Canadian Vote Hurts Quebec Separatists

Quebec's separatist leaders spoke bravely after Canada's national election, but it had to be galling to see their archenemy grinning through the indisputable front-page headline of Montreal's best-selling tabloid: "Chrétien Stronger Than Ever."

The separatist Bloc Quebecois managed to gain a slightly larger share of the province's votes — 40 percent — than it did in 1997. But the anti-separatist Liberal Party of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien vaulted past the Bloc with 44 percent, and unexpectedly pulled even in its share of Quebec's parliamentary seats.

"For the federalists in Quebec, it's been a very, very important day," Chrétien told a news conference Tuesday. "This is an opportunity for Quebeckers to take their rightful place in the administration of the entire country."

Chrétien is the nemesis of the separatist movement in part because he is a native Quebecker. He easily won re-election in his home district in the factory town of Shawinigan, and nationwide the Liberals swept to a third straight majority government.

The Bloc Quebecois burst onto the parliamentary scene in 1993, winning 54 of Quebec's 75 seats. It slipped to 44 seats in 1997, and emerged from Monday's voting with only 37, the same as the Liberals.

"The Bloc is reaching the end of the line," said Jean Charest, who heads the provincial version of the Liberal Party. "More and more people are questioning its role."

As with any election in Quebec, Monday's balloting was scrutinized for its possible effect on separatist plans for another referendum on seceding from Canada. Twice before, the mostly French-speaking province has voted on secession: the separatists lost badly in 1980 and by a tiny margin in 1995.

The Bloc's leader, Gilles Duceppe, admitted to disappointment over Monday's results, but insisted the push for secession would continue.

The election, he told a news conference, "was not a referendum on sovereignty."

The most popular separatist leader, Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard, also tried to be optimistic, though he said nothing about a timetable for a referendum.

"Sovereignty in Quebec is extremely alive," he told reporters. "Nothing is settled on this question."

Duceppe and Charest agreed that one reason for the Bloc's weak showing had little to do with separatism. Many voters in the Quebec City region, where the Bloc lost three seats, are angry because the separatist provincial government is trying to force suburbs into a merger.

In Le Journal de Montreal, the tabloid that pictured a triumphant Chrétien on its front page, columnist Michel Auger suggested the Bloc was running out of steam.

"It can no longer pretend to be preparing for a new referendum," he wrote. "It needs to ask some very serious questions about its long-term future."

Though the Liberals scored a psychological victory over the Bloc, both parties ere able to increase their vote share from 1997 because of a sharp falloff in support for the once powerful but now weak Progressive Conservative Party.

The Conservatives — who share the Liberals' opposition to separatism — took 22 percent of Quebec's votes in 1997, when they were led by the charismatic Charest. But the party received less than 6 percent Monday while winning a single parliamentary seat in the province.