Should Canada Hold The Next Sovereignty Referendum?

We are falling behind and the population is further losing confidence. Breakup solutions look more appealing to many and Canadian sovereignty is threatened: the Democracy does not seem to work somehow?

Could Democracy contain its own Solution to its Problems?
Our recent experiences with the democracy of political party systems seem to simply reflect divisions without really solving them. Our experience with direct democracy through people assembly remains limited: electoral reform is one initiative in progress but is unlikely to help in a near future. The direct democracy of a national plebiscite has seldom been used: the 1942 referendum conscription also reflected a division.

Quebec happens to be one of our provinces with the most visible internal divisions. It has so far held two sovereignty referendums and is now considering a third one. The divided outcome of the last one did not solve anything under the shadow of this federal sponsorship scam. Some sort of a Cold War prevails to this day. The amount of bickering in and out of Quebec is similarly steadily increasing along with the uncertainties. Many are taking advantage of this dire situation for the usual political gains.

Could Canada not run the next sovereignty referendum and help resolve our deadlocks this time around? Most critically, could such a referendum give us back the confidence we need to solve our problems and better identify common ground? The Quebec sovereignty issue would only be one amongst other Canadian sovereignty issues.

Learning from our Neighbors
Assuming the US election was been won fair and square (this remains to be validated!), we have seen a political system returning to an alignment of the Church and the State. The impact of this on Democracy looks suspect at the least. Perhaps the political system was not sufficiently responsive to personal or ideological beliefs and the situation was taken advantage of by devious minds. We note deep divisions in between the “heartland” and the older established areas. We have heard that these ballots did often couple personal/ideological decisions to the ones of selecting public officials. We could head too that way and rely on something close to radical fundamentalism to solve complex problems. But the land of the good mannered people does things differently.

We have an opportunity in Canada through a sovereignty referendum to decouple the governance of the state from religious, ideological and even political matters. We can certainly vote too on more than one issue at a time, but without electing public officials. We can show that we can count ballots and can direct our politicians to become the servants of the People. Call this the People Public Partnership for which we entrust our political appointees to become the custodians of our state until the next election! We need to catch up and make our officials focused and accountable on effective governance. Does this not sound like real sovereignty?

A Canadian Sovereignty Referendum, eh?
First of all, such a referendum is not going to resolve all the divisions but would represent a step in the right direction. The personal and ideological matters seem a good area to stake some ground in. Ten short True/False simple questions would be submitted:

1. As Canadians, we are directing our public officials to not engage our state whatsoever in the weaponization of space.
2. As Canadians, we are directing our public officials to recognize gay marriage.
3. As Canadians, we are directing our public officials to give women the right over abortion.
4. As Canadians, we are directing our public officials to decriminalize marijuana similarly to liquor and cigarette.
5. As Canadians, we are directing our public officials to decriminalize prostitution.
6. As Canadians, we are directing our public officials to give provinces the right of sovereignty.
7. As Canadians, we are directing our public officials to maintain and revise it multiculturalism policy. Otherwise scrap.
8. As Canadians, we are directing our public officials to maintain and revise it bilingualism policy. Otherwise scrap.
9. As Canadians, we are directing our public officials to maintain and revise First Nations communities minority protection rights granted in the 1867 Canada act. Otherwise scrap.
10.As Canadians, we are directing our public officials to maintain and revise La Francophonie communities minority protection rights granted in the 1867 Canada act. Otherwise scrap.

This draft version of the questions would be further revised by a Citizen assembly. The revision would be submitted to the House of Commons by a political party responsive to Direct Democracy efforts. The referendum would be conducted nationally in a timely manner.

The results would be compiled and available on a provincial basis, on a national basis, on an Anglophone/Francophone basis and on a First Nation/non First-Nation Canadian citizenship basis. The results would identify for instance if First Nations or Anglophone Canadians residing in a province are prepared to give the sovereignty right to that province. Federal and provincial public officials would become accountable to make progress in accordance to the people will. Canada has a good story, should be proud of it and have confidence in itself. Should Quebec or any other provinces ever decide to hold their own sovereignty referendum, the decision for wanting to separate would be a well informed one made by the People, as it should be.

'Gaulois' generally publishes politically biting satires on the Canadian Internet space. He is also relearning to write in French out of his Vancouver home base after a telecom and tech sector career in Western Canada. You can provide your feedback at rbeaulieu@canada.com.