Quebec Canada Government

In the first legal ruling on Canada's most divisive issue, the Supreme Court said Thursday that Quebec--home to a powerful separatist movement--cannot secede without seeking the federal government's consent. But the high court left open the possibility of a breakaway arranged at the bargaining table. It said federal officials would be obligated to negotiate if, as separatist leaders hope, a clear majority of voters in the mostly French-speaking province approved secession in a referendum.

Quebec's pro-independence government was reelected Monday but won only 43% of the popular vote, probably dampening its zest for holding a secession referendum soon. The outcome means a new term of up to five years for Quebec's charismatic premier, Lucien Bouchard, who says he will call a referendum on independence whenever he feels the separatist side can win. But he may need to wait awhile for what he calls the "winning conditions."

Quebec's separatists Tuesday were contemplating election results that exposed weaknesses in their movement and yielded a measure of optimism to Canadians--and Americans--who hope to see Canada remain united. The Bloc Quebecois, the separatist party in the Canadian federal Parliament, won 44 of Quebec's 75 seats and 39% of the popular vote in the mostly French-speaking province in Monday's election. But that was down from the 54 seats and 49% that the party received in the last election, in 1993.

The Bloc Quebecois, a Quebec separatist party that forms the official opposition in Canada's Parliament, chose former Communist Gilles Duceppe as its new leader. The 49-year-old won the leadership with 53% of the ballots mailed in by party members. About 50,000 of the Bloc's 113,000 members voted. In his acceptance speech to the convention in Montreal, Duceppe called for a "dialogue of equals" between Quebec and the rest of Canada.

That cracking sound coming from north of the U.S. border isn't ice breaking in the spring thaw. It's the splintering of Canada's body politic. Members of Parliament return to work in Ottawa on Tuesday after an extended mid-winter recess and are still without a consensus on the best strategy for battling Quebec's resurgent separatists. Is it time to get tough with the secessionists, even at the risk of violence? Should the government draw a line in the snow and dare the separatists to cross it?

For a quarter of a century, Quebec delegations have worked as sort of shadow embassies and consulates to their Canadian counterparts. They have served to remind the world of Quebec's distinct place as the center of French language and culture in North America, to promote trade and investment, and, when a separatist government is in power in Quebec City as it is now, they tout the province's aspirations toward independence from the rest of Canada.

The first snowstorm of the season slammed unexpectedly into this city last week, and the descent of winter meshed with the sepulchral mood in much of Montreal. Five weeks after Quebec voters rejected separation from Canada by a margin of less than 2%, the wounds inflicted by the campaign continue to fester. Anticipating another referendum by the end of 1997, Quebeckers are digging in for an extended period of political trench warfare.