Référendum III

Sovereignty

Harper expected to take hard line on referendum

His private member's bill a decade ago makes the Clarity Act look mild


Harper's approach could make Chrétien's post-referendum Plan B smell like a bouquet of roses. Yesterday, Le Devoir columnist Michel David quoted Pierre Dubuc's book - Le vrai visage de Stephen Harper - with a reminder that the current prime minister had tabled his own hardline member's bill in 1906. It would have allowed Ottawa to hold its own referendum on secession on the same day as Quebec's, with a two-part question including one on the possible partitioning of "communities" from Quebec.

Au cas où



Les fonctionnaires du Conseil privé sont allés un peu vite en affaires quand ils ont prédit la victoire du PQ aux prochaines élections et la tenue d'un autre référendum. Le cahier d'information destiné au nouveau ministre des Affaires intergouvernementales, Michael Chong, dont La Presse a fait sa manchette mardi, reflétait la situation qui prévalait avant l'arrivée des conservateurs au pouvoir, alors que l...

Federal Tories would be smart to plan for PQ victory

Charest has made gains, but wise bets would be on Boisclair to form government


The first of today's two quotations is attributed to American writer Damon Runyon. "The race is not (always) to the swift, nor the battle to the strong," Runyon quoted from the Bible's book of Ecclesiastes. Then he added: "But that's the way to bet." So, with the Parti Quebecois having led the Liberals in the polls for more than two years, and still leading in spite of Andre Boisclair, the way to bet the nex...

Danger de dérapage dans la « guerre civile »

Le temps des épigones



Non, à bien y penser, les dangers de dérapage dans la « guerre civile » ne sont pas que de vaines spéculations académiques.