BY PETER O'NEIL PARIS – France’s political class has a more positive attitude toward Quebec nationalism than President Nicolas Sarkozy, Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe said Tuesday.
Duceppe, who met with representatives of two French opposition parties here Monday, will speak Wednesday with senior members of Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement.
Sarkozy has given robust support for Canadian unity while rejecting the previous French position that, while it won’t interfere in Canada’s unity debate, it isn’t “indifferent” in the debate.
But Duceppe suggested the unpopular French president, facing a huge challenge to win re-election in 2012, doesn’t have broad support for his position even within his own party.
“Within the UMP everybody’s not thinking the very same thing, they’re not all like Sarkozy on that question,” Duceppe told Postmedia News.
Sarkozy caused a furor in Quebec separatist circles with a speech in early 2009 when he said, while standing on a stage with Quebec Premier Jean Charest, that he opposed “sectarianism” and “self-confinement.”
He then dismissed the longstanding French foreign policy approach that has been an irritant for the Canadian government.
“Non-interference, non-indifference, honestly, is not my thing,” Sarkozy said.
France’s Socialist Party, in a position to take control of the presidency in 2012, decided last month to formally endorse the “non-interference, non-indifference” approach – known in French as ni-ni.
Duceppe said he got a positive reception from Brigitte Girardin, secretary-general of the United Republic party created by bitter Sarkozy foe Dominique de Villepin, a former prime minister under Sarkozy predecessor Jacques Chirac.
On Wednesday, the Bloc leader will meet with UMP Secretary-General Xavier Bertrand and another former Chirac-era prime minister, Alain Juppé.
Duceppe also will visit Barcelona, to meet with nationalist politicians in the Catalan region, and will subsequently meet in Edinburgh with Alex Salmond, the first minister of Scotland. Salmond wants to hold a referendum on Scotland’s independence from Britain, and academics have often studied the similarities between the Scottish and Quebec independence movements.
Duceppe said he’s expressing confidence in Europe that the Parti Québécois will form the next government in Quebec, and that Quebec will eventually be a separate country.
He also is defending the legitimacy of nationalist movements.
“What I’ll say is that, in our world of globalization national identities are more important than ever. We don’t want to be Planet Hollywood; nor do we want to be Planet Beijing.”
Duceppe refused to comment directly on a report that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government will propose keeping 1,000 troops in Afghanistan to train Afghan soldiers when Canada’s combat mission ends next year.
“I don’t want to be in that Tory trap. I’ll wait until they make a motion and an official declaration before I declare on that,” he said.
“They’re always chosing the week (when the House of Commons is) not sitting to make a declaration, to see how the other parties react, and sometimes they change their decision.”
He said the Bloc supports Canadian efforts to improve the delivery and co-ordination of humanitarian aid, train the police, and assist with “state-building.”

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