Quebec Case Study

Introduction Quebec is the largest Canadian province, with the second largest population and economy after that of Ontario. Historically, the province of Quebec presents a unique frontier for the analysis of Anglo-French relations. It is important to note that Canadian domain as a whole was principally an extension of France until the British forces led by Jeremy Amherst took hold o Montreal in 1760. The 1763 signing of the Treaty o Paris essentially sealed this acquisition of Canada by the Great Britain. The present federal structure of Canada came into being in 1867; a structure that created the office of the Prime Minister and promised considerable autonomy to the provinces. However, the relations of the French-speaking province of Quebec

The difference is perhaps well articulated by Mallory, whereby he intimates that while nine Canadian provinces have legal systems based on English common law, the province of Quebec is different because its legal system is based on the French and Roman civil law. Based on this fact, it is inevitable that the two distinct structures would eventually result in a clash of dominion. The repatriation of the Canadian constitution from Britain also resulted in stringent constitutional losses for Quebec, including the reduction of legislative freedom, and the abolishment of Quebec’s right to veto major constitutional changes. All these factors essentially contributed to the occurrence of the

First and foremost, the failure of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords essentially thwarted the first referendum of 1980. At this time, Quebec articulated the fact that it should be recognized as a distinct society within Canada. Secondly, and as afforded by Gall, was the alienation of Quebec, which essentially brought back the separatist party, Parti Quebecois with Jacques Parizeau as the Prime Minister. The re-election of Parizeau inevitably led to the rekindling of the need for an independent Quebec, and, in this regard, the 1995 referendum was born. The question articulated in the referendum encompassed whether or not Quebec should relinquish its attachment with Canada and become sovereign based on a formal offer to Canada for a renegotiation of political and economic partnership. In this regard, the Parti Quebecois aimed to draw upon the nationalism of Quebeckers, to stress that the federal system was unfavorable to Quebec, and to convince Quebeckers that sovereignty would result in meaningful economic and political