Out of curiosity, if Quebec did indeed secede and the government let them go peacefully, what would be the situation there particularly with regard to the economy? How much does Quebec contribute to Canadian GDP? What would be its primary imports/exports? Would its economy be mainly supported by tourist dollars or would it have an edge in the manufacture of a particularly valuable good/service? Would it prosper, stagnate, or worsen? Who would be its primary trading partner? How would it get its goods out (as I recall, there are very few sea-ports in Quebec)?

-HoH

if quebec did become an independant country i expect their economy would shrivel pretty fast and pretty hard.  it's hard to see how they could survive as they would not be part of the free trade agreement nor the autopact.  a fairly hefty portion of their existing industry would be forced to relocate outside the new country to survive.  the rest of canada isn't going to take quebec leaving very well at all and i really doubt their going to buy anything coming out of quebec.  i know i certainly would have to think long and hard about buying anything made in quebec.  as things stand quebec would virtually instantly take a major hit from the federal gov't of canada no longer pumping money into quebec ventures.  the sudden jolt of assuming 20-25% of the canadian national debt would in fairly short order obliterate their gov't budget plus all the assorted costs of being an independant country would put additional stress on. 

i think you would wind up with quebec being an economic basket case in fairly short order.  it's not going to wind up as haiti north but it's not going to be pretty and it's not gonna look anything like what the pq promised the people of quebec.

Quebec would follow the pattern of so many eastern european countries who broke away and immediately filled out UN welfare forms to construct their small town/agrarian economies.

i have yet to meet a quebec francophone resident who has any understanding of just how completely screwed quebec would be if they separated from canada.  the idea that they wouldn't be able to take the entire province out doesn't register with them.  the cree and innuit in the north of the province want nothing to do with separation at all.  the idea that the gov't of canada will stop pumping in billions of dollars a year in preferential gov't contracts and would likely stop employing large numbers of quebec residents in the federal service is again a total surprise.

these poor buggers are so incredibly poorly served by both sides in this debate it's hard to comprehend how people can be so ill informed about something so potentially important to their future.

quebec is pretty much not populated away from the st lawrence river valley and much of the existing province was added to "lower canada" after the formation of canada. there is also the open question of quebec being divisible and the federal gov't response to the indians and innuit asking not to be included in the separation.
it would just devolve into an utterly godawful mess right quickly.