1. the 1995 Quebec referendum was close, but it was not a referendum on whether to "succeed", or secede, from Canada. The actual question was a tangled mess of semantics about "negotiating sovereignty-association" between Quebec and ROC (Rest Of Canada) , and no one ever figured out quite what that meant. It was a sharp wake-up call though. The whole Quebec nationalism thing has been going on for so long, it has become stable in its instability.

2. Actually I was walking the dog, but said canine has had less pleasant encounters with the ursine species--has a nice scar on her snout to prove it.

3. many thousands of draft-dodgers/deserters from the Vietnam era have stayed, made good lives here, and are valued community members. One is the mayor of my municipality.

4. as for that crap about armed people being more polite, being a non-gun-owner I'll kick your ass if you repeat that old Heinlein cliche again! Maritimers are nicer than anyone, and quite lightly armed as a rule. Frankly I don't think there's a correlation either way.

5. and Daylia, thanks, I thought of posting the lyrics to "Un Canadien Errant" to this thread aussi!

W-O