The results of last week's presidental elections has sent shivers up the spines of many a progressive democrat. Many are thinking about heading north to Canada. As noted in an earlier article, there are new web sites that not only provide information on living in Canada, but also providing some inspiration to marry Canadians.
Canada has a lot to offer liberal-minded Americans including a very liberal view about relationships in the province of Quebec. Like have a little piece of France in North America, the architechture is centuries old, the men and women ever so fashionable, and their ideas about marriage quite extraordinary. So while you are thinking about the big move, why not consider Quebec!
Holy Matrimony!
First comes love, then comes marriage. Now comes Quebec, proposing the World's first Post-Marriage Society.
Excerpts from Essay by Danielle Stanton for Enroute Magazine
As in the rest of the Western world, fewer people are tying the knot in Canada, especially Quebec. Quebecers are not only saying, "I do" at half the rate they did 30 years ago (20,600 marriages in 2003 compared to 50,400 in 1975), but they are also divorcing more frequently. And more Quebec couples are opting for common-law marriage than ever before (30 percent compared to 12 percent elsewhere in Canada and 8 percent in the United States). To see where relationships are headed, we need look no further than the society where the statistical pattern has already played out. Quebec is the crystal ball of North America’s marital destiny.
So why are Quebecers leading this revolution of postconjugal bliss? After the Quiet Revolution that shook Quebec politics, culture and religion in the 1960s, the province quite literally divorced itself from old institutions and embraced modernity. "In 40 years, Quebec went through the same changes that were spread out in other societies over 300 years," says Diane Pacom, a professor of sociology at the University of Ottawa. A huge Environics survey of more than 14,000 North Americans bears this out. It found that Quebec has the highest percentage of non-traditional family environments and is a breeding ground for permissive attitudes. It’s no wonder that Quebec couples are redefining the North American family.
Like picking a new car, Quebecers can select from three distinct takes on coupling: Open-ended couples are the equivalent of a flashy convertible sports car; wedding party animals are like the fun PT Cruiser; and advocates of new-and-improved marriage are as neo-traditionalist as the New Beetle. For all models, fidelity is an option.
The trick to the first variation is to reconcile being both an individual and part of a couple. "Philip has been the love of my life for the past eight years," explains Mackayla, "but we simply couldn’t live together. Our lifestyles are just too different. By living apart, we avoid a lot of arguments." Like other open-ended types, this couple keeps things fresh by deliberately injecting elements of separation and change. Racy and exciting in theory, this lifestyle can be exhausting in practice, as the partners are constantly wondering, "Have I made the right choice? What if the grass is greener…?" Instead of "All for one and one for all," the motto is more like "You for you, and me for me."
LINK TO FULL ARTICLE
Democrats: Why Not Come to Canada
LINK TO MENTIONED SITES
Marry an American
LINK TO ANOTHER AMERICAN DATING SITE
