Introduction

Canada is a federal system with a division of power that includes ten provinces and three territories. The British North America Act of 1867 is the original constitutional basis for Confederation. Quebec has been one of the ten provinces that formed the framework for Canada’s bilingual society based on the union of two founding nations, English and French.

Our democratic society based on the linguistic and cultural groupings of English and French has endured for over one hundred and fifty years in this constitutional framework to form Canadian nationhood in North America. However, this process has not been without turbulence and complex constitutional challenges from within.

Provinces have occasionally expressed their regional interests differently from one another, questioning their place in Confederation. Some have expressed discontent asserting disproportionate representation to protect their political, economic or cultural interests. However, no province has done so more than Quebec, where a large minority segment of its residents has expressed themselves as Quebecois nationalists wishing to not just identify as a nation within the Canadian statehood, but also remove Quebec from Confederation.

Quebec separatists aspire for Quebec to form a separate country with sovereign statehood. Two referenda, one in 1980 and another in 1995, resulted in a negative vote for Quebec’s secession from Canada. A third referenda vote may occur in 2018.

The National Citizens Alliance (NCA) believes that the political rights of Quebeckers need to be respected, including the right to self-determination. In addition, the NCA believes that Canada as a confederation would be more united and stronger based on mutual union rather than forced union. The NCA rejects the past and current federal policy of an unaltered Confederation at all cost.

Canada with Quebec in Confederation

The National Citizens Alliance believes that Canada is a stronger and more diverse and competitive nation and economy with Quebec remaining in Confederation. Regarding a united Canada with Quebec in Confederation, the NCA believes in:

● Supporting continued efforts to work with Quebec so that the Province ratifies the 1982 Constitution Act including the NCA’s nine amendments

● Preserving a Canada founded by two nations, open to and united by an official bilingual framework

● Defending a Canadian culture devoid of distinct society clauses or any preference given to any one national group in Canada, wherein English and French Canadians collaborate as societal partners in social, economic and political life

Conclusion

The National Citizens Alliance is committed to continuing to work with Quebec and federalists, in order to pursue mutually agreeable solutions to problems contributing to Quebec’s desire for independence. The NCA membership supports working with any party willing to defend Canadian Confederation based on NCA’s democratic principles and values. The NCA will collaborate with parties willing to place the interests of Canada as a whole ahead of those provincial interests of Quebec nationalists, while at the same time, respect Quebec’s right to self-determination as a distinct nation within Canada.

The NCA welcomes feedback on its policies. Please send policy feedback to info@nationalcitizensalliance.ca