DCHP-3

sovereignty-association

DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)

Spelling variants:
sovereignty association, Sovereignty Association, Sovereignty-Association

n. — Politics, French relations

a proposal by which Quebec would separate from Canada after negotiating close economic ties, including a shared currency.

Type: 1. Origin — In 1967, Mouvement Souveraineté-Association (MSA) leader René Lévesque proposed that Quebec become independent while maintaining strong economic ties with Canada (see Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Sovereignty-Association"). The MSA merged with the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance national (RIN) in 1968 to become the Parti Québécois (PQ). The PQ promised a referendum on sovereignty-association as part of their election platform. In 1976, the PQ won the provincial elections under the leadership of Lévesque (see Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Parti Québécois") and held a referendum in 1980, asking voters whether the province should adopt a path toward sovereignty-association. The term is, therefore, of central importance in Canada-Quebec politics. In 1980, 60 percent of voters voted against sovereignty-association and the issue was not pursued further by the PQ until 1995 (see Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Sovereignty-Association", and see the 2008 and 2012 quotations), when a narrow majority of 50.58 percent voted against sovereignty-association. Internet domain searches indicate that the term is most prevalent in Canada (see Chart 1).
See also COD-2, s.v. "sovereignty association", and Gage-5, s.v. "sovereignty association", which are marked "Cdn".

Quotations

1968
The RIN disunity, which has come into the open, involves a fierce power struggle between the party's right and left wings. The rights, led by RIN president Pierre Bourgault, want to open talks to discuss the possibility of forming a common front with Rene Levesque's Sovereignty Association. However, the leftists, directed by vice-president Andree Ferretti, are wholeheartedly for keeping the RIN as a separate Socialist workers' party.
1977
The hard line extends to discussing sovereignty-association and to special status for any province, including Quebec. These are ideas against which he has fought for years. And, although he does not say it often, he also is suspicious of a wholesale transfer of power to the provinces.
1986
Referring to the defeat of sovereignty-association in the 1980 Quebec referendum and of the Parti Quebecois in last December's provincial election, Turner said: "I believe if Quebec has said 'yes' twice to Canada, Canada should say 'yes' to Quebec once."
1996
In 1967, only a year after being elected to the Quebec National Assembly (at the tender age of 33), Bourassa collaborated with Rene Levesque in drafting the manifesto for sovereignty-association, An Option for Quebec. Yet, at the 11th hour, just before Levesque was to present his manifesto to the convention of the Quebec Liberal party, Bourassa abandoned him, claiming that certain economic provisions in the proposed model of sovereignty-association were untenable.
2007
The necessity of maintaining that false premise explains why Boisclair and Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe bitterly attacked Premier Jean Charest after he reasonably observed that Quebecers should be concerned about losing the billions of dollars that flow from Ottawa in block transfer and equalization payments in the unlikely event that they do vote "yes" in a referendum. It explains why the 1980 referendum question was based on the notion of sovereignty association, rather than on Quebec becoming a separate country, responsible for its own defence, forging new trade relationships and paying for its own services. After 60 per cent of Quebecers said "no" to that question, the 1995 referendum was based on a notion of sovereignty that was even more watered down, even more ambiguous.
2008
Rene Levesque founded the Parti Quebecois in the late 1960s with one goal in mind: Quebec's sovereignty. By 1976, the party campaigned with a promise to hold a referendum on sovereignty-association, and won with a majority of 71 seats. In the 1980 referendum, Levesque galvanized 40 per cent of the vote for the Oui side. The PQ also implemented Bill 101, the legislation that formalized the status of French as Quebec's official language.
2012
In 1980, René Lévesque held a referendum, but he did not ask Quebecers to endorse secession. Instead, he asked the people for a "mandate to negotiate" something called "sovereignty-association." He promised there would be no sovereignty unless the rest of Canada agreed to an economic association. If Canada signed such an agreement, there would be a second referendum, this time to vote on sovereignty association. Otherwise, no sovereignty. In other words, Premier Lévesque recognized that Quebec could not secede unilaterally. Secession, to be legal and legitimate, required the assent of the rest of Canada. And that assent is required for secession to be legal rather than revolutionary, precisely as the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed unanimously on Aug. 20, 1998.
2016
Over 50 years, the PQ has promised good governance, a slow-and-steady "étapiste" approach and the miracle of sovereignty-association. It has sought to underpin its separatist rationale with civic nationalism, environmental globalism and cultural diversity.

References

Images

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 15 Oct. 2012

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 15 Oct. 2012