PM moves to make Quebec a nation within Canada
By JOAN BRYDEN
Prime Minister Stephen Harper (centre) receives a standing ovation as he introduces a motion to recognize that Quebecers form a nation within Canada during a speech in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Wednesday Nov. 22, 2006.(CP PHOTO/Jonathan Hayward)
Motion potential step in plan to rebalance federalism
Harper scores points in unity debate
Charest welcomes Tory motion
Text of Harper's address to the Commons
OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper moved to defuse a potential national unity time bomb Wednesday by introducing a motion to recognize that Quebecers form a nation within a united Canada.
The surprise move in the House of Commons was a pre-emptive strike against the separatist Bloc Quebecois which is set to debate its own motion Thursday calling on Parliament to recognize Quebecers as a nation - but with no mention of Canada.
It also trumped the Liberals, who've been squabbling for weeks over their own resolution calling for recognition of Quebec as a nation and for creation of a task force to look at the best way to "officialize" that status.
The Liberal resolution, proposed by the Quebec wing of the party, has bitterly divided the eight leadership contenders and threatened to rupture the party's leadership convention next week. A meeting early Wednesday among the candidates and interim leader Bill Graham brought them no closer to a compromise that all could live with.
But Harper, acting less than 24 hours after the Bloc forced the issue onto the parliamentary agenda, appeared to find the compromise wording that eluded the Liberals.
He won a standing ovation in the Commons for his proposal - and the support of the Liberals and NDP.
Conservative strategists also hope Harper's decisive approach will restore some of the Tories' lustre in Quebec, making them a more palatable federalist alternative than the warring Liberals.
The Tories are currently languishing in third place in the polls in Quebec, after enjoying a brief honeymoon following last winter's election.
Until now, Harper has refused to use the word "nation" to describe Quebec, dismissing the debate as "semantics." He said Wednesday that he still believes it's not up to the federal government to define Quebec's identity but, since the Bloc forced the issue, he had to take a position.
"Our position is clear. Do the Quebecois form a nation within Canada? The answer is yes. Do the Quebecois form an independent nation? The answer is no and the answer will always be no."
He added that it may be a good thing that the Bloc forced the issue "because it reminds us that all Canadians have a say in the future of this country."
Harper said his motion simply recognizes historic reality while the intent of Bloc motion is more subversive: "It's not to recognize what Quebecers are, but what sovereigntists would like them to be.
"For the Bloc, it's not a matter of Quebec as a nation - the National Assembly has already pronounced itself on that. It's about separation. For them, 'nation' means 'separation."'
Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe angrily rejected Harper's motion, declaring that Quebecers will never accept conditions on their identity; they constitute a nation whether or not they stay in Canada.
"We are what we are. Full stop," he said.
NDP Leader Jack Layton said his party will support both the Bloc and government motions.
The Liberals were left in an awkward position. Graham said Liberal MPs will meet Thursday to discuss Harper's motion but he expressed confidence they will unite behind it.
However, at least one Liberal, Jim Karygiannis, said he would oppose it.
"Are we going to have a Greek nation within Canada, a Ukrainian nation within Canada, a Chinese nation within Canada? Sorry, Canada is the nation," Karygiannis asked.
Harper's motion will likely be debated and voted upon on Monday, before the vote on the Bloc motion and two days before the Liberal convention begins in Montreal.
Supporters of leadership front-runner Michael Ignatieff, the only contender to wholeheartedly endorse the Liberal resolution on Quebec nationhood, were jubilant, privately claiming Harper's move vindicates Ignatieff and guarantees he'll win the party crown.
Ignatieff has been hammered by his rivals, who've accused him of playing into separatist hands and leading the country down the path to another round of divisive constitutional wrangling.
Ignatieff himself took credit for getting the ball rolling on recognition of Quebec as a nation.
"I think it's a good day for Canada. That is to say, I'm proud of the way in which the Liberal party and my candidacy listened to Quebec," he said.
Harper's proposal also won the approval of Stephane Dion, the lone Quebec contender who has fiercely criticized the Liberal approach on the issue. He said Harper's motion is "very close" to a compromise he's been floating among Liberal leadership candidates.
Dion said Harper's recognition of Quebecers as a nation, is more in keeping with the sociological sense of the word, whereas the Liberal resolution is more ambiguous, suggesting Quebec is a "nation-state."
Bob Rae, Ignatieff's principal opponent, declined to comment on Harper's proposal.
"Mr. Rae wants to consider the implications of Mr. Harper's proposal and hear from caucus members today and tomorrow," said spokesman Alex Swann.
Excerpts from the address of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the House of Commons on Wednesday about Quebec and nationhood:
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the Bloc Quebecois will present the House with an unusual request that we here at the federal Parliament define the Quebecois nation.
As a consequence, with the support of the government and with the support of our party, I will be putting on the Notice Paper later today the following motion. . . .
That this House recognize that the Quebecois form a nation within a united Canada. . . .
Once again, the leader of the Bloc and his separatist friends are not concerned with defining who Quebecers are but rather what they want them to become, a separate country.
The separatists do not need the Parliament of Canada to define what is meant by the sociological termination. My preference has been well known. I believe that this is not the job of the federal Parliament. It is the job of the legislature of Quebec, but the Bloc Quebecois has asked us to define this and perhaps that is a good thing, because it reminds us that all Canadians have a say in the future of this country.
Having been asked by the Bloc to define the Quebecois, we must take a position. Our position is clear. Do the Quebecois form a nation within Canada? The answer is yes. Do the Quebecois form an independent nation? The answer is no, and the answer will always be no, because Quebecers of all political persuasions, from Cartier and Laurier to Mulroney and Trudeau, have led this country, and millions like them of all political persuasions have helped to build it.
With their English-and French-speaking fellow citizens, and people drawn from all nationalities of this earth, they have been part of making this country what it is, the greatest country in the world.
To millions more who live in a dangerous and dividing world, this country is a shining example of the harmony and unity to which all peoples are capable and to which all humanity should aspire.
I say to my federalist colleagues and I also say to the separatist side that we here will do what we must, what our forefathers have always done to preserve this country, Canada, strong, united, independent and free.
