In a
speech to approximately 400 Conservative and
Action democratique supporters on Saturday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper quoted former Quebec Premier
Maurice Duplessis to call on Quebeckers to support Harper's Conservatives in the next federal election.
"Two parties is enough," the prime minister quoted Duplessis saying. "A good one and a bad one."
...
He said a re-elected Conservative government would lead a Canada that was "strong, united and free, with a Quebec (that was) autonomous and proud."
Harper appeared to
align himself strongly with the conservative, ruralist
Union Nationale which, under
Duplessis, ruled Quebec for 15 years beginning in 1944.
"There is nothing more precious than the family farm, which represents so well all the values on which our country has been built,'' he said to rapturous applause.
From a 1956 speech archived by
CBC, Duplessis describes Confederation as a pact between Quebec and English Canada.
