Quebec adopts motion backing 'the Québécois' as a nation

Charest quotes Sir John A. Macdonald in calling vote a celebration of Canada

RHÉAL SÉGUIN
Dec 1, 2006
Globe & Mail

QUEBEC -- After three days of fiery partisan debate, the Quebec National Assembly agreed on the wording of a motion that was adopted unanimously yesterday formally supporting Parliament's recognition of "the Québécois" as a nation.

Premier Jean Charest called it a celebration of Canada. In a vibrant plea for national unity, he quoted one of confederation's founding fathers, Sir John A. Macdonald.

"The long hand of history reached back as Sir John A. Macdonald said 150 years ago about French Canadians, now Quebeckers: 'Treat them as a nation and they will act as a free people generally do, generously. Treat then as a faction and they become factious,' '' Mr. Charest said, quoting a letter Macdonald wrote in 1856 to Montreal Gazette journalist Brown Chamberlain.

"If Sir John A. Macdonald was able . . . to recognize that this country would only be possible on the condition that we recognize, that we respect and acknowledge each other, well, the House of Commons and its leaders were right 150 years after to say to Sir John A. Macdonald: We celebrate the spirit of your invitation and, as we do, we celebrate Canada itself," Mr. Charest said.

Canada would not be what it is today without the Quebec nation, he added, dismissing those who refuse to accept Quebec for what it is.

Parti Québécois Leader André Boisclair underscored the purely "symbolic" nature of the House of Commons motion.

"Quebec should not be afraid and I think Quebec is on the threshold of taking the beau risque [beautiful risk] of autonomy," Mr. Boisclair said in the National Assembly, referring to former PQ premier René Lévesque's attempt at reconciling the sovereigntist vision with federalism.

"There is an opportunity, a spirit of reconciliation that is clearly being expressed by the federal government."

The PQ leader reminded his federalist opponents that Quebec has yet to sign the 1982 Canadian Constitution and that every effort to date to convince Quebeckers to become full-fledged members of the federation has failed.

Perhaps so, said Action démocratique du Québec Leader Mario Dumont, but that shouldn't stop Quebec from defining itself within Canada. He said it should adopt its own constitution that would reinforce the province's autonomy.

Mr. Dumont said Mr. Harper's commitment to limit Ottawa's spending power will mark another important step in Quebec's quest for greater autonomy within Canada.

"We should not be paralyzed by our fear of failure," the ADQ Leader said.

The debate outlined the strategy all three parties intend to employ in the next provincial election campaign, expected next year, when the recognition of "the Québécois" as a nation will become the centrepiece in the debate between federalists and sovereigntists.