ABSTRACT
Since this article was written, a referendum on Quebec independence was held on 30 October 1995. The vote was preceded by a sometimes bitter campaign that saw the federal side lose ground in the polls until separists and federalists were evenly split. The result was a dead heat with the ‘no’, or federal, side winning by a thin margin of 50,000 votes. Canada came as close to splitting up as any modern democracy in recent times. The vote has forced both Quebec and Canada into a profound re-evaluation of nationhood, culture and the shape of governing structures within federal systems. It has placed arguments about fiscal and cultural policy into the foreground and reignited debates about the role that modern media play in shaping public opinion. In fact, questions about the public sphere and the various ways in which issues of central concern to the future of social, economic and cultural policy can be articulated are now at centre-stage in Canada.
