ADQ leader Mario Dumont is somewhat of an enigma. He started off as the leader of the Young Liberals, then became a separatist for the 1995 referendum, and now claims to have switched back to a soft version of federalism he calls “autonomy”.
“Autonomy” is basically what Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson calls the "cake and eat it, too” vision. The ADQ wants Quebec to sign Canada’s constitution, as well as its own separate one! Quebec would not be a province but the "autonomous state of Quebec.", but this doesn’t mean they won’t get equalization.
A lot of people see the “autonomy” solution as the way to satisfy once and for all Quebec’s demands, while keeping it as a part of Canada. This is one of the main reasons explaining the ADQ newfound success with traditional Liberal supporters.
This is a mistake.
The more Quebec becomes autonomous, the less attachment it has to Canada. This may seem like a totally obvious statement, but it is obviously being ignored by all those federalist ADQ supporters.
You see, the union of Quebec and English Canada is like a marriage: both parties have differences, but they have enough in common to both benefit from the union. Divorce becomes inevitable when the couple doesn’t share anything. The more Quebec and Canada get detached, the closer we get to a divorce.
As far as I’m concerned, the most effective type of federalism is a strong one.
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