Editing Jane Jacobs (section)

=== ''The Question of Separatism'' ===

''The Question of Separatism: Quebec and the Struggle over Sovereignty'' incorporated and expanded Jacobs's presentation of the 1979 [[Massey Lectures]], entitled ''Canadian Cities and Sovereignty-Association''. It was published in 1980 and reprinted in 2011 with a previously-unpublished 2005 interview with [[Robin Philpot]] on the subject in which she evokes the relative overlooking of that book among her usual readership. This was the first time Jacobs was requested to discuss it in an interview. Columnist [[Richard Gwyn (Canadian writer)|Richard Gwyn]] advanced that while not openly criticizing her, English-speaking Canadian readers thought she did not understand how Canadian politics worked and that she was not being helpful in a time of distress for national unity (the [[1980 Quebec referendum|1980 referendum]] was just defeated by a vote of 60 per cent). ''The Question of Separatism'' was also not mentioned in the bibliography of her 2006 obituary in ''[[The Globe and Mail]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Philpot |first=Robin |page=X |chapter=Preface to the 2011 edition |title=Jane Jacobs, The Question of Separatism: Quebec and the Struggle over Sovereignty|publisher=Baraka Books |year=2011}}</ref>

Jacobs's book advances the view that [[Quebec sovereignty movement|Quebec's eventual independence]] is best for [[Montreal]], Toronto, the rest of Canada, and the world; and that such independence can be achieved peacefully. As precedent, she cites [[Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden|Norway's secession from Sweden]] and how it enriched both nations. The origins of the contemporary secessionist-movement in the [[Quiet Revolution]] are examined, along with Canada's historical reliance on [[natural resources]] and foreign-owned manufacturing for its own [[economic development]]. Jacobs asserts that such an approach is colonial and hence backward, citing by example, Canada buying its [[skis]] and furniture from Norway or Norwegian-owned factories in Canada, the latter procedure being a product of Canadian [[tariff]]s designed specifically to foster such factories.

The relevant public views of [[René Lévesque]], [[Claude Ryan]], and then Prime Minister [[Pierre Elliott Trudeau|Pierre Trudeau]] are also critically analyzed, an example being their failure to recognize that two respective, independent [[Currency|currencies]] are essential to the success of an independent Quebec and a smaller resultant Canada, an issue that is central to her book. Jacobs stresses the need for Montreal to continue developing its leadership of [[Québécois (word)|Québécois]] culture, but that ultimately, such a need can never be fulfilled by Montreal's increasing tendencies toward [[regional]]-city status, tendencies foretelling economic, political, and cultural subservience to English-speaking Toronto. Such an outcome, Jacobs believed, would in the long run doom Quebec's independence as much as it would hinder Canada's own future. She concludes with her observation that the popular equating of political secession with political and economic failure is the result of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], which perceived [[nature]] as a force for "standardization, uniformity, universality, and immutability". Since then, naturalists and their readers have gradually realized that nature is a force for diversity, and that, "diversity itself is of the essence of excellence". The right kind of secession, Jacobs states, can lead to the right kind of diversity, and Quebec and Canada are capable of both, and must achieve both, to survive.