War of Words

So we may yet see another referendum in Quebec. On the campaign trail, the new Parti Québécois premier, Pauline Marois, deftly bowing to the 72 percent of Quebecers who are against secession, swore not to initiate a referendum herself, even as she bought off the hard-core sovereigntists with a promise to allow a citizen-initiated referendum, should 850,000 people sign a petition. Who knows. Could be worse. That’s politics and that’s Quebec. New parties, multiple vote-splittings, enormous public demonstrations, grand questions of the economic model, the social model, institutional renewal: accustomed as we are to picking governments on the basis of homophobic backbench tweets, the Rest of Canada could learn a thing or two from Quebec about vigorous, free-range democracy.

Nevertheless, one may be puzzled how 28 percent support for sovereignty could ever morph into 50 percent plus one...