Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 29, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Sunday free october 1995 a5 a hard question to answer rpm the Side Sovereign lists on the Brink of their dream 0ui shall yes Side believes by Dan Lett National reporter Montreal to under stand the difference Between Quebec and Cana try to understand the differ ence Between pubs and says Eric a staunch separatist and oui organizer in a South Shore Montreal said neighbourhood pubs in Toronto were the place to be when he lived and worked there for sever Al years As a they were the Welcom ing places where you could go for a Beer and a few games of Pool As the saying every body knows your couture pubs like that dont exist in Quebec where the cafe is the place to solitary contemplation or intimate conversations Are More common there than the raucous camaraderie of the anglophone different feeling we have great but we dont get said the feeling in both places is very its these Little differences that illustrate the larger cultural differences Between Quebec and Cana the ones that motivate couture and Many of his fellow Sovereign lists to seek a new and As was the Case in 1980 when Rene Levesque last led the Sovereign list troops into the stakes Are incredibly face to yet Miles a1 in going to be a father in a few couture i look at that and i you have to believe in a new you really have to want your kids to live in a country that will resemble what we on the South where separatist sentiments run a Little higher than on the Island of there is still a sense the referendum is a horse race too close to there is a growing sense among Many Sovereign lists in the province that this thing they have sought for so Long May be coming to the Public opinion polls show the referendum race in a dead bringing Cou Ture and other supporters closer to the reality of their own country than Ever unsettling Prospect the Prospect of a no vote both ers like couture Vicki who has fought More than 20 years for if her Side Fortier said it will be the end of her involve ment in on the other is interested to see How he will feel if the yes Side in going to turn 30 soon and Ive been fighting All of my life since i was expect ing a waiting for it to couture you you read and then you work to make it Hap but i wonder what it feels you finally and then what then you have a whole new fight on your hands because youre not just talking about the idea of inde youre talking about the couture is confident that if the yes Side can there is a peaceful future for because even in the creation of a new coun Many Sovereign lists still have affection for Dan free press couture and Mother Vicki Fortier have been fighting a Long time for Quebec now they May get i want to be in my own a Friendly country where i feel at but i think Canada will still be a great a great place to even if Quebec int q q q it has been said often by federalists since the outset of the Quebec referendum Campaign that the Burden of proof in this contest would rest with the Sovereign list yes it was up to the other federalists to persuade Quebe cers it was better to leave Canada than to their the yes Campaign seems to have done just going into the final weekend of the Public opinion polls show support for the yes Side among decided voters is anywhere from 44 per cent to 46 per the no Campaign has the support of Between 40 and 41 per while it is still unclear where the 12 to 14 per cent of undecided Vot ers will throw their analysts and pundits alike believe the Sovereign list forces in Quebec have been successful in manoeuvring themselves closer to separa Tion than Ever the yes Campaign is a Puree of Many different each one aimed at a different part of the Quebec Early a decision was made by Campaign leaders Lucien Leader of the bloc que Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau and action Democrat ique Leader Mario Dumont that a Kinder vision of sovereignty would be offered to the instead of a Stark break with a partnership Between a Sovereign Quebec and the rest of Canada was pro in the Bill that launched the Parizeau proposed a partnership that would allow que Beers to retain their Canadian citizenship and the continued use of Canadian Curren and preferential Trade and com Merce despite cries from Ottawa that such a partnership could not be done because it would be unacceptable to the rest of the the yes Campaign forged talking of creating a relationship much like the european common the yes Campaign really believes in this idea of the partner said University of Montreal political scientist Stephane they make much of the fact that jobs in the rest of Canada Are tied to Trade with Quebec and that no one would throw that it has been a very powerful argument for the in Dion said Bouchard and Parizeau have developed a powerful tag team Persona that the no forces have been unable to whose near death experience last fall has made him a Quebec is the heart of the projecting the sense of Fate and who stepped aside mid Campaign to allow Bouchard to take the represents Sta Dion while federalists have he has appeared Calm and calculating on the practical possibilities of an economic and political Dion it has also become Clear that Bouchard and Parizeau have some thing that Levesque did not a Litany of failed Federal attempts at satisfying Quebec constitutional Concordia University political scientist Daniel Salee said if any thing is it is that a solid majority of Quebe cers want change and want a new Deal within the Canadian Salee said there is also a prevail ing notion among Quebec fran co phones Given the past failures to bring Quebec fully into the perhaps it is Worth taking the risk and embracing the yes in the people who voted yes were All but today we have a lot of people who Are going to vote but not because they Are committed said they Are convinced they have nothing left to there is nothing left to do but try the no federalists flounder toward finish line its been Tough going for the non Campaign by Dan Lett National reporter Montreal Marcel Parent is going through a very stressful is just finishing Sev eral years work on his doctoral thesis in political science at the University of and just last weekend he got As if All that we rent he has taken on what in political terms can Only be described As a suicide a diehard Parent is organizer of the no Campaign in one of the most militant sover eight is regions of Montre the Mercier this working class neighbor Hood in the Northeast part of the Island of Montreal is nearly 80 per cent French speaking and has been staunchly Sovereign list since 1976 when the Premier Robert Bourassa was Defeated there and his government lost to the parti in elections Liberal candidates have never gotten within votes of identifying yourself in Mercier As a federalist is somewhat like hiking through a Forest with Antlers on your head during Moose during the referendum Cam Parent said his volunteers have been verbally and physically abused while last a zealous Sovereign list charged into the no campaigns modest storefront office on Denis Street and set fire to a for Many of youll find this is a rather unfree holy said who lives in the friendlier federalist confines of notre Dame de Grace in West but it comes Down to this if things do not go the Way i could i live with myself for not having done 100 per cent stealing a few minutes for thoughtful reflection in the chaos of the no Campaign the slim Parent looks hag Gard and exhausted from the last five under the Glare of 60watt Light Parent watches As volunteers scan voters lists for every single no vote they can squeeze out of worried like Many que Beers on both sides of the Cam is worried about what this referendum will do to the province regardless of the the referendum has split parents with two members voting yes and three others voting it is one of the Saddest things that this causes a lot of divisions among people of the same the same and sometimes in the same no matter what the it will exact a q q q history was on their the Basic demographic profile of que Bec and the divisions of English and other voters worked in their everything in the no Campaign universe was As one famous federalist once to unfold As it Only 24 hours away from a referendum the question is what happened to the no Campaign positive numbers in As the referendum Campaign was about to get under the Basic numbers looked positive for Quebec is a province that is 80 per cent French speaking and while a majority of francophone support there Haven been enough to outweigh the combined vote of pro federalist fran anglophones and others whose first language is neither French nor despite this inherent advantage heading into tomorrows the latest polls released Over the week end have shown the race is a dead in losing the political analysts believe the no committee has shown it suffered from several key there was a fundamental prob Lem with the orientation of the no Concordia University political scientist Daniel Salee noted that the Campaign was staked to the word the Nega Tive the no Campaign also stressed several issues that the other Side was offering not a new and that separation would destroy Canada and Salee said non and the Dan free press Parent rear and volunteers outside non Headquarters in Tough Mercier negative imagery that accompanied it became the perfect Symbol for the separatists to remind que Beers of How they have been rejected by the rest of it allowed the other Side to recall the exclusion of Quebec from the 1982 Constitution Patria Tion and the fail ures of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown constitutional Salee the intrinsic negative ele ments of the federalist Campaign have angered Many soft nationalist voters Fra Coph ones who want to stay in Canada but Only with a new Deal in the fed this negative image was further complicated by another profound problem in the federalist Campaign a Lack of communication Between federalist forces inside and outside this Lack of communication became most evident when que Bec Liberal Leader Daniel Johnson and prime minister Chretien tripped Over each others words on the second last weekend of the ref desperate to show Quebe cers there was something positive to be gained from a no Johnson promised constitutional change and recognition of Quebec As a Dis Tinct within Chretien had lived up to Sovereign list expectations when he said no to Johnsons Marcandre head of be Groupe Des a pro Feder Alist Quebec lobby group and a member of the no executive com conceded in an interview that at critical moments in the Campaign there had been poor communication Between the War rooms in Montreal and sensing the federalist Campaign in Johnsons come suddenly the no Campaign put out an in the final week of the Cam federalist forces in Ottawa began to float the idea of having canadians flood the province for a Las ditch show of support and affection for it was an idea that did not go Over Well at Blanchard said that at a federalist rally in Montreal last Johnson was at first reluctant to appear on stage with three Young federalists from outside fearing it would have a backlash effect with the was and thus support for the Assembly of in Montreal began to there is Hope now that the Emo Tion of fridays rally May be a determining Factor for Many undecided voters who Are looking for a reason to jump onto either band its difficult to say what effect its had on but Canada has come out to Quebec and nobody expected said ;