The Balkanization of Quebec

Re: Quebec On Own This Time, Michael Den Tandt, March 5. Not only will Quebec be on its own this time, but the Rest of Canada will decide what territory it gets to keep: First, Montreal must stay part of Canada; second, so should the northern Inuit territories; and third, all of Quebec’s south shore must remain in order to provide a link to Atlantic Canada. They should, however, get to keep their share of the national debt. And they’ll get no foreign aid — a.k.a., equalization payments.

Ted Roberts, Victoria.

So Quebec is still talking about dropping out of Canada. That’s fair enough — if we are a free country, we have no right to hold onto a population that doesn’t want to be part of us.

But although francophones have full rights across Canada, anglophones in Quebec are not allowed to put up a sign in their own language. Further, the Canadian army has been called in to protect some Indians from Quebec’s provincial thugs. While we have no right to hold French-speaking Quebecers in Canada, we have a positive duty to protect the rights of English-speaking and native Canadians to stay within their country of their choice.

So let Quebec vote for independence. But first let Quebecers vote, township by township and reserve by reserve, on whether they want to join the racist state that Quebec will become, or stay within the free nation of Canada.

Andy Turnbull, Toronto.

Kudos to Michael Den Tandt for his thoughts on how a future Quebec referendum for independence will resonate with the rest of Canada. He clearly expresses the thoughts of a growing number of Canadians with regards to Quebec’s reoccurring threats to leave. Quebec Premier Pauline Marois will have to get used to seeing a convoy of cars and trucks travelling through her province with a different bumper sticker than the one that was so prominent during the last referendum. This time around, they will read, “My Canada does not include Quebec.”

Griffith Speers, Stouffville, Ont.