1995 referendum: 20 years later, country still standing but so is sovereignty
Posted Oct 30, 2015 05:52:20 AM.
Last Updated Oct 30, 2015 05:58:12 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – It was twenty years ago Canadians collectively held their breath as votes were counted in the 1995 Quebec sovereignty referendum.
While the movement to create a Quebec nation state has diminished two decades later, both sovereigntists and federalists agree that it has not gone away completely, and may never go away.
Prominent sovereigntists say their side _ the Yes side _ would have won if the federal government had stayed away and not tried to help the No campaign.
Federalists, meanwhile, including former Quebec premier Jean Charest, argue the defeat of the Yes side in 1995 was due to the stubborn-yet-obvious reality that Canada’s federal system of government works.
There was a record turnout for the vote on October 30th, 1995.
Nearly 94 per cent of eligible citizens cast a ballot and the country came less than one percentage point from being broken apart.
Sovereigntist former Quebec premier Bernard Landry says, today, polls indicate roughly 40 per cent support for sovereignty.
He says the idea of Quebec independence remains extremely powerful and logical.
Canadians may also recall the words of Jacques Parizeau, who as premier of Quebec the night the Yes side was defeated, blamed money and the “ethnic” vote for the loss.
Several specific failures are believed to have led to the 1995 referendum, including then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s inability to get Quebec’s signature on the constitution in 1982, and the defeat of the Meech Lake and the Charlottetown Accords.
What new flashpoint could trigger a resurgence of support for sovereignty today is anyone’s guess.
