Canada minister quits over Quebec "nation" vote

OTTAWA, Nov 28 (Reuters) Canada's minority Conservative government lost one of its cabinet ministers because of the government's motion to recognise Quebecers as a ''nation'' within Canada.

The government's survival was not placed in jeopardy by the resignation of Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Michael Chong, but the move underlined tensions over the motion, which was designed to head off a parliamentary maneuver by the separatist Bloc Quebecois party, which wants independence for the largely French-speaking province of Quebec.

Chong, ironically, was responsible for national unity issues, including Ottawa's relations with Quebec and the other provinces. He said he remains a Conservative member of Parliament and loyal to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

''I believe in this great country of ours, and I believe in one nation, undivided, called Canada,'' Chong told a news conference yesterday.

''While I'm loyal to my party and to my leader, my first loyalty is to my country.'' Chong is the first cabinet minister Harper has lost since the Conservatives defeated the Liberals in January's general election.

His decision to quit the cabinet was necessitated by the fact that the government was whipping a vote on the motion last night at 8:15 pm local time (0115 GMT Tuesday) -- meaning that cabinet ministers would be dismissed if they did not vote yes.

The motion to recognise Quebecers as a nation within a united Canada has no legal authority, but the Bloc has already said it will use it to demand extra powers for Quebec, including the right to speak at international meetings.

Chong said the separatists would use it to sow confusion.

''They will argue that if the Quebecois are a nation within Canada, then they are certainly a nation without Canada,'' he said.

Harper drafted the motion last week in response to one from the Bloc that recognized Quebecers as a nation, but did not include the words ''within a united Canada.'' The Bloc supported the new language because it recognized the concept of nationhood for Quebecers, albeit within Canada.

In 1995 separatists came within a percentage point of winning a referendum on breaking away from Canada, and they have pledged to try again in the future.

The province already calls its legislature the Quebec National Assembly and calls Quebec City its national capital.

''It won't change anything in their day-to-day lives,'' Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, a leading Quebec legislator, insisted during parliamentary debate. ''It won't give Quebecers more powers.'' Many Canadian politicians have welcomed the motion as a way of easing separatist pressures within Quebec, but others warned it risked opening the door to the break-up of Canada down the road.

At least two of the eight candidates for leadership of the opposition Liberal Party have come out against it, as well as a couple of backbench Liberal members of Parliament.

Reuters DH VP0445