Sarkozy wants better Quebec-Canada relations

Published Friday May 9th, 2008

French president's comments break tradition of 'non-interference' regarding Quebec's relationship with Canada

C11

THE CANADIAN PRESS

BENY-REVIERS, France - French President Nicolas Sarkozy mused yesterday that he'd like to help bring Quebec closer to the rest of Canada, a suggestion that will be sure to cause sovereigntist forces in the province to bristle.

Canada's Governor General Michaelle Jean delivers a speech as she and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, not seen, visit the Canadian military cemetery in Beny-Reviers, western France, yesterday, during the 63rd commemoration of the end of the Word War II.

In a stirring declaration of love toward Canada, Sarkozy said he would like to "bring together" Canada and La Belle Province.

France has traditionally had a policy of "non-interference but not indifference" toward the issue of Quebec sovereignty, though French leaders have occasionally strayed into awkward territory by appearing to endorse Quebec independence.

Sarkozy seemed intent on pushing the pendulum the other way, saying France doesn't want to ever have to choose between Canada and Quebec.

"You know we are very close to Quebec, but I'll tell you we also love Canada very much," Sarkozy told Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean as they paid homage to fallen Canadian soldiers from the Second World War.

"Our friendships and our loyalties do not oppose one another. We bring them together so each can understand what we have in common. We will turn toward the future so the future of Canada and France will be the future of two countries that are not only allies, but two friends."

The stage was set in March for Sarkozy's speech after former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin laid out the president's intentions.

"The president is against 'ni-ni'," Raffarin said, using French shorthand to refer to the government's longstanding policy of non-interference and non-indifference toward Quebec's independence.

"(Sarkozy) wants to get involved. He wants to participate."

In another strong signal toward Canada, Sarkozy made his declaration yesterday with Prime Minister Francois Fillon and several other top French officials at his side at the Canadian cemetery at Beny-Reviers in Normandy.

Sarkozy thanked Canada and the country's soldiers for making the "supreme sacrifice."

"And those who died here, no one asked them from which region (of Canada) they came," Sarkozy said.

"We knew from which country they came. We didn't even ask them which language they spoke."

Please Log In or Register FREE

You are currently not logged into this site. Please log in or register for a FREE ONE Account.

Logged in visitors may comment on articles, enter contests, manage home delivery holds and much more online. Your ONE Account grants you access to features and content across the entire CanadaEast Network of sites.

Comments (1)

All comments are subject to the site Terms of Use. For a full commenting tutorial click here.

Our editorial team relies on filtering technology and our visitor community to identify inappropriate comments. In the event that a site user has submitted offensive content that has evaded our filter, please select the option to Flag As Inappropriate presented within the comment. Thank you for helping to keep this site clean.

La Belle Province is not so belle when you live in it, lol.first they don't have the proper goverment to bring them closer,all they want from the federal gov is money, money , money and the hell with the rest of Canada. People here make it very clear they don't like english and complain all the time about people talking english but never anything about Islams or all other different people that live here that don't speak a word of english or french. I think it's time they realize that they need Canada much more than they think rather than try to tear it apart for what it would be worth to them.