DBWI: Quebec's Referendum Fails

(OOC: as its Canada Day I figured this was appropriate, and we haven't seen a DBWI in awhile so have at it)

As the Canadians celebrate their holiday, we in Quebec remember the referendum we took sixteen years ago to forge our own destiny. They were contentious times, but ultimately we chose independence and personally I think we're better off this way. The Republic of Quebec is a peaceful, prosperous country with decent relations with Canada and the U.S. and the unrest of pre-independence is now a distant memory. Still, I can't help but wonder how things might be different if the referendum had gone the other way; 51-49 in favor of independence can become 51-49 in favor of staying really easily and I can't help but think that it might've gotten ugly if it had.
 
Well, Reform probably never comes to power (if it does, never the wafer-slim majority like OTL, at least they would need PC support), and Manning's nixing of sovereignty-association means Quebec is much better off economically, and the Maritimes don't go due to Manning's incompetence.

Canada will probably not be a full-fledged supporter of the "coalition of the willing" in Iraq if it's not under Reform. Oh, and less Canadians complaining about how they're going to move to the United States.

Trudeau and Chretien have a better reputation in Canada and the Maritimes. Funny how Quebecoise look on them in the "worthy opponent" sort of way, more so Trudeau.

OOC: Yeah, I figured to celebrate Canada day I would clip off the Maritimes + Newfoundland as well. If we're going to break up Canada, we might as well do it correctly!
 
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Maybe the Maritimes would not have left Canada for the US. They are now considered a part of New England, and the I- 95 extension to Halifax opened Yesterday. They are much better off with us.
 
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What a hideous mess that referendum created! A couple thousand votes and an entire nation essentially disintegrates. Any other region of the world and there would have been a war.

The short lived Maritime Confederation certainly wouldn't have formed and the US would still have 50 stars on its flag rather than 54 stars with the 3 Maritime States and Puerto Rico all joining in 1998. It's weird how quickly things change.
 
Considering the horrors that was the Yugoslavian breakup the world can only thank for the peacfull way Canada split.
 
Without those four new states, we would be talking about President George W. Bush and "compassionate conservatism"

Let's face it. The voters in Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island were more receptive to Gore and his environmental platform.
 
I'm not sure that this is the end of the movement. Wouldn't the Quebecois, emboldened by their near success, intensify their efforts and win a later vote?


Canada's clock is ticking either way. I think if it didn't happen then, it would have happened by 2010. Questions of whether parts of Canada would try to join the United States as the country falls apart could be answered in many ways, but when Quebec leaves I think the Canucks are done.


There's no way there would be a unified Canada in this ALT-2011. Impossible!
 
True, those four states made the Florida argument moot. Thank goodness for that.

If Quebec's attempt failed, there might be a Yugoslavian break-up, and while it may not reach the level of Yugoslavia (with all of the genocide and other trash), it would likely get ugly nevertheless. And the US might wind up get itself into another Vietnam.

On another note, President Hillary Clinton is having a ton of trouble with an unusually solid Republican Congress, how will this go down?
 
Without those four new states, we would be talking about President George W. Bush and "compassionate conservatism"
I'd rather have Bush than Elizabeth Dole... her presidency was a like watching a disaster movie in slow motion.

On another note, President Hillary Clinton is having a ton of trouble with an unusually solid Republican Congress, how will this go down?
Well since Gingrich is the frontrunner for '12, they probably do something stupid in the election, shooting themselves in the foot like they did in the late '90s. Hillary isn't popular at all, but she'll win a second term and maybe take back the Senate since no one likes Gingrich and Hillary can blame most of her current troubles on Elizabeth Dole.

We're getting OT, though. If rump Canada wasn't dominated by Reform, would the Canadian fiscal crisis still be so bad? Would the U.S. still have to bail them out? The backlash from such a crisis caused the NDP to win their first government, so I'd imagine that if Quebec somehow stays in Canada even for a few more years, the NDP will remain a third party.
 
Ah yes, liberal selective memories about how wonderful the Dems were/are and how terrible the Reps are. ;)

Gore was a one termer for a reason... We're still trying to unwind the fraud perpetrated by him and his buds Carbon Credit Scam... how many billions in fraud did he and his cronies manage to perpetrate in those 4 years?

Guess the only thing on the plus side was by creating the great Brownouts of 2003-2004 after he forced Coal to 300% market price was the streamlining of new nuclear plants after the whole "Ooops! Guess wind and solar can't make a dent! Sorry our bad!" Having new 'Candu' style reactors replacing all that old and crumbing 70's design stuff is great, more power, more efficiency, and as demonstrated at the Fuskushima plant in Japan that had just replaced their 1970's build with new reactors, far more safety...

Dole was mediocre at best and get unfairly knocked for being stuck in the whirlwind of the worldwide Great Recession of 2007-2008. But at least she didn't cause that.

Hillary doesn't have a chance of getting a unified Dem govn't, the US has learned some painful lessons over the last 11 years what happens when that happens with Gore and Dole...
 
Ah yes, liberal selective memories about how wonderful the Dems were/are and how terrible the Reps are. ;)

Gore was a one termer for a reason... We're still trying to unwind the fraud perpetrated by him and his buds Carbon Credit Scam... how many billions in fraud did he and his cronies manage to perpetrate in those 4 years?

Guess the only thing on the plus side was by creating the great Brownouts of 2003-2004 after he forced Coal to 300% market price was the streamlining of new nuclear plants after the whole "Ooops! Guess wind and solar can't make a dent! Sorry our bad!" Having new 'Candu' style reactors replacing all that old and crumbing 70's design stuff is great, more power, more efficiency, and as demonstrated at the Fuskushima plant in Japan that had just replaced their 1970's build with new reactors, far more safety...

Dole was mediocre at best and get unfairly knocked for being stuck in the whirlwind of the worldwide Great Recession of 2007-2008. But at least she didn't cause that.

Hillary doesn't have a chance of getting a unified Dem govn't, the US has learned some painful lessons over the last 11 years what happens when that happens with Gore and Dole...
I just saw a poll that put Gingrich 5 points ahead of Clinton, and put Christie 15 points ahead of her.
 
Maybe the Maritimes would not have left Canada for the US. They are now considered a part of New England, and the I- 95 extension to Halifax opened Yesterday. They are much better off with us.



I would describe the situation as us being much better off with them!

Otherwise, we're describing how nice it is for the turkey dinner to have been eaten ;)



Another bonus for Americans as individuals is how much less expensive it is now to visit Quebec. Montreal was great to visit when it was 1.6 Canadian dollars to each American dollar. Now, of course, it's even better!

Let's just say "table dances" are costing less than a Happy Meal in Paris :rolleyes:
 
Well, without Quebec becoming independent, the Western Block (Alberta and British Columbia in particular), would probably not be threatening to have their own independence referendums.
 
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