Re: signed editorial Thursday, December 6th.
Thanks to Neil Godbout for eloquently expressing the view held by an ever-increasing number of Canadians: Quebec really has no place in Canada and should be allowed, perhaps encouraged, to go its own way.
If that were to occur, the economic benefits to Canada are massive and undeniable.
To further the discussion, may I point out that, in the strictest legal sense, Quebec is not part of the Canadian Confederation now since it has never signed the "patriated" constitution negotiated when Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister. Even the most "nationalist" Quebec governments have declined to make that commitment.
Perhaps the time has come for the federal government to simply force the issue: insist that Quebec sign the constitution within, say, one year or out they go. Adieu and bon chance.
In addition to saving billions in equalization payments, we could scrap the whole bilingualism nonsense and just treat everyone, no matter what their language or ethnicity, all the same everywhere in Canada.
What a breath of fresh air that would be!
Ralph Allan
Prince George
