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"Maitres chez nous": the popularity of the notion that Quebeckers should be "masters in their own house" has ebbed and flowed over many decades. (National Unity--Quebec Sovereignty).

Article Excerpt
The riding of Saguenay, Quebec was won by the separatist Pard Quebecois in the 1998 provincial election by a whopping majority of more than 10,000 votes; the people in the Saguenay region, voted 73.3% in favour of sovereignty in the 1995 referendum, and 61.9% in the 1980 referendum. But, in a by-election in April 2002, the Pard Quebecois candidate in Saguenay finished a humiliating third.

What happened? Only a year earlier the people who wanted to cut the ties to Canada were full of confidence. That, when Bernard Landry became Premier and fired up the separatist engines saying, "We want to vigorously pursue the goal of sovereignty ... My action in this regard is based on the central and powerful idea that is now largely accepted in Quebec: That Quebec is a nation."

The idea of separation from Canada came up seriously for the first time in 1918. Hostility between Quebec and the rest of Canada had descended to a new low over compulsory military, service, called conscription.

The First World War (1914-18) was a bloody affair. The generals were using a style of warfare that involved throwing wave after wave of men against withering machine-gun fire to capture a few metres of muddy ground. This tactic looked good in headquarters many kilometres behind the front line. But, for the young men who had to carry out the orders it was close to a death sentence.

Canada needed 20,000 new recruits a year to replace those who were killed or too badly mangled to put back in the front line. But, the lads on farms and in factories were losing their enthusiasm to volunteer for the deadly trench warfare. At the start of the war in 1914, Ottawa had promised that all recruits would be voluntary; there would be no conscription. But, in May 1917, Prime Minister Robert Borden announced there would be compulsory military, service after all. Conscription was supported by English Canadians, although it was far from wildly popular; in Quebec, the draft was strongly and almost universally opposed by francophones. There were riots against conscription causing injuries and death.

Late in 1917, J.N. Francoeur proposed a solution to the tension between French and English Canada. He introduced a private member's bill in the Quebec Legislature that said in part: "Quebec would be disposed to accept the breaking of the Confederation pact if in the other provinces it is believed that (Quebec) is an obstacle to the union, progress, and development of Canada." In language ordinary people use it meant: "If we can't get along better than this maybe we should separate." The bill never came to a vote, but it caused quite a stir....