Maybe Canada needs a Clarity Act for pollsters’ questions intended to
gauge the level of support for provincial secession from Canada.
gauge the level of support for provincial secession from Canada.
The Clarity Act,
of course, is the federal law passed in 2000 in response to the scary
1995 Quebec sovereignty referendum that came within 1 per cent of
destroying Confederation based on a murky question.
Among other things, the law states that any question not solely
referring to secession was to be considered unclear, and to be valid the
referendum question on independence must be clear. It also says all
provinces and First Nations must be part of any separation negotiation,
and that an undefined clear majority of eligible voters within the province must support secession.