Today, Monday, April 7th, an election was held in the Province of Quebec to elect a new government.
For the past 18 months, a political party called the "Parti Quebecois" (or "Quebec Party") has governed the Province with a minority government. The goals of the Parti Quebecois is first to work toward establishing Quebec as a soverign nation in it's own right, and secondly to preserve, promote and protect the French language in the Province of Quebec.
The leader of the Parti Quebecois, Madamme Pauline Marois, believed that by holding an election now, she would win a clear majority of the seats in the Quebec National Assembly, and therefore have a majority government. That would allow her to push through some controversial changes that were in the works. One of those controversial changes was the banning of overtly religious symbols or manner of dress for anyone who was paid out of the taxes paid by Quebecers. So, teachers, nurses and public servants would be fired if they refused to stop wearing a muslim burka or hajab (head scarf). Also, doctors would be fired if they refused to stop wearing a turban while at work. Similarily, the wearing of large crucifixes or Stars of David as medallions on neck laces or as earings or broaches would equally be banned.
Well, politics is fickel, and the election didn't go Pauline's way. Not only did the Parti Quebecois fall from having 54 seats in the Quebec National Assembly down to only 30 seats, Pauline was beaten by a Liberal candidate in her own riding. There are 126 seats in the Quebec National Assembly, so a party has to win at least 63 seats to have a majority government.
Well, the result of all this is that Quebec has a new Liberal government which is against Quebec separation and therefore won't be holding a referendum on whether or not Quebec should separate from Canada. And, Pauline Marois has announced that she's stepping down as the leader of the Parti Quebecois after spending 38 years of her life in Quebec provincial politics.
So, as it stands today, Canada won't be splitting up into two or three separate countries all bordering the USA to it's north for at least 4 more years. And, I'm glad the way things turned out because Canada breaking up into pieces will only throw Canada's economy into a tail spin. No one wants to invest in a country that isn't politically stable, which is much of the reason why so many African countries are pi$$ poor. Besides, people here in western Canada are getting fed up with Quebec. They seem to have the notion that they can hold a referendum whenever they please. If they win, then Quebec separates. If they lose, then they hold another referendum. If and when Quebec finally wins a referendum to separate, does that win erase the previous
3 or 4 referendums that they lost? Don't those previous referendums showing that most Quebecers want to stay in Canada count for anything?