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Originally Posted by BigBen931
And when I went to Montreal, it seemed that EVERYONE SMOKED. In restaurants, bars, everywhere...
I think it just stood out because it was banned at home, and I got used to not seeing it.
The guy who took my order for my Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich had a smoke hanging from his lips.....  |
Yeah, being from Montreal, I can tell you that anyone even THINKING of banning smoking in public places would be subjected to full-body cigarette burns! With our International Jazz Festival and cosmopolitan atmosphere, how could we expect to remain cool without smokes?
However, the price of smokes these days is cutting down potential new smokers, while the underground market from the Native American reservations is picking up the slack!
I'd like to chime in on the Quebec politics issue. Basically, the animosity between Quebec and the rest of Canada came to a head during the "Night of Long Knives" ("La nuit des longs couteaux"), during which Prime Minister Trudeau roused all premiers from their slumber (EXCEPT Premier Levesque from Quebec) to ratify the Canadian Constitution, using the British model, during a lenghty negociation period in a hotel. The British model was opposed by Levesque, since it didn't take into account the presence of such a large number of francophones, which required special attention. Levesque walked into the meeting the following morning to find the other premiers celebrating a new Canada, with his "absentee vote" tossed in with their own. This was the true beginning of seperatism in Quebec.
However, the FLQ (Front de Liberation du Quebec - sorry, no accents on this computer), had been causing their own trouble beforehand. Wishing for increased provincial power (which, ironically, made their attitude similar to Alberta), they bombed mailboxes and a few federal buildings (while they were EMPTY - re: no kills), but fucked up royally when they kidnapped James Cross, a British diplomat, and murdered Pierre Laporte, a reporter for the newspaper "Le Devoir" (mostly conservative), which prompted Trudeau to enact the War Measures Act within the province. Many prominent Quebecers suspected of collaborating with the FLQ, were summarily placed under arrest by the Canadian Army. Truly a dark time in Canada.
Since then, there have been 2 referendums in Quebec to secede from Canada. The first, held in the early eighties, had an extremely lengthy and confusing ballot question that, when combined with federal marketing and the general fear of Quebecers to be on their own, resulted in a loss for the "yes" side - Quebec remained part of Canada. The other one, held in 1995, was a close call: 51% "no" vs. 49% "yes". However, Chretien then passed a law stating that any future referendum would need a 75% "yes" majority to pass, effectively killing seperatist momentum.
These days, some Quebecers still harbour strong seperatist feelings, but based on the results of 2 referendums and the fact that Canada truly is a great country to live in, I believe Quebec will always be a part of it, and I'm glad. Sure, there will always be name-calling and tension, but not in alarming levels like in the 70s / 80s.