Separatists Rekindle Debate On Sovereignty For Quebec

Reigniting debate on the breakup of Canada, Quebec separatists on Thursday presented the question that gives voters of the French-speaking province a choice later this year about whether to claim independence.

The referendum question, introduced in the provincial legislature by the separatist Parti Quebecois government, alludes to future economic and political links with Canada.

But federalists retorted that there could be no assurances on such links if the referendum - expected Oct. 30 - endorses sovereignty for the French-speaking province.

The 43-word question is more succinct than a rambling 121-word version defeated by a 60-40 margin in a 1980 referendum.

The new question reads: “Do you agree that Quebec should become sovereign, after having made a formal offer to Canada for a new economic and political partnership, within the scope of the bill respecting the future of Quebec and of the agreement signed on June 12, 1995?”

The June date refers to an agreement by Quebec’s three main sovereignty parties to ensure that the referendum, while focusing on independence, also would stress continued association with Canada.

After the Parti Quebecois, Bloc Quebecois and Action Democratique agreed to the strategy, opinion polls showed a surge of support for sovereignty. The most recent polls show voters evenly divided.”It is only through confusion and obfuscation that the PQ believe they can trick Quebeckers into voting yes,” he told a news conference.

Legislative debate is scheduled to start Monday on a bill outlining the conditions under which Quebec would become sovereign. Such conditions probably would include keeping the Canadian dollar and allowing Quebeckers to hold dual citizenship.

Quebec’s pro-independence premier, Jacques Parizeau, told the provincial assembly that a second referendum to endorse a Quebec constitution would be held if the pro-separation side won.

The referendum campaign began in earnest Wednesday with the ceremonial presentation of a proposed declaration of independence.

A wet-eyed Parizeau applauded the reading of the declaration by poet Gilles Vigneault and novelist Marie Laberge. A crowd of 1,000 sovereigntists attended the ceremony in Quebec City.

“We, the people of Quebec, through the voice of our national assembly, proclaim: Quebec is a sovereign country,” read Vigneault and Laberge in French. “Continuing within Canada would be tantamount to condemning ourselves to languish and to debasing our very identity.”

About 85 percent of Quebec’s 6.9 million people speak French.