CANADA: FROM KINGDOM TO REPUBLIC

(Traduction personnelle d'un texte publié le 10 mars 2021 - Personal translation of an article published on March 10, 2021)

The country that we know today, in March 2021, has changed a lot in the last months.

In Québec, the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), a center-right formation close to the business world, is starting to have some hic-hups along the way, after a long honeymoon with the electorate. The matter of the anglicization of Montréal is creating difficulties because it illustrate the main weak point of this autonomist group, which is to say its lack of traction on the ground of Québec nationalism, a rich soil created by a quartier of a millenia of accumulated frustration among the french-canadian population. The two independantists parties that are the Parti québécois and Québec solidaire feeds themselves on this ground, and the CAQ is trying to do the same by promoting an automatism that remains ill-define to this day. As for the fourth political party to occupy the political scene, the Parti libéral du Québec, it represent today less than 10 % of the Franco-Québécois electorate and seems condemned to serve as the mouthpiece of the Anglo-Québécois community, somewhat like the Svenska Folkpartiet i Finland, for the swedish-speaking minority that still lives in the scandinavian country of Finland, whose population is majoritarily finnish-scpeaking  and looks more than a bit like the population of the province of Québec, on many planes: geographical, political, etchic and linguistic.

In Canada, the world pandemic is still making itself felt, as in Québec, and the Liberal Party of Canada may suffer from it, because of the financial difficulties brought by this health crisis. The Conservatice Party of Canada seems to benefit from that situation et will probably put the emphasis of the next federal campaign on the economic costs created by the pandemic, more precisely on the measures taken by the Liberal Party to adress the crisis, on the ballooning of the national debt, and on the enormous annual deficits generated before the pandemic, without mentioning the disasters inflicted upon the private sector in Canada, on the economic level.

Considering recent events, it is possible to wonder if changes may eventually be brought to the present political organization of the canadian confederation, in the event of the victory of Québec solidaire at one of the next provincial elections, wheter  the one that will take place in 2022 or any one of the following elections. Those changes may take many forms, including these:

- Creation of a Republic of Canada / République du Canada on its preent territory, less the territory of the future république autonome du Québec, in order to replace the present kingdom of Canada;

- Creation of a république autonome du Québec on its actual territory, ir order to replace the present canadian province of Quebec.

- Preservation of the present nine provinces that are mainly english-speaking, on their present respective territories

- Abolition by Québec of any future intent of claiming the Labrador portion of the province of Newfoundland-and-Labrador

- Renaming of the administratives regions and municipalities of present province of Quebec under the new denominations of départements and communes, with powers identical to those existing presently

- Evaluation, definitition and denomination of the internal divisions of the mainly english-speaking provinces (on the regional and local levels), by the authorities of said provinces

- Abolition of the monarchical link with the royal family of the United Kingdom of Great-Britain and Northertn Ireland, whose head of state also serves as head of state of the Kingdom of Canada, the Kingdom of Australia and the Kingdom of New Zealand, among other dependencies

- Creation of a position of President of Canada, with formal powers to be defined, especially those related to national defense and external representation

- Transformation of the position of Prime Minister of Canada into the position of Prime Minister of the Republic of Canada

- Transformation of the position of premier ministre of the province of Quebec into the position of président de la république autonome du Québec

- Transformation of the positions of provincial premiers into the positions of prime ministers of the mainly english-speaking provinces

- Transformation of the position of vice-premier ministre of the province of Quebec into a position of premier ministre of the République autonome du Québec

- Abolition of the fonction of Governal General of Canada and of the fonctions of lieutenants-governors of the present provinces (the present holders staying in place till the establishment of the future constitution of the Republic of Canada)

- Abolition of the Canadian Senate (the present holders staying in place until the establishment of said constitution)

- Creation of autonomous districts, in order to protect the linguistic rights of the french-speaking minorities living on the territory of the mainly english-speaking provinces (except for the Atlantic provinces) and the linguistic rights of the english-speaking minority living on the territory of the République autonome to be established

- Creation of a distinct autonomous district for the Acadian french-speaking minority living along the shores of the gulf of St.Laurence, includinf the eastern parts of the present province of Quebec (Gaspe peninsula, North-Shore, Magdalen Island, Brion Island) and including also the areas inhabited by the Acadians in the northern and eastern portions of New Brunswick, ans also in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland-and-Labrador, and Prince-Edward Island

- Determination that said distinct autonomous district will be the only one, along with the future capital district of the Republic of Canada, to be shared by the two republics

- Emission of a formal request to the French Republic, authorizing the transfer of the Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon archipelago, last vestige of New France on the North American continent,  to the République autonome du Québec(with or without monetary consideration)

- Emission of a formal request to the French Republic authorizing the relocation of three military units (air, land and sea) to the République autonome du Québec, to be based near Quebec City (land), the North-Shore region (sea) and the Saguenay region (air), the installations of said bases to be supported by the République autonome.

- Creation, on that subject, inside the République autonome, of a three-level organization, including 1)  a Gendarmerie nationale, 2) a self-defense force, acting as reserves, 3) a  force of regulars (the above-mentioned French troops)

- Tansformation of the present network of embassies and consulates in order to house installations dedicated to the diplomatic personel of the République autonome)

- Abolition of the present network of foreign delegations of the Quebec government, its personel to be relocated among the diplomatic personel of the République autonome)

- Abolition of the Loi officielle sur le bilinguisme

- Determination that all consular and diplomatic services will be available in the three national languages of Canada (English, French, Inuk), depending on means

- Abolition of the present federal territories of the North, to be replaced by autonomous territories, under the authority of the new Republic of Canada

- Union of the present federal territory of Nunavut with the area presently dedicated to the Inuvialut (parts of present Yukon and the Northwest territories), in order to create a united homeland for all Inuit who do not presently lives inside the provinces of Quebec and New-Foundland-and-Labrador

- Adoption of correctives measures by this new homeland, presently threatened by a process of assimilation, a section of the Inuit population having started to switch from Inuk for English in the western part of Nunavut

- Abolition of the present federal territories of the Yukon and the Northwest Territories

- Dotation of additional powers to the authorities of the three present federal territories, to be determined in the future constitution, including in the linguistic areas

- Determination that the remaining parts of the Yukon and the Nortwest territories will be autonomous territories of the Republic of Canada

- Abolition of the official policy on bilinguialism on the territory of the Republic of Canada, the République autonome, the territories, and the capital district

- Determination by the future Republic of Canada of its official languages, in the number of three:

• English for A) the whole of the present mainly english-speaking provinces, B) the northern territories, C) the autonomous district for the english-speaking minority living inside Quebec, D) the capital district
• Inuk for A) the augmented territory of Nunavut, B) the terrirory of Nunavik, inside the République autonome, C) the district of Nunatsiavut in Newfoundland-and-Labrador, and D) the ciptal district
• French for A) the whole of he République autonome, including Nunavik, B) the autonomous district of the Métis nation in western Canada, C) the three present federal territories in the North, D) the autonomous districts for the french-speaking minorities living outside the province of Quebec, and E) the capital distric

- Transformation, by the République autonome of Nunavik into an autonomous teerritory, with additional powers to be determined

- Determination of appropriate measures, by the authorithies of Nunavik, in order to prevent or reverse any assimilation process in regard to the culture and language of the Inuit population living there

- Determination that the three present federal territories of the North will have two national languages, English and French, plus Inuit for Nunavut, and a number of indigenous languages to be determined for the two others

- Parition of the property of public land (Crown land) in the present country of Canada between the Republic of Canada and the République autonome, with the appropriate change of name

- Partition of the property of present federal installations (including military bases) between the Republic of Canada and the République autonome

- Mutation, in the same vein, of the property of military bases outside Quebec to the Republic of Canada and of those inside it to the République autonome

- Adoption by the République autonome, jointly with the Republic of Canada, of measures to help revive the French culture and language wherever they are actualy present inside Canada

- Creation of a capital district for the new Republic of Canada, on the combined territories of the City of Ottawa and the Ville de Gatineau, which is to say astride the territories of the present Kingdom of Canada and the future République autonome du Québec

- Creation of a coordination comiteee in this capital district that will act as a liaison between the two present muniicpal administrations, and that will also replace the National Capital Commission, with powers and a name to be determined later

- Abolition of the present name of the new capital of the future Republic of Canada and the future République autonome du Québec and adoption of the name OUTAOUAIS, in order to better reflect the real prononciation of this original word, used by the Outaouais tribe in the Great Lakes region.

- Determination by authorities of the capital district of appropriate measures to counter any linguistic assimilation occurring among the French-speaking and Inuk-speaking populations on its territory

- Expansion of the erritorial extent dedicated for the Amerindians nations living in Canada and in Québec, whenever possible (and those territories to be now known as band areas instead of reserves

- Devolution of additional powers to the band councils ruling those areas, whether they are Inuit, Amerindians or  Métis, all over the present territory of the Kingdom of Canada

- Redaction of a new constitution for the new entity