----
By PETER O’NEIL, Vancouver Sun OTTAWA— Former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff says Quebec will “eventually” become an independent country and that a victory for Scottish separatists in an expected 2014 referendum will launch a new effort by Quebec nationalists to fulfill their sovereignist dream.
Ignatieff, an author and academic who left the Liberal leadership post after his party was drubbed in the 2011 election, made the comments in an interview being broadcast Monday on BBC Scotland.
He also said Quebec and the rest of Canada have little to say to each other and that the two are already “almost” separate countries.
Ignatieff told BBC Scotland that devolution of central powers, whether from London to Edinburgh or from Ottawa to Quebec City, will likely be only temporary.
“It’s a kind of way station. You stop there for a while, but I think the logic eventually is independence – full independence,” Ignatieff said in an interview in his home last month.
Asked by interviewer Glenn Campbell if he was referring to Quebec as well as Scotland, Ignatieff replied: “I think eventually that’s where it goes.”
Ignatieff, who now teaches at the University of Toronto, was asked by email Tuesday if he believes Quebec separation is inevitable.
“Nothing is inevitable in politics, and its my fervent hope that separatists are defeated and that Canada survives and prospers as a united country speaking both French and English,” he replied.
“Yes, of course, a yes vote by the Scots would have impact on Canada and Quebec, but again, we're not there yet, and 2014 is a way's away.”
In the BBC interview he predicted that Scotland will gain significant new powers even if Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond, Scotland’s popular prime minister, doesn’t win the referendum on outright independence.
He suggested that Quebec gained “radical” new powers after the federalists’ razor-thin 1995 referendum victory, though most of the powers he listed were under Quebec authority before that dramatic vote.
“We had a near-death experience in 1995,” Ignatieff said.
“What we learned from that was that the way to keep the show on the road is pretty radical devolution. And effectively Quebec is master in their own house.
He pointed out that Quebec runs its own immigration and natural resource development policies and has control over health and education systems.
The only area where “the union still holds together” is in fiscal and monetary policy, he said.
“We’ve kept the show on the road by giving Quebec essentially mastery in their own house,” he said.
“But the problem here is we don’t have anything to say to each other any more. There’s a kind of contract of mutual indifference which is very striking for someone of my generation.”
Noting that he speaks French, Ignatieff said he couldn’t imagine Canada without Quebec.
“But that’s not the way most English Canadians now think of their country. They might have done 30 or 40 years ago when we thought we could live together in this very strange hybrid country called Canada.
“Now effectively, effectively, we’re almost two separate countries. Although Quebec does not have sovereignty it acts domestically almost as if it did, and that I think has produced this strange reality that I don’t think most Canadians I’m thinking of are happy about.”
Ignatieff, describing the United Kingdom as one of the oldest multi-national states in the world, said a Yes vote for independence in Scotland will have reverberations around the world.
“I think if Scotland goes independent a lot of other smaller nations in Europe will start accelerating their quest for independence,” singling out national minorities in Spain, Belgium and Canada.
“So it will have global effects, there’s no question. That’s why it’s so important.
“All the multinational states of the world, and remember that most states in the world are multinational, will be assessing their unity, their constitutions.
“I mean, ‘are we doing enough to keep ‘em happy?’ That kind of question is the kind of question that’ll go right around the world if Scotland goes independent. So it’s a hugely important issue for everybody and not just the Scots.”
While Salmond’s government has been popular since forming a minority government in 2007, polls on independence have consistently shown the unionist forces area ahead of the nationalists.
Salmond has therefore floated the possibility of having a second option on the 2014 ballot asking if Scots support “devo max” – a proposal for maximum devolution of powers to Scotland.
Ignatieff said he hopes the government instead opts for a single, clear question. But he said if the nationalists lose he still expects a huge transfer of powers from London.

poneil z2u postmedia.com
Twitter.com/poneilinottawa
Read his blog, Letter from Ottawa, at vancouversun.com/oneil
vancouversun.com/oneil
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Quebec+will+eventually+become+independent+Ignatieff/6505018/story.html#ixzz1suM0nE4c