University of Calgary political science professor Barry Cooper said he does not believe a third Quebec independence referendum will succeed. When Quebecers get upset, Cooper said it is over some reason the rest of Canada disapproves of. “But there’s been nothing but concession after concession to Quebec, so I don’t think there’s a credible set of grievances,” said Cooper in a Monday interview. “I mean they’re always whining about everything, but there’s no credible set of grievances that would focus most Quebecers on independence.” He said Alberta has its own problems with the Canadian government. If Canada keeps behaving the way it has been over the last 10 years, he said Alberta “will find our own reasons to push back.” At the moment, he said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has done a great job at pushing back. This means there will be less insistence on Alberta leaving Canada. In the early days of former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, he tried to be as conciliatory to Canada as NDP leader Rachel Notley. Cooper said this struck him as being a futile way to support Alberta’s interests. The Canadian government did not want to agree to terms Alberta wanted. Now Smith is taking initiative and demanding it respect her. If Quebec left Canada, he said it would be great. However, its departure would not affect Alberta’s placing in Canada. He called Parti Quebecois leader Paul St−Pierre Plamondon's rationale for using a referendum to defend Quebec’s culture “complete nonsense.” He said Quebec has never been in danger of losing its culture. Quebec Premier Francois Legault has increased its autonomy. If St-Pierre Plamondon wins the next election and moves forward with a referendum, Cooper said it would be a waste of energy. Over the past generation, he pointed out support for Quebec independence has fluctuated around one-third. While some Quebecers back independence, he said any amount under half does not matter. To stop Alberta from leaving Canada, he said the federal government needs to treat it like a federation. Smith has pushed back against it by enacting policies to defend jurisdiction. Cooper concluded by saying Eastern Canada has turned into a tyranny. “They want to control everything,” he said. St-Pierre Plamondon promised on Sunday another referendum on Quebec independence if the Parti Quebecois takes power in the next election. READ MORE: MORGAN: The West should help hold the door for Quebec's exit from CanadaQuebec independent activists have said they know they cannot pull the trigger on another referendum until they are confident they will win it. This is because a referendum loss sets back independence efforts by decades, even if it is a narrow loss.Since he has promised a referendum, it means he is confident the independence side will win it. After decades of chasing non-French speakers from Quebec through oppressive policies and antagonizing the rest of Canada to disrupt national unity, it could have the winning conditions it has sought for an independence referendum.
