re separation referendum - the movement in Quebec looks quite dead. So I think it most likely will not happen. If it were held, and if the vote were 50% plus one, nobody of any party could hold on to Quebec. It would cause a civil war which would be worse than letting Quebec separate. Any politician who says he wouldn't let Quebec separate is either a fool or a liar. Think hard. Imagine a Harper telling Quebec after such a vote that he would not allow it to separate.
I say that out of no sympathy for separation. I spent twenty years of my life on the board of Alliance Quebec, the major anglo group against separation - some four of those years as provincial chairman.
I'm quite sure separatism is dead and isn't coming back. But I'm also sure that if it voted 50% plus one, Canada would not be able to stop the separation.
Harper is anti-democratic, an egomaniac, a control freak. and a complete sell-out to big money. Justin Trudeau is nothing more than a nice-looking spoiled kid. And he never will be more than that. Mulcair has more brains than both of them put together. In addition, Conservative party has been made a party of robots and stooges. And the Liberal party is effectively dead meat. It has to be entirely redesigned.
As for blaming the NDP of years ago in Ontario, if was not the NDP that caused the economic decline which that crisis was. We have had many, many such crises, almost all of them under Liberal and Conservative governments.
The NDP, by the way, is also the only party that has its roots in Christian teaching. Both Liberals and the Conservatives were founded as tools for big business - the Liberals for big business in Toronto, the Conservatives for big business in Montreal. And both have been knee-deep in corruption since 1867.