From: cbbrowne@csi.uottawa.ca (Christopher Browne)
Subject: Re: Toronto Sun: another case of paranoia???
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, University of Ottawa
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 00:45:07 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.220746.3347@mdivax1.uucp> robinson@mdd.comm.mot.com (Jim Robinson) writes:
>Christopher Browne (cbbrowne@csi.uottawa.ca) wrote:
>>It's when you go to the far west that you find REAL hatred..
>
>First off, I'd like to point out that if APEC exists in BC (the far west),
>then they must keep an awfully low profile, because I haven't heard of them
>being out here. They seem to be an *eastern* phenomenon, and this is
>inconsistent with the notion of BC (the far west) being the hotbed of
>hatred assuming APEC is what its detractors make it out to be (disclaimer:
>I know next to nothing about APEC). 
> [Flag episode deleted to save bandwidth]
>What this is all leading up to is that I
>find Christopher's assertion that BC (or a significant percentage of its
>people) REALly hates Quebec to be rather curious (at best!) and I would
>appreciate some evidence, as this is a fairly serious charge to make.

It would be unfair to generalize that ALL "BCians" hate Quebec.

But consider: It wasn't Ontario that voted 78% against - it was BC.
From what I've heard, it appears that that vote WAS intended to mean
something along the lines of "No way, Quebec!"

My mother was in BC for a funeral in October, and she got lobbied
pretty heavily to spread the word: "No to Quebec!"  Some of the
lobbying was fairly heated.

It was a pretty emotional campaign all the way, all over Canada.  And
it's been easy to make the generalization that "BC hates Quebec."

If getting the assertion out into the open allows it to be squashed,
then that's a good thing.  If I'm helping to blacken the reputation of
British Columbians, then I should be corrected.  Fortunately, I have
no stake in keeping people misinformed on this matter.  I would really
prefer to have the assertion proven wrong.

>IMHO, many, if not most, BCers view a hypothetical Quebec separation as
>having minimal impact on BC. We see the Atlantic provinces and Ontario as
>taking the brunt of any problems arising from this scenario. So, to turn
>Christopher's words around a bit, it's not BC you guys should be worrying
>about, it's Ontario that has the most to lose if Quebec separates, and it
>is thus Ontario you should be most worried about - they have the motive
>*and* the power, we have neither.

The sword cuts both ways -

Ontario has more to worry about, and thus can't afford to take
"drastic action."  Ontarians that hate Quebeckers will be among the
people most affected by whatever happens.  If Ontarians make unwise
decisions out of dislike or fear, they're likely to be hurt by those
decisions.

It doesn't much MATTER how BCers feel or act, because (for a variety
of reasons, not all "bad" ones) they won't be much affected, for
better or for worse.  BCers can "afford" to be extremists, because
they won't have to pay very much for it.

"Power" may be a component in it all, but in the conditions likely to
surround a separation, what's most likely to happen is that "power"
will be a fleeting thing of which EVERYONE is likely to lose some.

Economic shocks are not likely to be too helpful to anybody, for
instance.

-- 
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