Former Quebec MLA Speaks About Quebec Partition vs Separation

On March 12th, even though Jack Frost took a vicious swipe at Scugog Township, Dr. William Shaw joined a small dedicated group of Rotarians for our weekly meeting. As we gathered around two tables we had an informal and lively discussion of Dr. Shaw’s views of why he does not believe that complete separation of Quebec can possibly happen.

Dr. Shaw has lived in Quebec until recently and has fought Separation for many years. In 1976 he was elected to the Quebec Legislature as the Independent Member from Point Claire. This was the same time that Rene Levesque and the Parti Quebecois came to power. Most of us remember that election delivered us into the teeth of a Sovereignty Referendum that was eventually turned down by a very slight margin. During his time in the Legislature, Dr. “Bill” was a vocal and staunch opponent on the subject of Quebec Separation and for that matter, still is.

In 1980, Dr. Shaw and Lionel Albert wrote a book entitled “Partition” The purpose of the book as stated in its introduction was, (and still is), “to put into perspective what Quebec Separation from Canada is, why it will not happen, and yet, why so many intelligent people are convinced that it is not only possible, but perhaps inevitable.”

With the looming Quebec Election and the continuing references to Sovereignty, the subject is again topical. Thanks to Dr. Shaw, we were given an insightful and very interesting review of the many issues inherent in these current events.