Harper challenges sovereigntists' claim to Fete nationale
Last Updated: Sunday, June 25, 2006 | 10:04 AM ET
CBC News
Prime Minister Stephen Harper called on Quebec sovereigntists to look at history for the true meaning of St-Jean-Baptiste Day, as the province celebrated the day officially known as Fête nationale.
While attending a barbecue with supporters in St-Joseph-de-Beauce, Que., on Saturday, Harper appeared to challenge the right of sovereigntists to claim the June 24 holiday as their own political event.
"This Fête nationale was being celebrated long before the Quiet Revolution — and even before Confederation," he said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, left, and federal Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, centre, chat during a community event at St-Joseph-de-Beauce, Que., on Saturday.
(Clement Allard/Canadian Press)
June 24 took on political overtones after the province went through the rapid changes — including the secularization and sovereignty movements — known as the "Quiet Revolution" of the 1960s. In the following decade, the provincial government made St-Jean-Baptiste Day the official national holiday of Quebec and a statutory holiday.
But the day had been celebrated for centuries as the feast of John the Baptist and Pope Pius X in 1908 designated John the Baptist as the patron saint of French Canadians.
"All Canadians can share in the pride Quebecers feel for having preserved and developed their unique identity within Canada," Harper said. "Quebec pride is not the enemy or disavowal of Canadian patriotism."
A three-year-old girl waves the Quebec flag at the close of the Fête nationale parade in Montreal on Saturday.
(Ian Barrett/Canadian Press)
A day earlier, after holding a cabinet meeting in Quebec City, Harper provoked controversy when he refused to describe Quebec as a nation. He said the issue was a "semantic debate that doesn't serve any purpose."
The refusal drew criticism from other federal leaders.
Ottawa recognizes other nations: Duceppe
Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said he didn't understand why the prime minister couldn't recognize Quebec as a nation when he recognizes other unique Canadian communities.
"He recognizes the Acadian Nation and Canada's First Nations, why not the Quebec nation?" he asked.
"You don't have to be a sovereigntist to say it — even Jean Charest says it."
'We do form a nation': Charest
Charest, Quebec's Liberal premier whose birthday falls on June 24, has forged closer ties with the Conservative prime minister.
But Charest made it clear that he holds a different view on the issue.
"As premier of Quebec, I certainly want to say loud and clear that we do form a nation," he said before attending a reception at Montreal's city hall on Saturday.
"That's an identity that belongs to us — we don't need permission to have it."
NDP Leader Jack Layton said he had no problem with the term "nation" applied to Quebec.
"You know, Canada is a strong country, and we can have a recognition of a nation of Quebec, la nation Québécoise," Layton said in Montreal.
Quebecers have been building their nation for 400 years in what is now Canada, he added.
