1980

Canadian Election: Separatism - The Forgotten Issue

Canadian Election: Separatism - The Forgotten Issue

Canadian Election: Separatism - The Forgotten Issue

Canadian Election: Separatism - The Forgotten Issue

Canadian Election: Separatism - The Forgotten Issue

March 22, 1980
March 1980
Book Review

Canadian Election: Separatism - The Forgotten Issue
In May 1979, English-speaking Canadians, tired of Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and the way he badgered them about the threat of Quebec separatism, ousted him from office. That vote, reflecting the English Canadians’ indifference to Quebec, split Canada along dangerous communal lines. On February 18, barely nine months later, many English-speaking Canadians changed their minds about Trudeau and voted him back into office. On the surface, the recall might seem like a new awakening by English-speakers to the gravest crisis facing their country. But, in fact, it represented the same old indifference. Trudeau, the Montreal intellectual who has based his political career on his ability to deal with the awesome problem of Quebec, came back from defeat and near retirement to regain power as Prime Minister with a campaign that made believe the problem did not exist at all. The problem not only exists but must be met in the months and years ahead. There is, in fact, some urgency now. The Parti Québécois Government of Premier René Lévesque has promised a referendum in Quebec this spring, probably in early June, that could nudge the province a step closer to separation...