Canada Recognized Quebec As Nation Within Canada
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[edit] Abstract
The Canadian Prime Minister, along with two of the three opposition parties agreed yesterday to a motion in the house that officially recognizes that Quebeckers form a non independant nation within Canada.
[edit] Details
In a surprise move yesterday, Steven Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada put forth a motion in the House of Commons to recognize Quebeckers as a nation within Canada. Harper was explicit in pointing out that under his motion while it was recognized as a nation within Canada, Quebec was not and never will be recognized as an independant nation separate from Canada.
The announcement came in the middle of a growing movement amoung Quebeckers and their supporters to have their 'distinctiveness' officially recognized. Harper's motion does just that, while at the same time ruling out any changes to the Canadian constitution - which is most likely intended to put the rest of English speaking Canada at ease.
However, despite the unusal support of the 2 major opposition parties for Harper's motion (giving the motion enough support to be adopted) Gilles Duceppe, leader of the federal Bloc Québécois party, was against the motion. He argued that by adding the condition that the nation of Quebec existed within a unified Canada, Harper was trying to pull the wool over the eyes of Canadians. Duceppe introduced his own motion in the house today, which recognizes Quebeckers as a nation "that is currently within Canada."
The difference between motions seems trivial at first. But Harper's motion was intended to recognize Quebec as an inseparable part of Canada, while Duceppe's motion sees Quebec as a nation that happans to currently co-exist with Canada now - the implication being that one day it may exist as a nation apart from Canada.
Having hard the support of the other 2 major opposition parties in the house, it is now hard to imagine that Duceppe's motion with be received with much support. Instead, it is more likely a political manouver by Duceppe
