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Quebec National Hockey Team
Anyone wondering what this whole nation within a nation means...
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Sovereigntist lawyer seeks Harper help for Quebec nation hockey team
Norman Delisle, Canadian Press
Published: Tuesday, November 28, 2006
QUEBEC (CP) - Sovereigntist lawyer Guy Bertrand says Quebec needs its own hockey team as much as any other nation.
Bertrand, who wants Quebec to field a team for the world hockey championships in 2008, said Monday all the political talk swirling around these days about Quebec forming a nation is just more ammunition for people who support his idea.
He made his remarks just hours before the House of Commons was to vote on a motion by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to recognize Quebec as a nation within Canada.
"It would be a serious error on behalf of Canada and all Canadians to believe that the assertion that Quebec is a nation does not have any interpretative scope, either in the courts or at the level of sports," Bertrand told a news conference.
The lawyer invited Harper to help convince Hockey Canada to ensure a Quebec team hits the ice for the 2008 event, which will be held in Quebec City as part of celebrations to mark the provincial capital's 400th anniversary.
"After voting in Parliament that Quebecers form a nation within a united Canada, you have the chance to show that the Team Quebec project conforms to this affirmation," Bertrand said.
"Here is a good chance to put into practice what you believe."
Bertrand also said that a lack of support for the Quebec team idea by Harper could cost the Conservatives "thousands of votes" in Quebec in the next election.
Hockey Canada has repeatedly rejected the idea of a Quebec team, saying the best Canadian players are chosen to defend their country regardless of their origin.
Bertrand wrote the Hockey Canada officials earlier this month asking them to reconsider their rejection.
He has suggested in vain several ways to Hockey Canada for Quebec to participate in the championship, including Quebec sending its own team or determining who plays through an elimination round between Quebec and Canada.
The lawyer, who is once again proclaiming his sovereigntist faith after embracing federalism for several years, said Quebec's status at the hockey championship should be the same as the province has at UNESCO - Canada is the sole participant but there are two spokesmen, Canada and Quebec.
"It's not true that the word 'nation' is only symbolic," said Bertrand, adding that Quebec has the essential characteristics of a nation - a language, a culture, a territory and a government.
Elsewhere in the world, the United Kingdom lets Scotland and Wales take part in international sporting events under their own name while the United States also allows the participation of Puerto Rico in certain international tournaments.
© The Canadian Press 2006
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