Quebec why separate

The court said it cannot unilaterally happen within Canadian law or within international law. It said separation would have to be negotiated with the federal government and the provinces. It means that if Quebec votes in favour of separation, it would be necessary for negotiations to begin with the rest of the country.

The Supreme Court also says there must be a clear majority on a clear question in a referendum. Quebec's Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Jacques Brassard says the ruling won't have much of an impact on Quebec's plans.

He said an absolute majority of 50 per cent plus one vote in the next referendum on independence would be enough to start the process of secession. The high court also said aboriginal rights would have to be taken into account in any future negotiations on separation, although the nine judges gave no specifics.

OTTAWA, May 28 Reuters - Some 25 years after an independence bid by Quebec almost broke Canada apart, a new push by the province to strengthen its French-speaking identity poses an awkward challenge for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau months before an expected election.

Quebec, a political battleground that accounts for almost a quarter of the seats in the federal House of Commons, has a history of separatist governments, one of which held a referendum on independence that only just failed. Premier Francois Legault is a nationalist who rejects separatism but wants more rights for Quebec, which has just 8. This month, Legault vowed to amend Canada's Constitution to recognize French as Quebec's only official language and to call Quebec a "nation" to underscore its distinct status, not to assert that it is a separate state.

Legault said he would do so through a rarely invoked authority to unilaterally change parts of the Constitution that affect just one province. The move is largely symbolic, since French is already the province's only official language and the federal Parliament in recognized Quebec as a nation inside Canada.

But some legal experts say the move is unconstitutional, and it has raised fears inside and outside Quebec that it could put new strains on national unity at a time when some western provinces have expressed unhappiness with federal policies.

Legault, whose CAQ party faces a provincial election in October , says he is addressing concerns that the use of French is slipping. It is a dilemma for Trudeau, a fluent French speaker whose father, Pierre, fiercely opposed Quebec separatism when he was prime minister but enacted legislation recognizing French, for the first time, as one of Canada's two official languages. A Leger poll this week showed the vast majority of Quebec's French-speaking residents backing the proposals.

If Trudeau opposes Legault, he could threaten some of the seats the Liberals hold in the province. He said he could live with Legault's proposed change, adding, however, that the rights of both French and English speakers must be protected.

Trudeau must increase his support in Quebec from the last election in if he wants to regain a parliamentary majority.