{"id":79877,"date":"2017-07-04T04:53:36","date_gmt":"2017-07-04T04:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/?p=79877"},"modified":"2017-07-04T04:53:36","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T04:53:36","slug":"150-celebrations-highlight-quebecs-complicated-relationship-with-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/150-celebrations-highlight-quebecs-complicated-relationship-with-canada.html","title":{"rendered":"150 celebrations highlight Quebec’s complicated relationship with Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada 150 celebrations are underway across the country, with big events, big spending and no shortage of patriotic merchandise.<\/p>\n

But some in Quebec see little point in celebrating the country’s sesquicentennial.<\/p>\n

“I don’t understand the celebration of the 150th\u00a0anniversary of Canada \u2014 it doesn’t mean anything,” said\u00a0Gis\u00e8le\u00a0Bernard, a resident of\u00a0Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que.<\/p>\n

This year’s festivities, ostensibly meant to unite Canadians,\u00a0have inadvertently shone a spotlight on lingering divisions between Quebec and the rest of Canada.<\/p>\n

Bernard said Canada’s big birthday fails to recognize the history of French Canadians before Confederation.<\/p>\n

Her husband, Norman, said Canada 150 resonates “with anglophones and immigrants” but added, “I don’t think that [francophones] are very happy” about it.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0recent\u00a0Leger\u00a0marketing poll<\/a>\u00a0found enthusiasm for the celebrations in Quebec pales\u00a0compared\u00a0to other provinces.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Fifty-five per cent of Quebec respondents said they are looking forward to Canada’s 150 events, compared to 84 per cent in Ontario.<\/p>\n

Talking\u00a0about the Constitution<\/h2>\n

The province’s complicated relationship with Canada was laid bare last month, when Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, a staunch federalist, brought up the idea of re-opening the Constitution, which Quebec has never signed.<\/p>\n

“We’re just saying let’s talk and understand each other better because we have drifted apart in last couple of years,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"QUEBEC<\/p>\n

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, a staunch federalist, recently raised concerns that the country is ‘drifting apart.’ (Jacques Boissinot\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n

The idea, however, was quickly shut down by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.<\/p>\n

For its part, the sovereigntist Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois<\/span> launched an alternative to the 150 celebrations, called l’Autre 150<\/a>\u00a0(The Other 150).<\/p>\n

“There is a lot of money put into official 150 of Canada [celebrations]. There is a lot of propaganda,” \u00a0said Montreal rapper Rod le Stod, a spokesman for l’Autre 150.<\/p>\n

“We are here to kind of counter that.”<\/p>\n