The financial problems are increasing rapidly in Quebec and it shows. Quebec is not considered one of the wealthy provinces in Canada and when Quebec posts numbers of their national debt from 1989 to 1996 it shows just exactly how they will not be able to survive as a separate nation (3) (see Fig.2-Pg 5). When looking at the numbers you see that Quebec has a national debt of nearly $75 million and that is higher than every other province except Ontario but Ontario is one of the wealthier provinces so it is not uncommon for them to spend more money. The real scare comes when you take a look at the debt per person in Quebec where the population is 6.5 million people(4) and the debt per person has been above $10,000 the last five years. If Quebec really wants to separate, they are going to have to make some drastic changes to their spending habits. The perception of separation is that is going to happen overnight but that is false, it takes time and money, money the Quebec government doesn't have, it also takes a majority vote of 65%-70%(5) and past votes on separation have proven that the majority vote is nowhere in sight. The major cause of a lot of the problems for Quebec has come from the present and past leaders of Quebec who have taken the province on one hell of a roller-coaster ride over the past fifty years.

             Maurice Duplessis started the whole independence revival campaign with his complete overhaul of the Quebec government back in 1948. Duplessis chose the fleur-de-lis as Quebec's official provincial flag because he felt it identified Quebec as a homeland, separate from the rest of North America. The Duplessis period was a time when Quebec was establishing a sense of independence, it was an independent time for Quebec because Duplessis did not allow Quebec universities to accept federal grants, he turned down tax arrangements from Ottawa and he did all this because he was determined to establish Quebec as a separate nation once again(6).