Taking a Closer Look at Québec Essays

The province of Quebec has been part of Canada since the very beginning. Quebec, originally a colony of France, is the only province in Canada with a predominantly french speaking population. Quebec is an important factor in Canada's diversity, as the culture in Quebec is vastly different than the rest of Canada. A fact that Canadians are proud of. However, many in Quebec see themselves as too different, in a sense, from the rest of canada, and believe that Quebec should become its own sovereign nation. The political party Bloc Quebecois has been trying to gain independence for Quebec since 1991 (Goldsworthy 10), although unsuccessfully. Canada needs quebec in order to keep the same amount of influence it has in the world,

Canada is the second largest land mass of any country and is composed of 10 provinces, and three territories; However, Quebec and Ontario make up the majority of the seats in the house of commons. Political parties must gain the support of either Quebec or Ontario if they want to win a federal

Although Canada can be defined as a nation state, its vast landscape means many people are faced with different views and mindsets. Source one simply shows the differences within the nation of Canada. Eastern and Western Canada, because of their geographical differences, can be faced with contending loyalties when it comes to some nations aspects of life. Different lifestyles under the same set of government creates a physiological barrier between a nation. The source also shows the differences in Quebec nationalism compared to the rest of Canada. Some groups like the FLQ or the Front for Liberation of Quebec are known for their extremist views of Quebec nationalism. The small group called the FLQ was active in the 1960’s and 1970’s and they

Another geographic zone in Canada is the St.Lawrence Lowlands. The St. Lawrence Lowland is one of the smallest geographic zones found in Canada, only sizing in 180,000 kilometers squared. This Geographic zone can be found in Quebec and southern Ontario or the most southern region Canada. St.Lawrence Lowlands are composed of flat lands. The flat lands of the St.Lawrence Lowlands contain rich soil well suited for agriculture. The overall climate in St.Lawrence Lowlands is warm. Toronto and Montreal is located within this region, which means about 50% of Canada’s population lives here. Also the St.Lawrence Lowlands is home to the largest manufacturing industry, about 70% is located there. Also large amount of hydro-electricity is produced there

Quebec was founded by French settlers during the 16th century. It was then conquered by the British (known as the conquest of New France in 1760). “The Philosophy of the Enlightment” allowed Britain’s victory to treat the French people with dignity as both nations were civilized societies (source?). The British allowed the French occupants to maintain cultural aspects such as language and traditions (source?). In effect, The Quebec Act was published in 1974, in efforts to ensure loyalty from the French as the British government worried that the remaining French people would support the American Independent War (source?). The act was favourable for French people; allowing the continual practice of

Ontario, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland border Quebec. Unoriginally, the capital is also Quebec. However, Quebec City is not the most populated city and falls second on the list. The population census conducted in May 2016 reports that the top five major cities are Montreal with 1.7 million people, Quebec with 5.3 hundred thousand people, Laval with over 4.2 hundred thousand people, Gatineau with more than 2.5 hundred thousand people, and Longueuil with 2.4 thousand people (“Canada: Quebec: Major

Canada is a very large country, with areas of land in various climate regions, and land regions, thus having many ecozones that differentiate from another. The most populated ecozone in Canada is the Mixedwood Plains; the ecozone we are located in, named after the mixedwood forests that are native to the area. The Mixedwood Plains is one of the smallest of the Canadian ecozones, spanning only 175 963 kilometres squared. The Mixedwood Plains is bordered by three of the great lakes on the southern side of the ecozone, and comes up along the St Lawrence river to southern Quebec, and fills the tip of Ontario. It has rolling plains and small rock formations and escarpments. The Mixedwood Plains contains over half of the Canadian population as

government is not the only government that has power; provincial governments have a role in

Pierre Elliotte Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada during the 1970s, was the man who saved Quebec from separating from Canada by using the War Measures Act very effectively. At that time, Quebec was in a bad situation because of a terrorist group called the FLQ (Front de libération du Québec), that had been bombing Quebec since 1963 and gathering people to carry violent demonstrations and destruction. The situation got worse by each passing day as the FLQ’s revolutionary movement turned into terrorism. The government faced a tough situation. Pierre Trudeau could not see his country getting divided and took a strict action. The government didn’t have any safe options, but Trudeau handled the matter very tactfully by following the right path,

If Quebec left Canada it wouldn't be smooth sailing for Quebec. Quebec would have several problems in economics, politics, education as well as problems in the social aspect and with the natives. The economic problems Quebec would face include creating a currency, pensions because Quebec has people who are a part of the Canadian pension plan so what would happen to those

In 1608, France established Quebec. The leader was Samuel de Champlain "Father of New France".

It is north of Quebec and

Today, Ontario and Quebec have maintained their 24 member senatorial status. The four Western provinces have 6 members each. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick both have 10 seats. Prince Edward Island was given 4 out of the original 24 Maritime senators. Together, Newfoundland and Labrador have a total of 6 members. Finally, Nunavut, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories stand in the equation with 1 senator apiece. Along with the Senate`s original intentions, the principle of equality between the provinces is evidently lost. The Senate primarily fails because it was formerly created to balance out the representation by population which lies in the House of Commons however currently only seems to reinforce it. In fact, Canada’s central provinces, Ontario and Quebec, account for 60 percent of the seats in the House of Commons and almost half of the seats in the Senate at 46 percent.5 The inadequacy of regional representation is emphasized as the Canada West Foundation clearly states: “Canada is the only democratic federal system in the world in which the regions with the largest populations dominate both houses of the national legislature.“6 With an unelected Senate that no longer fulfills its role of equal regional representation and a House of Commons grounded on the representation of provinces proportional to their population, the legitimacy of Parliament has become a

Finally in 1867, the United Canadas joined two other British Colonies, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to form the Dominion of Canada (McRoberts 1991, 413). French-Canadians continued to fight against assimilation and received autonomous privileges with exclusive jurisdiction over matters regarding its cultural distinctiveness***. Thus, the Francophone language and culture has always been at the forefront of Quebec priorities. Since Confederation, Quebec nationalist have felt that the Francophone language and culture has been at risk of assimilation by the rest of Canada. As a result, Quebec nationalism is fundamentally rooted in the preservation of the Francophone language and culture (Guiberneau 2006, 52). Political leaders in Quebec continuously urge for the recognition that Canada is composed of two nations or cultures (McRoberts 1991, 413). Prior to confederation Quebec enjoyed numerous autonomous privileges. Unfortunately, post-confederation Quebec did not enjoy as many autonomous privileges because Canada was created as a relatively centralized federation (Beland and Lecours 2007, 406). A centralized federation not only took several of these autonomous powers away from Quebec, but it also threatened the Francophone language and culture (Beland and Lecours 2007, 406). With this said, Quebec nationalism has placed a great deal of pressure on the federal government to decentralize, giving more powers to provincial governments.

Canada is one of two countries located in North America and is the second largest country in the world. It is situated just north of the United States and constitutes the northern part of the country, excluding Alaska. Over the years Canada's culture has been influenced by European culture and traditions, mainly that of the French and British. Canadian culture has also been influenced by the countries' first people, the Aboriginals, as well as the newer immigrated population (Wikipedia, 2007). Canada consists of ten provinces and three northern territories, almost all of which are "rich in land and natural resources" (Bailey, par. 2). Canada is often referred to as a mosaic community because there is such a wide variety