Is Quebec the suzerain of Canada?
I could not decide if this Relationships & Society question belonged
in the various sub-categories of Cultures, Government, Law, or
Politics so I have let it default in the NoSub category.

As one of the founding entities of Canadian Confederation as per the
BNA Act of 1867, the present-day territory administered by the
Province of Quebec is home to 22% of Canadians.
After the fall of France in WW2 in June of 1940,  Quebec opposed
conscription. It is also home to Prime Ministers of Canada for 35 of
the last 36.75 years.

Is Quebec the suzerain of Canada?

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Clarification of Question by grthumongous-ga on 26 Jan 2005 17:28 PST

reinedd, Merci mon Ami.  

I should clarify:
Is Quebec *currently* the suzerain of Canada?

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Clarification of Question by grthumongous-ga on 12 Feb 2005 16:54 PST

Thank you trinity356. Your English is fine. 

History is good.  Undoubtedly for federal elections since 1993 le Bloc
Quebecois has altered the distribution of seats. But, if you look to
history since 1968 (reference Trudeaumania) one party would start the
campaign with nearly all the Quebec-based seats/districts already won.
That party was, as your recall, the Liberals.  The defunct Progressive
Conservatives and the Liberals would scrap for Ontario.

Thank you  mwalcoff-ga for getting a toe wet.

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Clarification of Question by grthumongous-ga on 20 Feb 2005 21:01 PST

Is this piece by Rudyard Griffiths germaine to the question?

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1108768210463&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795

Quebec is a province of Canada like Florida is a state of the USA


here is a link that may help you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Quebec

There are many people who would tell that Quebec is holding the rest
of Canada as hostage.Separatists have ruined the economy of the
province and are now capable of demanding almost anything they want
from the federal government using the threat of Quebec cessation from
the rest of Canada.

I think mister2u has English Canadian sources.
There is always at least 2 sides to a story.

I am an English Canadian some of what I said is fact,some is merely
widely held opinion in English Canada.

Quebec is just another province of Canada, same as Ontario or
Manitoba. But the Government of Canada has given them more
opportunities and have cared them more than other provinces of Canada,
so they won?t leave Canada and one day they may realize they are
better off with Canada then USA. During this time period Quebec felt
the power and demanded many promises from government of Canada. They
got everything they wanted, their own kind of politics, French
schools, and other policies that are not available to other provinces.
But Canadian Government still respected them. I think Quebec is just
bullying other provinces of Canada and the Government of Canada is not
doing anything about it. But, yeah...Quebec is just another province
of Canada.

grthumongous-ga.Either you have an amazing grasp of international
affairs or your a Canadian looking to verify what you already know,and
I suspect the latter.

As an American I have to say: if Quebecers think they would get a
better deal with the US, dream on. My fellow countrymen are not known
for their willingness to accept other languages and customs

Woah, in 1990 a referendum where held in Canada regarding the new constitution. 
Quebec voted NO to the new constitution because it was not enough
and the rest of Canada voted NO because it was giving to much to Quebec.

Quebec does not want to be with the USA. 
Quebec want to be respected for what they are and what they can do. 
Quebec's people pays alot of money to the central governement and
deserve to have their share, as well as the other provinces.

It is not the bad "Separatists" that ruined the economy. Where the
"PQ" a separatists group was in power for 9 years, the economy of the
province was very good if not in better shape than the last hundred
year!

Why does the rest of Canada hold so much gruge against the Quebec province?
All Quebec's people ask is for respect and maybe a little place in the
constitution. (Just saying that French was one of the founder of the
country would be a good start !)

I live in Quebec and I am studying in history. I have to tell you that
my english is not perfect, so please be lenient.

In fact, Quebec is a province of Canada. It is the second most
populated and the most extented province in superficy. BUT, Quebec is
not the suzerain of Canada.

The Suzerain of Canada is Ontario. Ontario IS Canada. Why ? The
central goverment takes place in Ottawa, ON. To win the elections, a
political party just have to win Ontario (we saw it in last
elections). It is also the richer province with all the industries
near the Great Lakes. But, the most important reason why Ontario is
the suzerain of Canada is that Ontario is the most populated province.
In fact, to please this big province, the central goverment has to
accord them a lot of capital and with this capital Ontario reign as a
queen.

When you ask British Colombia people about what is Canada for them,
they usually says : Beyond the Rockies. When you ask people from the
Maritims provinces about what is Canada for them, they usually says :
In the west. So, Ontario is really the queen of Canada, politically,
economically and in the mentalities.

In the past years, we have seen all the importance of this province.
When Pierre-Elliot Trudeau was the prime minister, I was really
centralisator. He really didn't care about the locals particularisms.
So, all the others provinces were put in a second plan. Jean Chrétien,
the past prime minister, had learn politic with Trudeau. So, he didn't
care about the other provinces.

For the question of the separation of Quebec. There is not a lot of
separatists still standing here today. In a way, we accept the defeat
of the referendum of 1980 and the referendum of 1995.

This is, of course, an opinion question with no single, correct
answer, which is probably why no researcher has taken it on.

However, without delving into the political minefield, I would say
that Quebec is not the "suzerain" of Canada. A suzerain, according to
the dictionary, is a nation that controls another nation's
international affairs but allows it internal autonomy. The best-known
example is the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century.

If Quebec were the "suzerain of Canada," then Quebec would represent
Canada in military operations, in embassies, at the UN, etc.

You could, in fact, say that Canada has suzerainity (rather than
sovereignty) over Quebec, since the Quebec government has so much
power over its internal affairs.

Canada is a confederation of semi-autonomous and equal nations.  Each
member of the conferation has agreed to surrender control over certain
areas (such as national defence, foreign affairs, etc) to a central
government.  The province of Quebec is neither controled nor
controlling.  It has a status equal to all the other provinces within
confederation and has representation in the national legislature in
proportion to its population.