style="font-size:15px;"> More than that, the English and Scots, for the most part share an ancestral heritage. Both groups spring from the same Anglo/Saxon roots with a sprinkling of Picts and Norse with Norman blood tossed in for good measure.
When you consider that the Scots and the Brits have been feuding and fighting for more than a thousand years and may soon separate despite sharing a common language, a similar culture and virtually the same ancestry you are forced to wonder how in the world Quebec and Canada, with all the differences we have, managed to stick together as long as we have. And even more to the point. How much longer can we hold it together?
Scottish leader Alex Salmond says Scots should, “Speak with our voice. Independence will be a day when Scotland takes responsibility for our country, when we are able to choose our own direction and contribute in our own distinct way. It will provide us with a new, more modern relationship with other nations and Britain. A ‘no’ vote means a future of governments we don’t vote for, imposing cuts and policies we didn’t support. A ‘yes’ vote means a future where we can be absolutely certain, 100 per cent certain, that the people of Scotland will get the government they vote for!
Independence Day will be the day we stand on our own two feet.” (Does any of this sound familiar?)
The Scottish opposition Labour Party and the British Government are fighting hard for a “no” vote, and as in the case of Quebec are using, as their major weapons, the threat of economic chaos with separation.
Most observers however believe that in the end history may provide the deciding factor in Scotland and in Quebec!
And as an added reminder of how important history may be, consider the fact that the Scottish referendum will be held in 2014 during the height of celebrations to mark the 700th anniversary of the greatest victory in Scottish history—the Battle of Bannockburn.
CHAPTER SIX
INDEPENDENCE—IT’S BRED IN THE BONE!
The announcement concerning a referendum for Scottish independence was made on March 21, 2013. Two days later I received this very interesting and thoughtful email:
“Lowell, we should not be surprised by the Scottish move towards separation, nor for that matter, the on-going agitation for independence that’s been at the forefront of Canadian politics almost since Confederation.
Fact is, the desire for independence is universal. Listen to the words being used by Alex Solmond when he tries to persuade his fellow Scots to take that big leap:
“The day we achieve independence is the day we are able to speak with our own voice, choose our own direction and contribute in our distinct way—the day we stand up on our own two feet—but not to stand alone.”
Think about those words. Is there any among us who has not expressed the same thoughts perhaps even used the same words when explaining to our parents why it was time for us to leave home and strike out on our own? Or these days maybe it’s the other way around and the parents are suggesting that maybe it’s time for the twenty something son to move out of the basement and “stand on his own two feet!”
Yes, but with Scotland and Quebec we’re not talking about individuals, we’re talking about nations I hear you say. True, but it’s not the rocks, the lakes, the mountains or the buildings of a country that seeks independence but the inhabitants, the most normal of whom seek the freedom to make their own decisions, to stand on their own two feet!”
So when you really stop to think about it. Perhaps we have been judging Quebec separatists too harshly in their desire to leave Canada. Could it be that we have been blind to the “bred in the bone” desire to as the Quebecois say, “Be masters in their own house”?
Perhaps what we should really be critical about is the fact that rather than boldly and courageously grasping the opportunity to achieve independence when it presented itself with the first referendum in 1980 and again in October of 1995 they “chickened” out. They talked the talk, but didn’t have the guts to actually do the walk.
I say the desire for independence is natural and even courageous.
Not having the guts to actually take the step, but using the threat of leaving to hold the rest of the country to ransom is cowardly. Just as with the adult son who’s afraid to leave mommy’s cooking, maybe what’s needed is a little bit of a push. Or perhaps a big one!
And as for the Scots I say: “Remember Braveheart!”
Helen Sinclair, Mississauga, ON
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While, as you would expect, the bulk of the correspondence I receive comes from eastern Ontario and western Quebec this matter of Quebec independence prompted a much wider response than usual.
Thanks to the Internet and live streaming my show is now heard around the world and, as you can see from some of the emails and letters published here, opinion on national unity poured in from all parts of the country.
The following point of view from the West Coast is a typical example:
Lowell, there is no doubt in my mind that the book you wrote a couple years ago entitled “Mayday! Mayday! Curb Immigration, Stop Multiculturalism Or It’s The End of the Canada We Know”, played a role in our government’s efforts to improve and modernize our immigration policies. I know from speaking to friends and relatives that the facts and arguments you presented opened many eyes and at least started the process of changing minds in this country.
It is surely no accident that many of the problems you pointed out in the book, the appeal process that can last decades, for example, have been modified or resolved.
I’m not suggesting that Immigration Minister Jason Kenney sat down, read your book and because of it, began to make major changes to our immigration policy. What I am saying is that information such as you provided in Mayday! Mayday! when widely distributed, helps to change public opinion that in turn prompts or perhaps allows governments to make needed changes in public policy.
While obviously I have not read this new book you are writing, I suspect it may and indeed I hope it will present facts and arguments that will, at the very least, encourage a national debate on the Quebec situation.
It seems to me that for far too long, the fate of Canada, the issue of national unity, has been left solely in the hands of one group of people, those who live in Quebec.
Hopefully your new book will, among other things, convince some of us that the time has come for all Canadians, not just Quebecers, to decide whether our relationship should continue as is, be modified, or perhaps even severed.
I am sure you are aware that in 2014 Canada must decide whether to renew the so called “equalization program” which benefits Quebec disproportionately. I suspect that if sufficient numbers of Canadians began to rebel over this incredible welfare scheme, that at the very least we could convince the government to either scrap the program entirely or implement policies that would force Quebec to stop draining the rest of the country and stand on its own two feet.
There is no reason whatsoever that Quebec should be a “have
