Workers on picket lines, farmers demanding government aid, Native people across Canada fighting for their national rights, and all defenders of democratic rights should stand as one in condemning Ottawa's attempt to impose conditions on the nationally oppressed Quebecois. These include the outrageously undemocratic demand that only a pro-sovereignty vote significantly above a majority would be considered legitimate.

Ottawa's initiative reflects the fear of Canada's ruling capitalist families—not fear of the bourgeois nationalist Parti Quebecois government in Quebec City, but of the fighting example set by the toilers in Quebec for the working class as a whole. As the Pathfinder book Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium explains, the ruling class has been incapable "despite all their efforts over decades, to put a lid on resistance to national oppression and demands for independence by the French-speaking majority in Quebec."

Well over two decades ago, the demand for an independent Quebec became the rallying cry of the most determined fighters against national oppression—threatening the stable rule of the Canadian bourgeoisie. The sight of thousands of Quebecois youth in the streets representing a new generation of fighters chanting, "We want a country," during the 1995 sovereignty referendum again struck terror in the hearts of the ruling rich.

Ottawa's initiative has divided federalist politicians. New Democratic Party leader Alexa McDonough issued a declaration on behalf of the NDP premiers of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba criticizing the tactics of the Chrétien government for "fanning the flames of separatism." The NDP hypocritically claims to support the right of Quebec to determine its own affairs, but has a decades-long history of coming down foursquare on the side of Ottawa against the "separatists" in defense of "Canadian unity."

Using the opening provided by Ottawa and the social democracy, right-wing Reform Party leader Preston Manning raised the stakes by proposing Ottawa hold its own referendum to legitimize the partitioning of Quebec by Ottawa in the event of a sovereigntist victory.

Class-conscious workers, exploited farmers, and rebellious youth across the country should stand shoulder to shoulder with those circulating petitions and buttons insisting that "50 percent plus one is enough." We need to detail how the fight for Quebec's independence is a fight for elementary justice and equality. We need to patiently explain to fighting workers and youth across the country that we have no stake in saving "Canada," which from its beginnings has been a prison house of nationalities and a source of profits for the superrich

Winning the most determined fighters in our unions, working farmers, and students to the fight for Quebec's independence is a precondition for forging the unity we need for the fight to replace capitalist political power in Ottawa with a workers and farmers government that will defend the rights of all those who today face oppression at the hands of Ottawa.  
 
 
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