Former media baron Conrad Black says independence for Quebec no longer a threat

CALGARY – Former media baron Conrad Black says Quebec is no longer a threat to pursue independence because Quebecers are addicted to transfer payments from the other Canadian provinces.

Speaking in Calgary, Black told a lunch audience that there is less support now for Quebec sovereignty than there was 30 years ago.

Black says the federal government was able to wear down the province through good-faith negotiations around the federal transfer payment system.

He says the current system is an addiction to Quebec nationalists who need the money to run an all white-collar economy.

Black says the Quebec government will go through the pretence of setting up a semi-autonomous state, but is no longer threatening to break up the country.

Black served 37 months of a 42-month sentence in a Florida prison for fraud and obstruction of justice while he was head of media giant Hollinger International.