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Quebec, Canada and the national unity crisis we outgrew

PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 4:26 pm
by Oscar
Quebec, Canada and the national unity crisis we outgrew

[ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion ... e35495205/ ]

The Globe and Mail Published Wednesday, Jun. 28, 2017 6:00PM EDT Last updated Wednesday, Jun. 28, 2017 6:41PM EDT

The year 1967 conjures up vivid memories in Quebec. Montreal, then Canada’s largest city, hosted Expo 67, the country’s coming-out party. But the home of the world’s fair was also about to become ground zero for a generation-long national unity crisis.

The remarkable thing is how our endless sentence in the pit of despair is now largely forgotten. On the 150th anniversary of Confederation, that’s something to be thankful for.

Cast your mind back to the Quebec and Canada of 50 years ago. It’s not hard to imagine how badly things could have turned out.

By Canada’s centennial year, the Quiet Revolution was growing decidedly more audible. Sovereigntist fever was starting to catch. And during the summer of Expo, Charles de Gaulle gave it a boost by stepping onto the balcony at Montreal City Hall and proclaiming, “Vive le Québec libre!”

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[ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion ... e35495205/ ]