France ’favours separate Quebec’

Press, 29 November 1977, Page 8

France ’favours separate Quebec’

NZPA New York The separatist Premier of Quebec (Mr Rene Levesque} has implied that the French President (Mr Valery Giscard d’Estaing) and other French leaders advised him during meetings last month to “opt for independence” from Canada. “Newsweek” magazine has reported. I Mr Levesque was asked in ia “Newsweek” interview if Mr Giscard and other (French leaders want the I French-speaking province to become independent. He replied: ( “The general trend of our i discussions with our various i ' interlocutors, both Government and Opposition, was that they would like to see us opt for independence. They were all sympathetic to the changes we are proposing because they dovetail with their own confederal perceptions for Europe’s future.” Mr Levesque, who received a warm welcome in a visit to France last month, also said that French Communist officials he met “did not seem unsympathetic to our goals.” j In a separate interview, the Canadian Prime Minister (Mr Pierre Trudeau) said that independence for Quebec would be “disastrous” and “unthinkable” and said he would rather resign than preside over the beak-up of jthe Canadian confederation. ! “If Quebec, by a strong majority, voted in a fair referendum witn fair questions to leave Canada, and nothing was rigged, my concept would have failed and I would want to resign,” Mr Trudeau said. “Someone else would have to take over.” Earlier this month Mr Trudeau told the Canadian House of Commons that preparations for a national ■ referendum on the question ■ of separating Quebec from Canada had begun. He gave no details of the plan during ! a debate on Government plans for the new session of Parliament. “We believe that one is not able to take away from Canada a part as essential as the province of Quebec without all the Canadian body being concerned,” Mr Trudeau told the House. “It is for this reason that we are going to put before the House a proposition about a referendum.”