Quebec Separatism No ‘Big Deal’ to Many Outside the Province, Poll Finds
Half of Canadians living outside Quebec don’t care or even think it’s a “big deal†if the province separates to form a new nation, according to a major new poll.
The nationwide survey on Canadian values commissioned by Postmedia News and Global TV reveals as Quebeckers prepare to go to the polls in a possible late-summer election, the national landscape has changed dramatically.
Whereas Canadians once watched closely to see if the Parti Quebecois — which advocates separatism — would emerge as the winner, the trend outside the province now is that people simply don’t care.
“Over the years, it’s just one of those things where you get threatened so many times,†Ipsos Reid president Darrell Bricker said in an interview Thursday. “I think people have sort of walked away from this debate and the country has moved in a new direction.â€
The poll found high levels of support for bilingualism (61 per cent) and the idea that it should be mandatory for any senior official in the federal government to be fluent in both English and French (59 per cent).
However, Bricker said the survey makes clear that many Canadians no longer feel threatened by the thought of Quebec leaving the federation.
The poll found that 49 per cent of Canadians living outside of Quebec agree (26 per cent strongly and 23 per cent somewhat) that they “don’t really care if Quebec separates from Canada.â€