Vive Le Québec Canadien!

In his poem The Little Girl Saw Her First Troop Parade, Carl Sandburg suggested that "Sometime they'll hold a war and nobody will come."  Had the poet been in Montréal last night, he might have recast this sentiment as "Sometime they'll hold a secession and nobody will leave."  Canada was founded as Québec.  The very word "Canadian" is an expression of how francophone Canadians, who were Canadiens before there were Québecois, have viewed themselves since the first intrepid coureurs de bois set off to explore the entirety of North America long before the Corps of Discovery expedition.  Québec a toujours été au cœur du Canada.  On April 7, 2014, the citizens of Québec had a golden opportunity to express their democratic intent to become an independent country.  Instead, as they have always done before, they voted decisively to remain Canadiens.  With no apologies to Charles de Gaulle during his most culturally tone-deaf, historically ignorant, and imprescient moment, Vive Le Québec Canadien!