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Rest of Canada fed-up with Quebec’s sovereignty talk

"Why can't the rest of Canada have a referendum to vote Quebec out?"

While that's unlikely to ever happen, it's a question that has flooded my email box since the beginning of the election campaign in la belle province.

It's a theme we're seeing more and more of on the Yahoo comment boards as well. Many decry the specter of a third sovereignty referendum and the $9.3 billion in equalization payments that they receive from the Canadian taxpayer.

[ Related: An independent Quebec would be among the West's most indebted countries ]

Pundits, analysts and bloggers are also writing about the rest of Canada's 'Quebec-fatigue.'

Here's an excerpt from a recent Rex Murphy column for the National Post:

Damien Penny, a blogger from Nova Scotia, Tweeted this week: “I went to Montreal for the ‘please don’t go’ rally in 1995. I will not be going again.”

That’s where ‘separatism’ now stands in the other provinces. English Canada has exhausted its sympathies and energy for the topic. It’s no more “Please don’t go,” but instead “Well … if you want to go, go, and have done with it.”

I think Murphy nails it on the head: the rest of Canada is done trying.

[ Related: Should Stephen Harper speak out against the PQ’s fantasies? ]

A poll supports that thesis.

In August 2012, Abacus Data asked 1,795 English-language speakers living outside of Quebec how they would vote if all Canadians could vote in a referendum on the future of Quebec in Confederation. 52 per cent said that they want to keep Quebec in Canada while 26 per cent would vote to remove them. A further 22 per cent said they were unsure.

The pollster did note, however, that the rest of Canada isn't in a mood to offer any concessions: only 12 per cent of us would support a policy of giving Quebec more funding powers or special status to keep them in the federal fold.

"These results demonstrate the potential problems for the federal government if the PQ were to win the Quebec election," noted an Abacus Data press release.

"While the [Quebec] government will be demanding more powers and autonomy, Canadians outside Quebec are likely to be opposed to any moves to placate Quebec. Intense Quebec-Rest of Canada political conflict may once again be around the corner."

While the survey is a little dated, has anything really changed in the past 20 months?

Anecdotally at least, it seems that the rest of Canada's public opinion against Quebec's 'demands' have hardened.

[ Related: PQ candidate steps down over anti-Islam Facebook post ]

Interestingly, many Quebecers seem to be tiring of the sovereignty talk as well.

There is some analysis — coming out of Quebec — suggesting that the Parti Quebcois' are now shying away from the sovereignty issue after polls indicated it was hurting them.

A new Léger-Le Devoir survey indicates that only 20 per cent of those surveyed want the candidates to talk about sovereignty -- Quebecers would rather discuss the economy, job creation, health and education. Moreover, according to the poll, 59 per cent of Quebecers said that they would vote "No" in a sovereignty referendum.

But of course, in Quebec — to the chagrin of the rest of Canada — sovereignty, identity and their place in Canada are issues that never seem to go away for very long.

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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