CANADA: Secession v. Survival

A proud province raises the fear that a nation could come apart

Most Canadians understand that the rupture of their country would be a crime against the history of mankind.

—Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau

It is more and more sure that a new country will appear, democratically, on the map.

—Quebec Premier René Lévesque

A political time-bomb is ticking away north of the U.S. border. What it threatens is the unity and perhaps even the survival of Canada. The bomb comes in the form of a threat by the separatist government of Quebec to seek independence for the country's largest province. Next week, at an extraordinary three-day...

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