oppose the "nation" resolution
posted by fresh @ 9:32 p.m.
2 Comments
Sunday, November 26, 2006
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BRAVO MR. KENNEDY!!!
Grit leadership hopeful Kennedy bucks tide, opposes Quebec nation resolution
By JOAN BRYDEN
OTTAWA (CP) - Liberal leadership hopeful Gerard Kennedy has decided to buck the tide of political opinion, coming out against a parliamentary motion recognizing Quebecers as a nation within a united Canada.
The Canadian Press has learned that Kennedy will issue a statement Monday opposing the motion, just as the House of Commons prepares to debate the surprise resolution introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week.
In so doing, Kennedy will become the only Liberal leadership contender to reject the motion, which has been embraced with varying degrees of unease by his seven rival candidates, Harper's Conservatives, most Liberal MPs and the New Democrats. Even the separatist Bloc Quebecois has come on side.
A senior Kennedy source said the third-place contender believes the motion is irresponsible and wrong for Canada.
Kennedy believes the motion raises expectations of eventual constitutional entrenchment of Quebec nationhood without defining what is meant by the word nation. Moreover, he is worried that the motion will deepen divisions in the country, the source said.
Kennedy, a former Ontario education minister, does not have a seat in the Commons but is issuing his statement in advance of the vote on Harper's motion, expected late Monday.
Kennedy's decision could give him a boost at this week's leadership convention among Liberals who are adamantly opposed to recognizing Quebec nationhood but have no other outlet for their concern.
Leadership front-runner Michael Ignatieff has enthusiastically endorsed Harper's motion, claiming that the push to recognize Quebec's nationhood began with his campaign. His principal rival, Bob Rae, and the lone Quebec contender, Stephane Dion, have grudgingly supported the motion despite reservations.
Kennedy has only two per cent support among Quebec delegates to the leadership convention in Montreal and, therefore, little to lose by distinguishing himself from his rivals.
He could also be hailed as a hero by the so-called Trudeau federalists in the party, who agree with the late Liberal icon Pierre Trudeau's adamant rejection of anything that smacks of special status for Quebec. The former prime minister's sons, Justin and Alexandre Trudeau, have spoken out against the motion. Justin last week endorsed Kennedy.
Ignatieff started the debate over Quebec's identity by coming out early in the campaign in favour of recognizing the province as a nation and eventually enshrining that status in the Constitution. The Quebec wing of the party subsequently proposed a resolution, to be considered at this week's convention, recognizing Quebec as a nation within Canada and calling for creation of a task force to advise the next leader on the best way to "officialize" that status.
That resolution sparked a ferocious debate within the party. Ignatieff supported it but his rivals, particularly Rae, Dion and Kennedy, opposed it, fearing it would lead the country into another bout of corrosive constitutional wrangling.
Last week, the Bloc tried to drive the wedge deeper by introducing a motion calling on the Commons to recognize Quebecers as a nation - with no mention of Canada. Harper pre-empted the Bloc by introducing his own counter-motion.
Harper's carefully chosen wording - specifying that the Quebecois, not the province, form a nation "within a united Canada" - won over Dion, Rae and most Liberal MPs.
The fate of the more controversially worded Liberal resolution remains to be settled and the issue could yet rupture the party's leadership convention.
This petition is pretty childish. Trust Kinsella to try to draw attention to himself.
Again, very very childish.
Read Chantel Hebert on this issue.
Kennedy is simply playing a strategic move here - he took long enough to make up his mind - I guess Justin had to tell him what to say.
Trudeau years were over 40 years ago and if Kenneday is for renewal as he says (doesn't really go into the depth of renewal) this 40 year OLD Trudeaumania is a funny way to show it.
Yup, Kennedy, just let the separatist movement fester - now that really dealing with it (NOT).
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