In direct contravention of my wife's explicit instructions, herewith I inaugurate my first blog. Long may it prosper.

For some reason, I think I have something to say to you. You think you have something to say to me? Email me at: gideonsblogger -at- yahoo -dot- com

 
Well, my track record for predictions is no longer a total wipeout thanks to the good citizens of Canada. Now let's see what the Italians do.

Oh, and I rather think Kevin Michael Grace is indulging in wishful thinking when he speculates that Harper has a "secret agenda" to break up Canada by separating from Quebec by legislation, not waiting for the Quebecois themselves to vote for separation. I do think Quebec will inevitably become a separate country, and I agree that this would be a good thing for Quebec, for Canada and, for that matter, for the United States, on my general principle that functional nation-states make better allies and are better for the state system generally than are dysfunctional states. (The same reasoning underlies my conviction that Israel must separate from the Palestinians and that the U.S. has been foolish in pushing for rapid EU expansion and against the deepening of the EU into something more resembling a sovereign state.) But it's very hard for me to believe that breaking up Canada would be a good political move, and Harper's pandering to Quebec should delay the inevitable by giving the Quebecois more reasons to stay and fewer to go, rather than hasten it.

(As an aside: one doesn't have to be a white nationalist, an ethnic determinist or even an immigration restrictionist to agree with Peter Brimelow that Canada would be a more functional nation-state without Quebec. One of the major downsides of Canada's official bi-culturalism is that it has led to official multi-culturalism, which means that there is decreasingly any "Canada" for immigrants to assimilate to, which means that immigration is, in practice, much more destructive of Canadian national identity than it would necessarily have to be in theory. Numbers matter, yes, but cultural confidence also matters. An Anglo Canada without Quebec would at least have a plausible path to constructing an identity from its Anglo-Celtic settler roots to which immigrants - who, I should note, come primarily from former British colonies like the sub-Continent - would be expected to assimilate to.)
posted by Noah at 11:52 AM