Quebec Separatist to Put Case to Clinton

MONTREAL — The leading Quebec separatist in Canada’s Parliament said he will make a low-key, earnest presentation of the case for Quebec independence, unfiltered by possible “distortions” of the Canadian government, when he meets President Clinton this week in Ottawa.

“This is the first direct sighting of a separatist by a President, so I will try to . . . speak . . . very frankly about why there are separatists in Quebec, what they are trying to achieve . . . and what would be the end result for America,” Lucien Bouchard said in an interview.

“I don’t think . . . you should put yourself in the role of convincing a President,” he added. “It’s more factual discussions, stating our positions, making sure he understands them very well.”

But, in an example of the mistrust that separatists often express toward the Canadian government, Bouchard also suggested that he might be countering misrepresentations, saying, “Most of the information that has been provided to the Americans and to Presidents about our movement has been going through (Canadian) federal bureaucrats and politicians, and I can imagine the kind of descriptions . . . distortions, probably, that have been made of our positions.”

Bouchard heads the Bloc Quebecois, which holds the second-largest number of seats in the Canadian House of Commons after Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s governing Liberals.

At Bouchard’s request, he is scheduled for a brief, private meeting with the President during Clinton’s visit to Canada’s capital Thursday and Friday. This would be the first official meeting between a Quebec separatist leader and an American President. It also would cap an eventful week for Bouchard, who returns to Parliament today for the first time since December, when a near-fatal disease forced the amputation of his left leg.

The main items on Clinton’s agenda are an address to Parliament, signing a new air-travel treaty with Canada and meetings with Chretien, an ardent defender of Canadian unity and archfoe of Bouchard.

James Blanchard, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, said last week that he foresees continued American neutrality in Canada’s domestic scrap over Quebec, which is expected to climax later this year with a vote in the province on independence.

The United States is downplaying the Bouchard meeting. It was not on a presidential itinerary released to the press by Chretien’s office Tuesday and is expected to be held out of view of reporters and photographers.

Clinton also has agreed to a similar private session with Preston Manning of Alberta, leader of the conservative Reform Party, which has one less seat in Parliament than Bouchard’s bloc.

Bouchard, 56, returns to work less than three months after being struck by necrotizing myositis, a usually fatal disease that destroys muscle tissue and is caused by a strain of streptococcus A bacteria. He acknowledged that he set a goal of returning in time for the presidential visit and that he worked at least six hours a day, seven days a week, in a regimen he compared to the Montreal Canadiens preparing for hockey season.

Separatists hope his return will energize their stalled drive toward independence. The latest poll in Quebec, done for Canadian Broadcasting Corp. television this month, showed voters would defeat a referendum on this issue 60% to 40%.

Bouchard is a charismatic, eloquent speaker and was the No. 1 politician in Quebec even before his illness. His touching accounts in interviews this week of his struggle for life could further boost his popularity.