A colleague asked me the other day, how is it that the issue of recognizing the Québecois as a nation concerns some people while others are completely sanguine about it. I'm not sure I have the answer.

People tend to be more literal than not and often miss the subtleties and nuances delivered by words and context. People view history through the prism of their own experience or the influences of their environment. They can be insensitive to happenings outside their immediate life circumstance unless they can see or feel the impact of events on their own lives.

David Peterson, former Premier of Ontario supported a motion from the federal wing of the Quebec Liberal Party that would not only recognize "Quebec as a nation" but would seek advice as to how the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada could "officialize" that recognition.

Is he stupid or just insensitive to Quebec nationalists who would use the precedent of “nation” recognition to advance the cause of separation and independence?

Already there is a battle over the word "Quebecois".

Quebec Premier Jean Charest says the word is all inclusive, that it includes all peoples resident in Quebec. Others say the word Québecois refers only to the French in Quebec. The French language definition of the word agrees with Charest "a native or inhabitant of Quebec". The English language definition is more specific "a French-speaking native or inhabitant of Quebec".

The Harper/Bloc motion straddled or compromised both languages with the word “Québecois”.

Those who drafted the Bloc motion were French. In all likelihood they did not appreciate the English difference in linguistic interpretation. Harper on the other hand, is a self-described policy wonk and political strategist. He would surely appreciate the difference. In fact, I suspect he was all over it.

Harper calculated that members of Parliament would be so desperate to diffuse the “Quebec nation” issue; they would jump on "a United Canada" as rationale to support the motion, the implication being that a United Canada would take precedence over the recognition of a French-speaking nation. A “United Canada” (not to be confused with the United States) would override the notion of a community recognized as a nation and by so doing would render the designation and recognition null and void.

The reality is that the two concepts; Quebecois as a “nation” and Canada as “united”, constitute an oxymoron. Who will decide which takes precedence, a judge or the people of Quebec? Mr. Harper has opened a Pandora’s Box and I doubt he'll be able to close it.

What does it mean for this weekend’s Federal Liberal leadership convention?

Two weeks ago, I would have said (and did) that Michael Ignatieff was the odds-on favorite to win. Today, the outcome is not so clear.

The Bloc/Harper motion on the Québecois has turned the convention upside down. The Quebec issue has overridden Afghanistan, climate change, healthcare, tax-cuts and the economy as the Country’s number one issue, at least for the moment.

The Quebec motion passed last Monday 266 to 16 with 15 Liberal MPs voting against it. Conservative Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Michael Chong resigned his position as minister because he could not support the Harper motion.

"I believe in one nation, undivided, called Canada," Chong told reporters. "This is a fundamental principle for me, not something on which I can or will compromise. Not now, not ever".

To his credit, Dominic LeBlanc, Member of Parliament for Beausejour did not vote for the Harper motion. According to Campbell Morrison, Ottawa correspondent for the Times & Transcript “LeBlanc’s” instinct was to vote against it but he felt that his duty as Co-chair of the Liberal Convention required him to be neutral and to abstain from the vote.

He was concerned that because the Liberal convention had a motion declaring Quebec a nation (since deferred) and leadership rivals had declared positions on the issue, his vote would be misinterpreted as favoring one or other of the candidates.

As some philosophers might say, everything is connected to everything and that's what makes Stephen Harper's recognition of the Québecois as a nation within Canada so worrying. It has the potential to spread from abstract definitions to legal and/or emotional interpretation.

In theory, the motion isn't much more than formal recognition of the obvious. In theory, it accepts what's always been known. It becomes significant, when it’s woven into the Conservative’s vision of Canada. Stephen Harper, like Joe Clark before him believes in a Canada that is a community of communities.

The Prime Minister used “closure” to end debate on the Quebec motion. He deprived Canadians of a chance to understand its real meaning before the Commons adopted it.

On Saturday, the Liberal Party of Canada will elect a new leader. That leader could become the next Prime Minister of Canada. In my view, there are three candidates for the leadership that promise hope for a united Canada and a healthier environment in all that the term means. They are Ken Dryden, Bob Rae and Stéphane Dion.

• Ken Dryden has been ignored by the media and his party. He has no chance of winning.
• Bob Rae appears to have momentum going into the convention. He’s come from no where to become a respected and credible candidate but he is a newborn Liberal and that may hurt him in the end.
• Over the last year or two, Stéphane Dion took the lead on the most important issue of our times, climate change. He is the only candidate among the group of eight who is equipped to battle the expectations of a province declared a nation by the Parliament of Canada.

Michael Ignatieff will be the leader after the first ballot. Will he be able to hold it through the rest of this day?

W.E. (Bill) Belliveau is a Shediac resident and Moncton business consultant. He can be contacted at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com Atlantic Insight is a published Blog inventory of opinion articles published weekly in New Brunswick's print media as written by W.E. (Bill) Belliveau, who is a resident of Shediac, New Brunswick, and small business owner, operating his Moncton-based marketing consultancy, Bell Strategic. He can be reached by e-mail at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com