Smart phones and their effects on human activity and interpersonal relations - Term Paper Example

This began with the “quiet revolutions” of 1960s, then the referendums of 1980 and 1995 among others. The political party credited for the push of separation or sovereignty is the Parti Quebecois (PQ) which is now forms a minority government in Canada. Many reasons have been put forward as to the reasons for demanding sovereignty but the most common are preservation of its unique culture and historical events such as the Act of 1982 and failure of Meech Lake Accord. The big question is: can Quebec survive and thrive as an independent state?

In this paper, I am going to argue that Quebec cannot thrive as an independent state as it would suffer economically. I will argue that the sovereignty-association envisaged by PQ as the basis of establishing a new state cannot work especially as it is based on the European Commission/ European Union model. In essence, independence fails the tests of stability, economic development and advancement of best interests of people of Quebec. The paper will be divided into different sections. First, I will give a brief background of Quebec province.

Secondly, I will examine the reasons for its secession from Canada and thirdly, I will evaluate the effectiveness of sovereignty-association model. Lastly, a brief summary of main points will be given. Background Quebec was a French colony before France gave its occupations to England in the global seven years war which lasted from 1756 to 1763 and was integrated into English Canada in 1763 (Eller, 2009: 321). The British North American Act of 1867 established Canada as a federal state with its provinces having some degree of autonomy.

Quebec in particular was distinct in its character and the British recognized this by giving Quebec some rights not given to other provinces such as distinct form of civil law. Quebec has a distinct culture and history from other provinces with 80% of population speaking the French language in English dominated federal state (Eller 324). Despite the state having bilingual laws that recognize equality of both English and French, the Quebecers feel that their culture is being threatened as it is the English language that prevails in many fields.

According to Marxian philosophers such as Lenin, oppression makes a class of people to fight for self-determination but as Gould and Paquino (2001: 8) puts it, “Quebec is a nation that is not a state and seeks to become a state on basis of a general right to self-determination.” This means Quebec asserts its right to self-determination without any injustice or oppression from the federal government. The Quebecois thus seek sovereignty on cultural grounds. The question is; can independent Quebec guarantee French language and culture security without endangering other Quebecers outside Quebec.

This is a question that will be delved into later. Sovereigntist movements began early in the 1960s with people like Rene Levesque (Eller, 2009: 323). It started with the “quiet revolutions” of 1960s followed by the election of PQ in 1976 which initiated the referendums of 1980 and 1995. Reasons for Sovereignty The push for sovereignty was prompted at first by cultural issues but later issues of free trade came up. As stated earlier, Quebec has a dist