Liberal Leadership Candidate Gerard Kennedy Speaks Out Against Quebec Motion
Posted November 27, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Kennedy, who’s currently running in third place in the race behind frontrunner Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae, argued that a motion recognizing Quebec as a nation within Canada, introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons last week, is potentially very damaging to the country.
“It’s a wedge for future politics by Mr. Harper,” the Liberal candidate said hours before a vote on the matter.
“This is not a small thing – this is about the identity of the country. It should not be played games with and I will not go along with that.”
The PM’s shocking and controversial resolution was in response to a motion initially put forth by the Quebec wing of the Liberal party and then by the separatist Bloc Quebecois. The Bloc motion asked that Quebecers be recognized as a nation but didn’t mention Canada.
Kennedy challenged the motion, saying that the concept of a “nation” isn’t well defined.
“How will it inform our challenge to bring this country together when there are four or five interpretations possible?” he said.
“This puts us into word-smithing, into semantics, and it puts us into games playing that I think has harmed this country in the past and should not be part of a future.”
The former Ontario education minister, who doesn’t hold a seat in the House, is the only leadership contender not backing the motion – Ignatieff came out early in the campaign in favour of the idea, while Rae’s and fellow competitor Stephane Dion’s support of it has been tepid.
Kennedy has called the debate “an extension of the old argument”, though admitted he didn’t expect his opposition would sway the Commons to vote against the motion – which has wide support amongst the parties.
The Conservatives, most Liberals, the New Democrats, and even the Bloc have said they’d support the motion when it comes to a vote late Monday.
