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rfmcdonaldYesterday in the Toronto Star, Chantal Hébert's article "Ahead of Scotland on issue of sovereignty" was one article of many examining the similarities between Québécois and Scottish separatism. After pointing out that independence isn't an inevitable outcome of either movement, Hébert points out that Chrétien's decision to keep Canada out of Iraq was smart.
To this, one might add the case of Spain, where there were considerable tensions between the government of conservative Spanish Perime Minister José María Aznar that brought Spain into Iraq (against the support of ~90% of the population) and the autonomous regions of the Basque Country and Catalonia. Iraq and regional nationalisms intersected, in the Spanish case, in the decision of Aznar to blame the Basque group ETA for the 2004 Madrid train bombings even after it became apparent that ETA was not responsible, and in so doing try to settle domestic political scores.
As for the Scotland result, if it fits anywhere in the Canadian puzzle, it is as a validation of Jean Chrétien's decision to keep Canada out of the Iraq war rather than as a condemnation of policies designed to accommodate the autonomous aspirations of a national minority.
The Scotland vote is part of the larger pattern of a backlash against the Iraq fiasco and those such as Blair who played a leading role in bringing it about.
That pattern also includes last week's faceoff between President George W. Bush and Congress.
The Iraq war has unleashed powerful domestic tensions within the countries that joined the coalition.
By staying out of it, Chrétien may have deprived the Quebec sovereignty movement of one of its last best opportunities to relaunch its crusade. By the same token, the Quebec-Canada dynamics have gone a long way to keep Canada out of a quagmire of historic proportions.
To this, one might add the case of Spain, where there were considerable tensions between the government of conservative Spanish Perime Minister José María Aznar that brought Spain into Iraq (against the support of ~90% of the population) and the autonomous regions of the Basque Country and Catalonia. Iraq and regional nationalisms intersected, in the Spanish case, in the decision of Aznar to blame the Basque group ETA for the 2004 Madrid train bombings even after it became apparent that ETA was not responsible, and in so doing try to settle domestic political scores.
