Quebec Referendum Case Study

One political issue however that Canada faces is the Quebec Referendum and the desire of some French Canadians living in Quebec for Quebec to become a sovereign and independent country. There have two recent referendum motions in Quebec, the first in 1980 and the second more recently in 1995 where the difference between voters electing to remain as part of Canada and those wanting an independent Quebec sovereign was very close (50.6% voted No and 49.4% voted Yes). The reason to separate is based on the language and cultural differences between French Canada and the rest of Canada which is predominantly English speaking. The issue here is that Quebec is the second most populous province in Canada and the largest province by area (“Quebec,” n.d.). Furthermore, Quebec has abundance of natural resources. It has about 30 mines where minerals such as gold, iron, and copper are extracted. It also has a large supply of fresh water including the Saint Lawrence

from this trade agreement is a significant risk, it is slightly offset as there is still a likelihood that the U.S. government would negotiate a new bilateral trading relationship with Canada directly. In fact, prior to NAFTA, there was already a free trade agreement between the two countries known as the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which was signed in 1988 (“The World Factbook: Canada,” 2017). The trading relationship between the two countries is simply significant and it is inconceivable that an adequate replacement, which would address the concerns and flaws of NAFTA, would not be found. Furthermore, President Trump has stated that some of his concerns with NAFTA include the migration of U.S. jobs and factories to Mexico, meaning that the trading relationship with Mexico is of a bigger concern and a renegotiation of NAFTA would affect the U.S. – Mexico relationship more than it would affect the U.S. – Canada