Because a lot of Americans have asked me about this: the province of Québec is home to a large portion of Canada's francophones (French-speakers), many of whom regard Québec's language and culture as so different from those of the rest of Canada that Québec should be a separate country. The rest of Canada keeps agonizing about whether to change the Canadian constitution to deal with this. The Québec debate has a passionate and even bloody history. The Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) bombed Montréal in 1963, kidnapped the British trade commissioner in 1970, and kidnapped and murdered the Québec labour and immigration minister Pierre Laporte in October, 1970. This last incident led to the October Crisis, when then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, under which 465 people were arrested. Since then, there have been at least two major constitutional wranglings whose purpose was, in part, to try to make the Québeckers happy: the Meech Lake Accord, in the mid-1980s, and the Charlottetown Accord, in the early 1990s. Neither was accepted by the Canadian people. In October of 1995, Québeckers voted to stay in Canada 50.6% to 49.4%. Québec's current premier, Lucien Bouchard, insists that the Parti Québecois will continue to hold referenda until the separatists win. No one knows what the consequences of the departure of Canada's largest and second-most populous province would be, but predictions for the Canadian economy and Québec's viability have been dire.

More information:

• Gouvernment du Québec
• Government of Canada's Facts about Québec -- includes information about the land, history, people, and economy
• Québec links from Yahoo