Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 30, 1995 TAG: 9510300051
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: MONTREAL LENGTH: Medium
Campaign leaders on both sides - Prime Minister Jean Chretien for national unity and opposition party leader Lucien Bouchard for the separatists - strived Sunday to fire voters' emotions in the French-speaking province.
A confident-appearing Chretien spoke to thousands of supporters in Hull, a Quebec city just across the river from the federal capital of Ottawa in Ontario. ``It is possible to be a very proud Quebecker and at the same time an extremely proud Canadian,'' and voters will prove that by rejecting separation, he said.
The unity campaign has only begun in the last few days to evoke the same kind of passionate displays for Canada that Bouchard has for weeks been generating on behalf of Quebec independence.
Bouchard spoke to an enthusiastic rally in Beauport, a suburb of Quebec City, the provincial capital. He urged voters to show ``trust and confidence in the Quebec people'' by launching the voyage toward nationhood.
Both speeches were telecast live nationwide.
The province's 5 million voters are faced with a measure that empowers the separatist government to declare Quebec ``sovereign'' - a term generally understood here to mean independent - at an unspecified future date after first trying to negotiate a new economic and trade partnership with the rest of Canada.
The actual ballot wording is: ``Do you agree that Quebec should become sovereign, after having made a formal offer to Canada for a new economic and political partnership, within the scope of the bill respecting the future of Quebec and of the agreement signed on June 12, 1995?''
The last public polls show those favoring separation with a three- to six-point lead, with enough undecided voters to swing the outcome in either direction.
A separatist win would throw the country into crisis. Federal Cabinet members say contingency plans have been prepared but admit there is no precedent for coping with a secession vote.
The Canadian dollar, which has lost nearly 2 cents in value against U.S. currency this month, could be expected to plunge further as foreign investors, who hold about 40 percent of the national debt, sell Canadian securities. Interest rates would rise, putting a drag on economic growth.
by CNB