By CAMPBELL CLARK AND DANIEL LEBLANC
Saturday, December 3, 2005, Page A13
The Globe and Mail
Liberal Leader Paul Martin made the high stakes gamble yesterday of declaring next January's vote a "referendum election" in Quebec even though his party is badly trailing the Bloc Québécois in opinion polls in the province.
With his statement, Mr. Martin has declared that a Bloc romp in the federal election would amount to a rejection of the country by Quebec voters. However, he is hoping to persuade federalists in the province to turn the page on the sponsorship scandal and vote Liberal.
The Bloc obtained 48.9-per cent of the popular vote in last year's election, taking 54 of the province's 75 seats. Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe, whose party has the support of about half the population in the polls, said he is aiming for an even larger share of the popular vote on Jan. 23.
The Liberals are raising the stakes to counter the promise of collaboration between Mr. Duceppe and Parti Québécois Leader André Boisclair in the federal campaign, in the next provincial election and in a possible referendum in 2008.
Speaking in French, Mr. Martin said that makes the federal vote "référendaire"-- effectively a plebiscite on national unity.
"I think it is really a referendum election," Mr. Martin told reporters in Toronto. "Certainly according to the Boisclair-Duceppe duo. They said it clearly, they said it [Thursday evening], that they had a pact between the two of them."
Mr. Martin's move is an attempt to squeeze other federalist parties out of the equation in Quebec.
"Quebeckers have a choice, a choice between a party devoted to destroying Canada, and us," Mr. Martin said.
Mr. Martin's predecessor, Jean Chrétien, regularly attempted to polarize the Quebec electorate along federalist-separatist lines, but with the Liberals weakened by the sponsorship scandal, the tactic is a gamble now. Mr. Duceppe has always refused to equate a federal election with a referendum on sovereignty, saying the political future of Quebec is a provincial matter.
He ridiculed Mr. Martin's assertion yesterday, wondering if he would start negotiating independence with Quebec Premier Jean Charest in the event of a strong Bloc showing.
"We don't make a decision on sovereignty in a federal election," Mr. Duceppe told reporters in Montreal.
He added that the real question is: "Do you still want Liberals, yes or no?"
Liberal officials insisted that federalist Quebeckers cannot abandon the Liberal Party. In an interview, Heritage Minister Liza Frulla said that the Bloc is attempting to bring down all federalist voices in Quebec to obtain momentum toward a third referendum.
"What we're telling people is that this is serious and they should take it seriously," she said. "This vote could have grave consequences."
Political scientist Christian Dufour of the National School of Public Administration said he is surprised that the Liberals are playing the referendum card so early in the campaign, saying it amounts to abandoning any hope of making large inroads in francophone ridings. He said he understands why the Liberals are making the argument, but he insisted that regardless of Mr. Martin's assertions, the current election is not a referendum.
"It's a bit of a desperate argument. They have nothing to lose in Quebec," Mr. Dufour said.