ast Thursday I was at my hairdresser, and we talked about the Danish referendum, which was being held the same day. I asked her, if she thought her status as a Thai immigrant would change with the election, and she answered "It will be same-same but different". .

             The question of whether Quebec should be recognised a sovereign Canadian state or not, is the core of the fable Frogmarch. The title indicates that the French speaking Quebecois feel that the majority of English speakers in the rest of Canada are suppressing them. The French, in the fable, represented by the 3 frogs, all agree that there should be a referendum, but their motives are different. The first two frogs want the separation to be a peaceful change that doesn't really modify anything. They still want to keep the currency and their membership in N.I.F.T.Y. (a paraphrase of N.A.F.T.A. North American Free Trade Agreement, between U.S.A, Canada and Mexico) but they will regain their pride as a separate state. The young frog, who resembles a more aggressive and radical group of Quebecois, want to cut all bonds with Canada, except economical connections, and throw all English speaking Canadians out.

             The young frog will shut down the sparrow's restaurant, and sell flies instead, and that way all the birds will flee from the pond. The birds/the sparrow is the symbol of the average English speaking Canadian, who doesn't really understand the schism of Quebec. The sparrow is confused, because he can't find out what the frogs will do after the referendum. They all agree that everything will be different yet stay the same. .

             When I read this passage, I thought of my hairdresser, this was exactly what she had said about Denmark. Even though the consequences of a referendum, such as the Canadian of ´95 and the Danish of last Thursday, doesn't show any immediate changes, it manifests the intent to change on a long-term basis. The situation in Quebec is the opposite of the Danish.