
This kind of thinking has been going on for hundreds of years, and it seems nonsense to try to use these decades to make them completely honest.
Imagine an English speaker living in a group of French speakers every day without being treated differently?
Since Quebec itself adopted a French Charter in 1977, it has been explicitly stipulated that French is the official language of quebec, which directly avoids the assimilation of French into English in the future process.
Originally, there were still many English-speaking Canadians in this place, and the policy of exclusive French made it difficult for these people to move, and more than 600,000 English-speaking people left the area over a long period of time.
If Quebec had really run away at that time and let France support it, France might not have risked offending Canada and Britain and the United States to promote Quebec.
This is the French signboard, you KFC want to use the original name is not impossible, but the sign must be bilingual, and there are more regulations, french font must be more than three times the English font, at first glance, it seems that the entire brand is written in French.
Although Quebec is a province, the people enjoy a high degree of autonomy, and the local government has organized a group of "language police".
Legend has it that these people are haunted, dressed in civilian clothes and walking through the streets of Quebec, and as soon as someone speaks English, they will suddenly appear and put a ticket to these people.
Groups of students are also the focus of their attention, and they often look through the students' school bags to see if there is an English version of Harry Potter in it.
Faced with such a toss from Quebec, the federal government had no choice but to say in 2006 prime minister Stephen Harper: "Quebec cannot become a country in a unified Canada." ”
However, Quebec is like a rebellious child, shouting every day that he is about to run away from home, and the Canadian federal government is also like a parent who is overly doting on his children, coaxing his children to be obedient and not to run away from home, mainly because Quebec has missed the best opportunity for independence.
The second referendum in 1995 was still generally evenly matched, and it cannot be denied that Canada has made a lot of efforts in it, and the number of voters opposed to independence is only one percent, equivalent to 50,000 people.
If the people who supported Quebec's independence at that time were to unite a little more, it would be very possible that they would move towards independence.
If Quebec did become independent, what would be the outcome?
The roots of Quebec are there in France, and they are certainly towards France.
However, France is now different from France, which came in with a big ship, and after so many years, Quebec and Canada have long felt integrated, which is the fundamental reason why the two referendums have not passed.
For historical reasons, Quebecers were very resentful of the mixing of Canadians and Anglo-Americans, and repeatedly threatened independence.
If this "child" really runs away from home successfully and the Canadian government recognizes it, then for Canada, it is an unprecedented big trouble.
The geographical conditions of this place are quite superior, if there is nothing, Britain and France would not have made a big fuss here in the first place.
From the current map, Quebec borders the United States to the south, has a large sea area to the north, is quite rich in fishery resources, and faces the European continent to the west.
A sparsely populated country like Canada certainly does not want to lose millions of people at once, and if Quebec runs away, it will be a major loss to Canada's economy, and the chain effect will be even greater.
Just talk about the economy, Quebec's GDP has accounted for one-fifth of Canada, there are many industries in the province have a very large competitiveness, growth is also quite rapid, Canadian products want to export, take Quebec this line is the best choice.
Canada cannot afford to lose the fertile land of Quebec from any one perspective.
It is also in this way that Canada must take into account Quebec's reaction no matter what it does, especially when dealing with complex international relations, as long as an incident involves any country in the United Kingdom, France, or the United States, Canada immediately becomes busy.
Even if they were tore off their masks, they would prevent Quebec's independence, but it was never a problem.
Of course, the Quebec problem does not reflect more than just the relationship between Canada and Quebec.
The problems caused by the entire colonial history will erupt after the fuse of Quebec, and the centuries-long colonial rule of the Western world has left wounds in many parts of the world, especially the issue of race.
Once Quebec became independent, this provided a model for many regions and set a precedent for the division of the federal state, and the United States was opposed to Quebec's independence.
Canada has been following the U.S. ass for a long time, and Quebec's problems have made them afraid to follow so tightly.
Sometimes, the United States has just moved its mouth, and Canada is eager to do it immediately.
For example, in the past two years, Trump launched a trade war against China, which was originally a trade friction between the two countries, but Canada, a country that advocates "human rights" and "democracy", can ignore the requirements of international law and forcibly make up a reason to detain the daughter of Huawei BOSS Ren Zhengfei, which also caused the chinese people to be very angry, and Sino-Canadian relations have thus dropped to a freezing point.
For a long time in the past, China was an important customer of Canada, but in front of the United States, Canada is to show its loyalty to the fullest, these things Quebec is not unseen, they also said:
"As long as you dare to follow the British and Americans, I dare to stand out on my own."
Several waves of Quebec independence have been suppressed by Canada, which feels like being spanked by parents and then setting up a few house rules.
But now it can still be clearly felt that Canada and Quebec are still "centrifugal", and there is still no drama for a short period of independence, but this does not affect the psychological distance between the two.
Quebec, of course, knows where its strengths lie, with a well-developed welfare system and residents living along the Lawrence River.
From agriculture to finance, Quebec is Canada's premier presence, the strength is high enough, the voice will be louder, they feel that the Canadian government ignores their feelings as a descendant of France, they often speak out, and everyone has a stronger sense of identification with France.
In the future, it can only be said that the probability of independence is getting lower and lower, and Canada is worried that this unlucky child will have problems, and always give him a lot of financial and policy support.
Perhaps over time, the psychological change of mind will not change, but the quebec people have gradually lost the spirit of adventure, turning the threat of independence into a kind of money-making capital, and at that time, the people of Quebec may not risk their lives to build a precarious country.
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