I recently finished reading The Morning After, by Chantel Herbert. The book offers a rather insightful concept of reviewing the 1995 referendum, a night that I barely recall. I was 9 years old in 1995, and what I recall of that October night was having some club meeting in the evening and then returning home and CBC’s coverage of the Quebec referendum being on the TV. My parents let me stay up past my bed time so I could watch what was happening, although I didn’t comprehend the magnitude of the events.

The book itself asks an intriguing question, what would have happened if the “Yes” side had won. Herbert managed to get interviews with many of the major players from all sides in the 1995 referendum and asked them the simple question, what would have happened if the vote had gone the other way? The answers are varied, from a detailed contingency plans by various federalist campaigners to signs of potential division from the separatists camp, to a premier willingness to save Canada in a Cabinet of national solidarity while another planned for his own province’s separation.

The book offers an enjoyable view of a pivotal moment in Canadian history, if it is some thing you are interest in you should read it.