# What really happens if Quebec does secede from Canada?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-happens-if-quebec-does-secede-from-canada/23951>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 28, 2000, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-happens-if-quebec-does-secede-from-canada/23951 "2000-06-28T23:56:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2000, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-happens-if-quebec-does-secede-from-canada/23951/41 "2000-07-02T23:39:09Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> PEI was originally part of Nova Scotia, which also included New Brunswick. Following the unplesantness in the lower 13 colonies, around 1785 the Brits divided Nova Scotia into four colonies: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, and Cape Breton Island, on the “divide and rule” theory.

This is not quite accurate. PEI came a separate colony in 1769, before the unpleasantness. New Brunswick was split off in 1784 as a secondary result of the unpleasantness. Cape Breton I. was split off at the same time (not sure when it was reunited).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2000, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-happens-if-quebec-does-secede-from-canada/23951/42 "2000-07-03T07:26:24Z")

</div>

you’re right dtilque - sorry 'bout that - the perils of posting from memory.

PEI was part of Nova Scotia from 1758 to 1769, when it was split into a separate colony at the urgings of the proprietors (British absentee landlords): _Canadian Encyclopedia_, 2nd ed., p. 1753.

Cape Breton was part of Nova Scotia from 1763 to 1784, when it was split into a separate colony for Loyalists. It remained a separate colony until 1820, when it was re-united to Nova Scotia: _Canadian Encyclopedia_, 2nd ed., p. 358.

Some residents opposed the re-union, and raised enough of a stink in London that the British government referred the legality of the re-union to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (the highest court for the Empire) for a determination. The Privy Council held that the re-union was legal: _In re Cape Breton_ (1846), 13 E.R. 489 (P.C.)

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-really-happens-if-quebec-does-secede-from-canada/23951.md?page=2)