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The national question (in French : la question nationale) is an expression referring to the discussion about the future status of Quebec within Canada, taking into consideration issues of autonomy, sovereignty, and independence.
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The national question (in French : la question nationale) is an expression referring to the discussion about the future status of Quebec within Canada, taking into consideration issues of autonomy, sovereignty, and independence.
The Quebec sovereignty movement is a political movement whose objective is to achieve the sovereignty of Quebec, a province of Canada since 1867, including in all matters related to any provision of Quebec's public order that is applicable on its territory. Sovereignists suggest that the people of Quebec make use of their right to self-determination – a principle that includes the possibility of choosing between integration with a third state, political association with another state or independence – so that Quebecois, collectively and by democratic means, give themselves a sovereign state with its own independent constitution.
The politics of Quebec are centred on a provincial government resembling that of the other Canadian provinces, namely a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The capital of Quebec is Quebec City, where the Lieutenant Governor, Premier, the legislature, and cabinet reside.
The Charlottetown Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendum on October 26 and was defeated.
The Meech Lake Accord was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of Quebec to symbolically endorse the 1982 constitutional amendments by providing for some decentralization of the Canadian federation.
The 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum to ask voters in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec whether Quebec should proclaim sovereignty and become an independent country, with the condition precedent of offering a political and economic agreement to Canada.
The 1980 Quebec independence referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the place of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. The referendum was called by Quebec's Parti Québécois (PQ) government, which advocated secession from Canada.
The Constitutional debate of Canada is an ongoing debate covering various political issues regarding the fundamental law of the country. The debate can be traced back to the Royal Proclamation, issued on October 7, 1763, following the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) wherein France ceded most of New France to Great Britain in favour of keeping Guadeloupe.
Reference Re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 SCR 217 is a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the legality, under both Canadian and international law, of a unilateral secession of Quebec from Canada.
The Black Sheep is a Quebec documentary produced in 1992 by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). Jacques Godbout directed and starred in the film. Its style belongs to the Quebec cinéma vérité school of filmmaking.
Regionalism is a political ideology which seeks to increase the political power, influence and/or self-determination of the people of one or more subnational regions. It focuses on the "development of a political or social system based on one or more" regions and/or the national, normative or economic interests of a specific region, group of regions or another subnational entity, gaining strength from or aiming to strengthen the "consciousness of and loyalty to a distinct region with a homogeneous population", similarly to nationalism. More specifically, "regionalism refers to three distinct elements: movements demanding territorial autonomy within unitary states; the organization of the central state on a regional basis for the delivery of its policies including regional development policies; political decentralization and regional autonomy".
Federalism in Quebec is concerned with the support of confederation in regards to the federal union of Canada: that is, support for the principles and/or political system of the government of Canada. This issue has been summarized as revolving around the concepts of Quebec remaining within Canada and opposition to the desires of Quebec sovereigntists.
Distinct society is a political term especially used during constitutional debate in Canada, in the second half of the 1980s and in the early 1990s, and present in the two failed constitutional amendments, the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord. "Distinct society" refers to the uniqueness of the province of Quebec within Canada, although here the meaning of "unique" is vague and controversial.
There have been various movements within Canada for secession.
The constitutional history of Canada begins with the 1763 Treaty of Paris, in which France ceded most of New France to Great Britain. Canada was the colony along the St Lawrence River, part of present-day Ontario and Quebec. Its government underwent many structural changes over the following century. In 1867 Canada became the name of the new federal Dominion extending ultimately from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the Arctic coasts. Canada obtained legislative autonomy from the United Kingdom in 1931, and had its constitution patriated in 1982. Canada's constitution includes the amalgam of constitutional law spanning this history.
The History of the Quebec sovereignty movement covers various movements which sought to achieve political independence for Quebec, a province of Canada since 1867.
The Calgary Declaration, also known as the Calgary Accord, was an agreement made between most premiers of the provinces and territories of Canada regarding how to approach future amendments to the Constitution. It was signed in Calgary, Alberta, on September 14, 1997, by all Canadian premiers and territorial leaders except Quebec's Lucien Bouchard. The Declaration had followed controversial and divisive constitutional debate in Canada seen during the patriation of the Constitution in 1982, and the subsequent collapse of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords.
Quebec autonomism is a political belief that Quebec should seek to gain more political autonomy as a province, while remaining a part of the Canadian federation. The concept was first articulated by Maurice Duplessis and idea supported by the Quebec nationalist and conservative Union Nationale, Action démocratique du Québec and its successor Coalition Avenir Québec parties which believed in greater provincial autonomy of Quebec without granting independence from Canada. The only parties to support this belief are the Coalition Avenir Québec and Équipe Autonomiste.
In Quebec politics, le beau risque is a political catch phrase describing the "risk" the Parti Québécois took in asking Quebecers to support federal Progressive Conservatives under Brian Mulroney and accept an amended version of the Constitution Act, 1982, which the péquiste Quebec government under René Lévesque has previously refused to sign. Mulroney promised Quebec the opportunity to fully enter into the constitution "with honour and enthusiasm" and have its distinctiveness recognized in the document.
The Québécois nation motion was a parliamentary motion tabled by Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 and approved by the House of Commons of Canada on Monday, November 27, 2006. It was approved 265–16 with supporters in every party in the Commons. The English motion read:
That this House recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada."
The Allaire Report was a report written by the constitutional reform committee of the Liberal Party of Quebec, chaired by lawyer and politician Jean Allaire, recommending a significant transfer of powers from Canada's federal government to the Government of Quebec. Entitled "A Quebec Free to Choose", the report was published on January 29, 1991, and adopted as party policy by the Liberal Party at their 25th convention on March 9, 1991.
