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Dave Coull · Independentista Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 813

Aventinian refers to Quebec as being far more culturally distinct from the rest of Canada than Scotland is from the rest of Britain. But it depends what you mean by "culture". If you mean language, then yes, the fact that so many people in Quebec speak French is obviously different. But Scotland has the enormous advantage over Quebec of having a HISTORY of independence. Quebec was a colony of France, and then, after the Seven Years War, it became a British colony. The British government then did a deal with the Catholic Church: the church would have special privileges in Quebec, and in return French Catholics would be urged to be loyal to the British crown. When the American Revolution came along, of course the rebels wanted "America" to include all of British North America, but the French in Quebec stayed loyal. They didn't trust those protestant fanatics in New England one little bit. After the American War of Independence, English-speaking loyalist refugees went to Canada, and the country (apart from Quebec) became English-speaking. The Quebeckers may not have liked this, but they weren't about to rebel. When the French Revolution came along, this got more support in Scotland than it got in Quebec. Scotland, on the other hand, has a long history as a distinct country. The Act of Union of 1707 recognised Scottish separateness, and preserved a distinct Scottish church, a distinct Scottish legal system, etc etc. The process of Scotland becoming independent again would be much smoother than any move to Quebec independence. The Canadian province of Quebec includes the lands of no fewer than seventeen "Native-Canadian" nations (that is, "red-indian", and, in one case, Eskimo/Inuit) and ALL of them have made clear that they do not want to be part of an independent Quebec. Since the territory claimed by these Native-Canadian nations amounts to about sixty percent of the land area of Quebec, that is obviously a major headache for the Quebec separatists. Quebec more distinct from the rest of Canada? Only in terms of the French language. If you include history, law, religion, education, etc etc under the heading of "culture", then it is Scotland that is more distinct.

UnionistScot · Finding Ma' Way Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 2

I'm busy at work so don't have time to write as much as I'd like.

While I am a fiercely proud Scot, I am a 'Unionist' Scot and have been so for all my life. I fully expect a tirade of abuse for doing so but I'd like to challenge the figures in the first post.

1. All the public accounts records you need from Westminster and Edinburgh are avilable under the freedom of information act. There is no need to dig around a notoriously unreliable/incomplete internet to do your research. I won't even start on the fact that the records you used are 8 years old!

2. The SNP obviously have full access to the very latest records....yet they have not released anything like what you quote here. Why do you think that is?

3. Eire's 'Celtic Tiger' period was bought about by a combination of major investment by the EU alongside a massive increase in the employment pool when there was a social shift in the 80s and women started going to work instead of playing the traditional housewife.
Neither factors can apply to Scotland as EU funds are now being concentrated on Central and Eastern Europe and Scottish women already work.

Someone else raised the point that England & Co have not let Scotland go because they need us more than we need them. Having spent a long time working in England (I now work overseas), I can tell you in all honesty that the Union is more important to the English than money and that this is far more likely the motivation for keeping us part of the UK.
You agree that Westminster pumps £12bn a year into the Executive, which is a sum that would go a long way towards much needed renovations of schools, hospitals and public transport in the rest of the country.....yet there is no major movement to let Scotland go. Why do you think that is?

And let's not forget that the oil runs out within a decade or so!

I say again, I truly love Scotland but we will do far better staying in the UK than trying to go it alone. The UK is a rich and powerful country...and we are running it now. This is our chance to get the most out of it, not leave it and become just another small and insignificant European backwater.

Economist · Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:11 pm Post subject: