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By then, Quebeckers will know that the economic union with Canada that Lévesque wants may not be feasible. No fewer than five provincial premiers—including Ontario's William Davis—have said they will not negotiate any such arrangement. Simon Reisman, an Ottawa financial consultant, points out that the bulk of Quebec's secondary exports—textiles, garments, shoes—depend heavily on the highly protected Canadian market. "Other Canadians," he says, "are prepared to accept this cost only to the extent that they believe it binds the nation together."
Hostility toward Quebec is bound to increase if Lévesque wins a referendum. Somewhat inadvertently, Trudeau himself raised the specter of serious violence over Quebec's separation. In a televised interview last month, the Prime Minister said that he would not "be shy about using the sword" if illegal separation was attempted. Trudeau's comment caused a strong reaction at home and abroad but was taken somewhat out of context. As he has made clear many times, he believes that Lévesque's government is committed to democracy and respects the law. Nonetheless, the way in which many Canadians leaped upon Trudeau's "sword" comment indicates the tensions buried not far beneath the still civilized surface of Canada's crisis.
Some editorialists have compared Quebec's desire for autonomy with the mood of the American South prior to the Civil War. The two situations are far from the same. For one thing, there is no direct competition between differing economic systems in Quebec and the rest of Canada, as there was between the industrializing Union and the largely rural Confederacy. For another, the issue of language rights is not comparable to the passionate issue of slavery—although some radical separatists outside the Parti Québécois would like to think otherwise.
Still, Francophone families do feel some of the agonizing splits that tore American homes more than a century ago. Instead of brother against brother, they are more often elders against children, since Parti Québécois support most often comes from the younger generation. Says Martine Hébert, a student in Quebec City: "I have an uncle in Toronto. He says that we're cretins, that a separate Quebec would not survive. How can he judge? He looks at it with the eye of a person from a foreign country."
In at least one foreign country—the U.S.—there is the same kind of apprehension. Although it has carefully steered clear of any hint of interfering in its neighbor's internal affairs, the Carter Administration agrees with Trudeau that Canada's breakup would be