Quebec as a nation within Canada? Options

[AngelinaTaylor]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper took the country by surprise this week when he moved to recognize that Quebecers make up a nation, but his decision was anything but sudden.

The debate as to whether to make the overture to Quebec had been percolating within the Prime Minister's inner circle for some months. By this week, the main question facing Conservative strategists had become not if but when Harper would drop his bombshell.

The voyage that took the Conservative government to Wednesday's startling destination really started last June 24 in Quebec City. At the end of that day's cabinet retreat, Harper ducked media questions as to whether Quebec was a nation. Within hours, the Conservatives found themselves at odds with Premier Jean Charest and embroiled in a Quebec storm for the first time since their election victory.

At the time, the Quebec ministers closed ranks around the Prime Minister. But in private, at least one of them gave his advisers a heads-up that Harper risked a public split with part or all of his Quebec caucus on the issue.

At a dinner attended by a handful of provincial and federal ministers from Quebec that same holiday weekend, the Conservatives were warned that they should not hope to navigate through another federal campaign without taking a stance on the province's status.

The Prime Minister's original instinct had been to stay out of that particular fray. But as the debate took on new life under the impetus of the Liberal leadership campaign this fall, that preferred option became less and less realistic.

It also became increasingly apparent that if he had to step in, Harper would choose his Quebec future over his Reform Party past.

For those who paid attention — and there were not many — the signs that Harper was leaning toward aligning his position with that of Charest were there to see. As the Liberals bickered over Quebec, two senior Conservative ministers, Lawrence Cannon and Jean-Pierre Blackburn, publicly endorsed the concept.

Not only were they not reined in by one of the most controlling PMO in recent memory, but Harper himself declined to take shots at those — such as Michael Ignatieff — who were promoting the idea.

When the Prime Minister got wind of an upcoming Bloc Québécois motion on Quebec's national character earlier this week, he knew he would have to make a move. Anything less than decisive action would precipitate his government in the kind of existential crisis that was dividing the Liberal party, as well as hand the Bloc a huge stick with which to beat federalist candidates over the head in Quebec in the next campaign.

In classical Harper style, the decision was a surprise even to some of those who were the most directly concerned by it. At least one Quebec minister woke up Wednesday morning wondering if he would have to resign from cabinet later that day to avoid being forced to oppose the Bloc motion.

But even as he was keeping many senior Conservatives out of the loop, Harper was bringing others in.

The opposition leadership was consulted and Charest was informed.

The PMO also got in touch with Stéphane Dion, to feel him out on the wording of the motion. Dion suggested adding some qualifiers to the word nation, but eventually agreed that he could support the government text.

(But if Conservative strategists assumed that Dion was the leadership candidate most likely to oppose the motion, they were wrong. When interim Liberal leader Bill Graham tried to broker a deal on a Liberal resolution dealing with the same topic on Wednesday morning, it was Bob Rae who proved least amenable to a compromise.)

Still, in a matter of less than 24 hours and in the midst of heavy flak from most non-Quebec media quarters, Harper managed to craft a comprehensive tripartite federalist consensus. At this point, Conservative strategists expect that most if not all government MPs will support the Prime Minister's motion, along with the NDP and a solid majority of Liberals.

But time is also of the essence.

All day yesterday, the federalist parties scrambled to bring about a quick vote on the government motion. One hope was to get it adopted before the Bloc's text comes up for a vote. Another was to make the Liberal resolution on the same topic moot before the opening of the convention next week. The main objective is to get the discussion over with as quickly as possible.

For, in this rare show of agreement, Liberals and Conservatives concur in the sense that the safest way to embrace Quebec as a nation without it turning into a kiss of death for their parties in the rest of Canada is to get it over with as quickly as possible.

I know we don't have many Canadians, but I decided to post this anyway.

What do you think of Quebec becoming a "nation within Canada"? Would it change anything? I think his motives are pretty clear.. seeing how he has a minority government.

[*mona lisa*]

I saw this headline in the Toronto Star today. Honestly, I don't know how I feel about it. I'm indifferent toward Quebec but I think this issue has been going on for so long that it's good to see it resolved. I don't see why they were urging to make Quebec a separate nation. Can't they still be attached to the Queen without having to become a separate nation?

I don't know. I don't understand politics.

[kimmytree]

I remember my dad talking about that a few years ago. They seem to speak more French than the rest of the country, and seem to be able to support themselves.

But that would be kinda weird though, cutting off the rest of Eastern part from Western canada.

[angelrevelation]

^ yea, it'd kind of be like how Alaska is separated from the US, just... on a much larger scale. I find it weird.

Hasn't Quebec always wanted to separate? They haven't so far. My dad said if they did, they'd go broke, so they can't.