Plan To Make Canada More Like Belgium Politically

Conservative leader Stephen Harper's proposal to make Canada more like Belgium will result in long-term pain for Canada and play into the hands of separatists, warns a constitutional historian.

Mr. Harper's proposal"runs contrary to the idea of pan-Canadian duality and would create Quebec as the only homeland of francophones," argues Michael Behiels, a University of Ottawa professor.

And Prime Minister Paul Martin has helped, said Mr. Behiels.

"Behind all of this is the language of the prime minister." With"asymmetrical federalism," Mr. Martin is taking the path of least resistance. This new proposal from Mr. Harper takes it one further, he said.

"Before you know it, it will be on the separatist slope," said Mr. Behiels."He's playing into the hands" of Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe and the separatists.

In a speech in Quebec City on Friday, Mr. Harper said in Belgium,"federal authority is shared not only by geographical regions, but also according to linguistic communities."

He went on to suggest that the model could be adapted to Canada. The federal government could work with the provinces"and particularly with Quebec" to allow and recognize arrangements"more tailored to Quebec's needs, but in ways that strengthen the relationship between French-speaking Canadians across the country."

But Mr. Behiels said at the heart of the proposal is a clash of two different language models -- the Trudeauesque model that sees bilingualism as pan-Canadian and another model that would see French limited to one territory -- Quebec.

The model being proposed by Mr. Harper brings Canada back about 40 years to a time when Canada debated whether to create official language districts. And it threatens to reopen the Meech Lake can of worms, said Mr. Behiels, the author of the recently published Canada's Francophone Minority Communities: Constitutional Renewal and Winning of School Governance 1960-2000.

"What is the fool (Harper) doing? He is reopening a can of worms," said Mr. Behiels."To him it's all short-term gain. It may mean long-term pain. The government could fall on the budget in a matter of a few weeks."

The territorial model was rejected in 1969 as being totally impractical, said Mr. Behiels. It also threatened francophone minorities elsewhere in Canada, amounting to about a million people, including the Acadians of New Brunswick and francophone communities in Ontario and the west, he said.