Quebec Separation: An Irrational Choice
With the Canadian election in full swing now and the recent election of a new BQ party leader, there has been a lot of talk of Quebec separating from the rest of Canada. I’m a traditionalist so I’m in favour of keeping Quebec as part of Canada. In fact at one time I would have considered fighting to keep the country together; not so anymore. Now I’m just tired of hearing the separatists whine about how special they are and as a result.
The thing that gets me is that I don’t understand why it is that the separatists think that their ‘specialness’ is any different than that of any other province? Yes, Quebec has a different culture than the rest of Canada but I can say the same thing about Alberta. And the maritimes can say the same thing about their culture. But you don’t see us running around whining about wanting to separate. Why not? Well, because we’ve thought the idea through and come to the realization that separating would be stupid.
Stupid? Yes, stupid. Anyone that wants to separate from Canada is thinking with their emotions rather than their brains. Thoughts of separation simply aren’t rational. At all. I’m not an economist but I can’t see separation leading to anything other than a week long party followed by years and years of Quebec depression followed by Quebec begging to be part of Canada again. Don’t believe me? Read on.
A big push is for taxes paid by Quebecers will stay in Quebec. Guess what? They already do. And not only that, the rest of Canada (actually Alberta and Ontario) pays Quebec $4.5 billion in equalization payments. A separate Quebec is going to either have to raise taxes or deal with a huge budget shortfall.
There is a lot of overhead required when running a country. Quebec is going to want a military of some form. That’s not a cheap venture by any stretch. So they are either going to have to ‘lease’ the Canadian Forces or create a separate Quebec military. They could try to do without but that isn’t going to go over well in all the cities and towns that currently rely on the Canadian Forces for a large chunk of their economy. And what will Quebec do for money? Will they continue to use the Canadian dollar? Switch to the US dollar (perhaps an unwise choice given the lack of strength the USD has right now)? Create their own? Regardless of the choice, there’s some more overhead costs. What about borders? They’re gonna need customs agents, passports and other such border related things. And what about all the federal government buildings and other such infrastructures taken care of at the federal level? Quebec is going to need to pay for that. Things like air traffic control, airports, postal services, central bank, etc? And what about the stock exchange? Will Quebec create it’s own exchange?
Quebec will also have to be prepared to offer some heavy financial incentives to keep companies from leaving Quebec. If I was a business owner in Quebec and wanted to remain Canadian, I’d be moving. Even if I had an office or plant in Quebec, I’d consider closing it given the unstability that is sure to follow.
There are many other things that this movement centres around, but in today’s money-centric world it’s incredibly hard to be happy without money. If that sounds sad, it’s because it is. We need money to live, to provide a roof and food for our families, to take holidays, etc. If you look at marriage statistics I think that you’ll find a lot of marriages break down because of causes that stem from financial problems. If you are financially stable, things are so much easier. So while the separatists might be ‘free’ in a Quebec that’s not part of Canada, I can’t see things improving financially. And that’s going to make life tough. It might work, but I suspect it’s going to be a tough slog for the better part of decade.
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 16:39
