Editing Politics of Canada (section)

==National unity==
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Canada has a long and storied history of secessionist movements (see [[Secessionist movements of Canada]]). National unity has been a major issue in Canada since the forced union of [[Upper Canada|Upper]] and [[Lower Canada]] in 1840.

The predominant and lingering issue concerning Canadian national unity has been the ongoing conflict between the French-speaking majority in Quebec and the English-speaking majority in the rest of Canada. Quebec's continued demands for recognition of its "[[distinct society]]" through special political status has led to attempts for constitutional reform, most notably with the failed attempts to amend the constitution through the [[Meech Lake Accord]] and the [[Charlottetown Accord]] (the latter of which was rejected through a national [[referendum]]).

Since the [[Quiet Revolution]], sovereigntist sentiments in Quebec have been variably stoked by the [[Canada Act 1982|patriation of the Canadian constitution in 1982]] (without Quebec's consent) and by the failed attempts at constitutional reform. Two provincial referendums, in [[1980 Quebec referendum|1980]] and [[1995 Quebec referendum|1995]], rejected proposals for sovereignty with majorities of 60% and 50.6% respectively. Given the narrow federalist victory in 1995, a reference was made by the [[Jean Chrétien|Chrétien]] government to the [[Supreme Court of Canada]] in 1998 regarding the [[Re Secession of Quebec|legality of unilateral provincial secession]]. The court decided that a unilateral declaration of secession would be unconstitutional. This resulted in the passage of the ''[[Clarity Act]]'' in 2000.

The [[Bloc Québécois]], a sovereigntist party which runs candidates exclusively in [[Quebec]], was started by a group of MPs who left the Progressive Conservative (PC) party (along with several disaffected Liberal MPs), and first put forward candidates in the 1993 federal election. With the collapse of the PCs in that election, the Bloc and Liberals were seen as the only two viable parties in Quebec. Thus, prior to the 2006 election, any gain by one party came at the expense of the other, regardless of whether national unity was really at issue. The Bloc, then, benefited (with a significant increase in seat total) from the impressions of corruption that surrounded the Liberal Party in the lead-up to the 2004 election. However, the newly unified Conservative party re-emerged as a viable party in Quebec by winning 10 seats in the 2006 election.  In the 2011 election, the [[New Democratic Party (Canada)|New Democratic Party]] succeeded in winning 59 of Quebec's 75 seats, successfully reducing the number of seats of every other party substantially. The NDP surge nearly destroyed the Bloc, reducing them to 4 seats, far below the minimum requirement of 12 seats for [[official party status]].

[[Newfoundland and Labrador]] is also a problem regarding national unity. As the [[Dominion of Newfoundland]] was a self-governing country equal to Canada until 1949, there are large, though uncoordinated, feelings of Newfoundland nationalism and [[anti-Canadian sentiment]] among much of the population. This is due in part to the perception of chronic [[Collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery|federal mismanagement of the fisheries]], [[Resettlement (Newfoundland)|forced resettlement]] away from isolated settlements in the 1960s, the government of Quebec still drawing inaccurate political maps whereby [[Labrador#Boundary dispute|they take parts of Labrador]], and to the perception that mainland Canadians look down upon Newfoundlanders. In 2004, the [[Newfoundland and Labrador First Party]] contested provincial elections and in 2008 in federal ridings within the province. In 2004, then-premier [[Danny Williams (Canadian politician)|Danny Williams]] ordered all federal flags removed from government buildings as a result of lost offshore revenues to equalization clawbacks.<ref name="cbc.ca">{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/maple-leaf-flags-removed-in-offshore-feud-1.494970|title=Maple Leaf flags removed in offshore feud &#124; CBC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819084310/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/maple-leaf-flags-removed-in-offshore-feud-1.494970|archive-date=2014-08-19|url-status=live|access-date=2014-08-16}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/maple-leaf-flags-removed-in-offshore-feud-1.494970|title=Maple Leaf flags removed in offshore feud|website=CBC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819084310/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/maple-leaf-flags-removed-in-offshore-feud-1.494970|archive-date=19 August 2014|url-status=live|access-date=16 August 2014}}</ref> On December 23, 2004, premier Williams made this statement to reporters in [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]],

{{Blockquote|They basically slighted us, they are not treating us as a proper partner in Confederation. It's intolerable and it's insufferable and these flags will be taken down indefinitely. It's also quite apparent to me that we were dragged to Manitoba in order to punish us, quite frankly, to try to embarrass us, to bring us out there to get no deal and send us back with our tail between our legs.|sign=Premier [[Danny Williams (Canadian politician)|Danny Williams]]<ref name="cbc.ca"/>}}

[[Western alienation]] is another national-unity-related concept that enters into Canadian politics. Residents of the four western provinces, particularly Alberta, have often been unhappy with a lack of influence and a perceived lack of understanding when residents of Central Canada consider "national" issues. While this is seen to play itself out through many avenues (media, commerce, and so on.), in politics, it has given rise to a number of political parties whose base constituency is in western Canada. These include the [[United Farmers of Alberta]], who first won federal seats in 1917, the [[Progressive Party of Canada|Progressives]] (1921), the [[Social Credit Party of Canada|Social Credit Party]] (1935), the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]] (1935), the [[Reconstruction Party]] (1935), [[New Democracy (Canada)|New Democracy]] (1940) and most recently the [[Reform Party of Canada|Reform Party]] (1989).

The Reform Party's slogan "The West Wants In" was echoed by commentators when, after a successful merger with the PCs, the successor party to both parties, the Conservative Party won the 2006 election. Led by Stephen Harper, who is an MP from Alberta, the electoral victory was said to have made "The West IS In" a reality. However, regardless of specific electoral successes or failures, the concept of western alienation continues to be important in Canadian politics, particularly on a provincial level, where opposing the federal government is a common tactic for provincial politicians. For example, in 2001, a group of prominent Albertans produced the [[Alberta Agenda]], urging Alberta to take steps to make full use of its constitutional powers, much as Quebec has done.