J.-F. GAUDREAULT-DESBIENS, « Secession Blues: Some Legal and Political Challenges Facing the Independence Movement in Quebec », [2014] 3 Percorsi Costituzionali 765-786.

Abstract

This article highlights the main legal and political hurdles currently faced by the secessionist movement in Quebec. It argues that the Supreme Court of Canada's advisory opinion in the 1998 Quebec Secession Reference was a game changer, effectively enshrining in the constitution a judicially-elaborated secession clause. Through its recognition of the dual juridical and political nature of secession, it reframed the debate, as evinced by the legislative reactions it provoked, notably the federal government's Clarity Act. The emphasis placed in the Secession Reference on the clarity and transparency of any referendum process, as consubstantial to the democratic principle and as a precondition to the legitimacy of a secessionist attempt, constitutes a significant contribution of the Supreme Court to global intellectual debates on secession. Yet, the Court left many questions unanswered, and political actors have tried to fill these voids. Moreover, foreign debates on secession, such as the recent one involving Scotland's place in the United Kingdom, have further contributed to strengthening the clarity and transparency requirements. The article thus examines the Scottish case in view of determining its potential influence and relevance on a hypothetical third Quebec referendum on secession. The article concludes that the study of the political and legal environment in which Quebec secessionism currently evolves points to a series of external hurdles to a potential secession attempt on the part of the province. However, problems internal to Quebec nationalism are also undermining the viability of the project. The re-emergence of an ethno-nationalist discourse that has been re-embraced by the Parti Québécois, Quebec's main secessionist political party, is one such problem. However, while these hurdles will be difficult to overcome, secessionism in Canada will in all likelihood continue to be part of Quebec's ideological landscape as long as nationalism retains its status as political doxa embraced by both secessionist and non-secessionist political parties.