Two Separatist Strands

THE separatist cause espoused by the Quebec Liberation Front is nothing new either to the province or Canada.

The idea of an independent, French-dominated Quebec goes back to 1759, when the British defeated the French on the Plains of Abraham and made Canada a part of the empire. Over the next 200 years, the separatist notion reappeared periodically but never really became a movement.

In the 1960s, however, the idea began to take firm hold. Part of this was due to Charles de Gaulle's fiery brand of French nationalism, which he recommended to Quebeckers during a memorable visit in 1967. Partly it was due to nationalistic and ethnic stirrings being felt round the world.

Early in the 1960s, Quebec's Premier Jean Lesage vowed to make Quebeckers the maitres chez nous (masters in our own house) within the Federation. By 1968, Rene Levesque, once a member of Lesage's Cabinet, helped found the Parti Quebecois, which demanded political separation from Canada. Last spring, Levesque's party won 24% of Quebec's vote in provincial elections.

Levesque and his colleagues are moderates committed to electoral democracy. At the same time that his ideas were gaining prominence a different breed of separatist was developing: disaffected radicals committed to violent action. In 1962, these activists created the Front de Liberation du Quebec. They systematically began planting bombs in mailboxes, robbing banks, setting fire to government buildings. Kidnaping is their latest weapon. "There is no difference between the F.L.Q. and the liberation movement of Palestine, of Viet Nam, of Black Power," says F.L.Q. Leader Charles Gagnon.

Moderate and radical separatists share one goal for Quebec: total political separation from Canada. They complain that in predominantly English-speaking Canada (16,000,000, to 6,000,000 French Canadians) they are no more than second-class citizens. Too much wealth, Quebeckers complain, is concentrated in English-controlled Ontario, where roughly one-third of Canada's manufacturing industries are situated. There is doubt, however, that Quebec could develop its bountiful natural resources quickly enough to go it alone at any time in the immediate future. Still, as a recent terrorist manifesto put it, "We have had our fill of promises of jobs and prosperity while we always remain the cowering servants and bootlickers of the big shots." The moderates might agree with the sentiment, but their similarity to the terrorists ends at that point. The ballot box may be discouragingly slow, but at least it is not stained with blood.

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