From: cbbrowne@csi.uottawa.ca (Christopher Browne)
Subject: Re: Plan B
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, University of Ottawa
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 15:55:12 GMT

In article <schuck.721292081@sfu.ca> Bruce_Schuck@sfu.ca writes:
>cbbrowne@csi.uottawa.ca (Christopher Browne) writes:
>
>>In article <schuck.721245605@sfu.ca> Bruce_Schuck@sfu.ca writes:
>
>>You don't like Quebec, and like the idea of hurting its people.
>>That's hatred in my books.  Not a good way or reason to start a new
>>country.
>
>It's not me or BC threatening to tear this country apart every time BC
>doesn't get its way. It's Quebec.

Very good.  Changing the subject.  You're getting defensive, because
you don't actually want to respond to what said.  

I've asked (indirectly) a number of times whether hatred towards
Quebec/Quebeckers is a component in your arguments.  It APPEARS to be,
and I want to give you the opportunity to deny that there's hatred
involved.  You haven't cooperated by either acknowledging or denying
that hatred is involved.  So which is it?  (Remember that a refusal to
answer is often interpreted as "Yes, but it would look bad if I
admitted it!")

When you start talking about BC separating, that's not something
Quebec chose.  That's something YOU are choosing.  The separation of
BC would have surprisingly similar effects on Canada to the separation
of Quebec.

So, what's immoral for Quebec is perfectly acceptable for BC?

If it is right for Canada to be ruthless towards a separatist Quebec,
then why should Canada NOT be ruthless towards a separatist BC?

"They started it" isn't an acceptable answer, by the way.  YOU should
be judged based on YOUR actions - not based on the actions of people
thousands of miles away, whom you may not have ever associated with.

There's been a parallel thread on "Ontario separation" in which
there's been lots of back and forth squabbling about who gets the
national debt, and the railroads, and so forth.

It's frankly a STUPID thread, because the arguments that people have
been using (well, the later "It's MINE!" arguments, anyways) would
have NOTHING to do with the way actual negotiations that would take
place.

I'll just call peoples' attention for one moment to the fact that
Toronto IS the financial capital of Canada, and that all of the major
chartered banks are based there, as well as the largest stock market
in the country.  Doing STUPID things that would indirectly mess with
them would be supremely stupid.  I'm not an agent or spokesman for any
bank, or particularly anyone other than myself.

This is in addition to the fact that an ENORMOUS amount of money is
held by insurance and pension funds, mostly in Ontario.  This money
would probably ALL be lost (not necessarily with any beneficiaries) if
there was a massive ANGRY and FOOLISH set of AGGRESSIVE and PUNISHING
separations/secessions.

If people let anger rule their decisions concerning "separation", they
WILL make irrational decisions, and big things (like pension funds)
will get trampled on and lost along the way.  Pension funds are merely
one example; I'm sure there's others.

-- 
Christopher Browne                |     PGP 2.0 key available
cbbrowne@csi.uottawa.ca           |===================================
University of Ottawa              |  The Personal Computer:  Colt 45
Master of System Science Program  |  of the Information Frontier
Newsgroups: can.politics