And Ponies, Too

OTTAWA (CP) - An independent Quebec would have its own military forces and spy service, says Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe, taking a firm stand on a traditionally wrenching issue for separatists.

"There'll be an army, of course," Duceppe said Tuesday in an interview with The Canadian Press. "We have to have those organizations, I would say." The leader of the sovereignist Bloc indicated the notion of creating a distinct security apparatus in a newly independent Quebec was no longer as controversial as it has been in the past.

"I went around Quebec saying the same thing I just said to you, and I see no opposition at all," Duceppe said.

I guess this throws the "sovereignty-association" claims right out the window. This, then, is the separatist aim laid bare: An armed and possibly hostile state in the heart of Canada.

I hate to sound paranoid, but this isn't speculation on my part - he's saying it right here. We can disagree on whether or not an independent Quebec would be hostile to Canada, but certainly there's more than enough potential conflicts - the rights of Natives to stay within Canada being just one of many. Would Canadians be willing to let natives be screwed, again, after Quebec separates?

Of course, Gilles Duceppe speculating on whether or not Quebec gets an army has all the real-world relevance of a 6-year-old girl speculating on what color her pony will be on Christmas morning. If anything, by putting the issue in such stark terms Duceppe is harming the separatist cause.