NDP leader Tom Mulcair has come under attack recently for his party’s position on the Clarity Act, which was introduced in 2001 to set the rules under which Quebec could separate.
This issue, more than anything else, has earned the NDP leader scorn from Liberals and indeed his very patriotism and commitment to Canada have been questioned.
The Clarity Act is fundamentally undemocratic and it’s perhaps unwise to deny the Québécois people their right to national self-determination. The purpose of a referendum is to gauge majority support and 51 per cent fits the definition of a majority.
Allowing the federal government, a biased actor in any future referendum, the ad-hoc right to decide what qualifies as a clear majority is bound to make any referendum an unfair process.
Beyond references to the fuzzy concept of “international law” and this daft idea of non-recognition, I’ve yet to hear anyone explain how Canada could prevent Quebec City from unilaterally declaring independence in the event of a “Yes” vote.
If Quebec were to secede it would be within our interests and those of every other country on the planet to extend recognition and incorporate Quebec into existing legal frameworks and international trade regimes—a sovereign Quebec would never be treated like Rhodesia.
France would almost certainly recognize Quebec and the United Kingdom would be hard pressed to explain why 51 per cent was theoretically enough for Scotland to go its own way, but not Quebec.
Canada and the United States would want to negotiate trade, defence, border control, and environmental agreements with Quebec as quickly as possible.
What else would we do? Invade? Send in the Canadian Forces to overthrow the democratically elected government of what is largely considered to be a nation because they were acting on a legitimate referendum vote?
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has gone on the record saying that he would only recognize a 70 per cent “Yes” vote.
Aside from being grossly anti-democratic and demonstrating his lack of respect for the democratic rights of the people of his home province, this statement also demonstrates his complete lack of judgement.
With respect to the charges that Tom Mulcair and the NDP will “suffer” for their position on the Clarity Act it should be noted that this position is not of Mulcair’s making.
It was in fact the late and much revered Jack Layton who came out against the Clarity Act and not only was this position vital to the NDP winning support in Quebec it also didn’t impact NDP support in the rest of the country one iota.
Do not get me wrong, I am an ardent federalist and just as committed to the unity of our country as most other Canadians. In the unlikely event that the Québécois ever do vote in favour of sovereignty, there would of course be many thorny issues to resolve. Quebec and the rest of Canada will end up being worse off for the divorce.
National unity must be fought for tooth and nail. However, the only effective way to go about it is to create winning conditions for Canada within Quebec—to promote the benefits of national unity and make the case that nationalistic Quebeckers can realize their aspirations without going through the pain of separation.
Stalling tactics like the Clarity Act do nothing in the end to strengthen Canadian unity, they only offend Quebeckers and give English Canadians a false sense of security.
