Canadians nonchalant on Quebec secession

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OTTAWA, June 29 (UPI) -- Two polls indicate about half of Canadians living outside of Quebec would not feel strongly if the province seceded.

The Ipsos Reid polls, carried out on behalf of Postmedia News and Global TV, found 49 percent of non-Quebec respondents "don't really care if Quebec separates from Canada," Postmedia News reported Friday.

However, the poll suggests only 38 percent of Quebec residents would vote to secede if a referendum were held, while 61 percent would vote against such a move.

The polls also suggested 61 percent of residents across Canada support bilingualism and 59 percent agreed senior federal government officials should be fluent in both English and French.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest is expected to call an election near the end of the summer, and a victory by the pro-secession Parti Quebecois could result in a referendum on separating from Canada.

The online polls of 1,101 Canadians and 1,001 Canadians had margins of error of 3 percentage points and 3.1 percentage points, respectively.