World Press Review - Prime Minister Stephen Harper, keen to both boost his support in French-speaking Quebec and to counter separatist forces there, said on Friday that Canada would allow the province to play a role in the United Nations' cultural agency.

Harper's announcement in Quebec City fulfills a promise he made in the run-up to the January 23 federal election, when his Conservatives won a narrow victory in large part due to unexpectedly high levels of support in Quebec.
Harper, who heads a fragile minority government, sees a chance to pick up Quebec votes in the next election and has been assiduously courting both the province and its Liberal premier, Jean Charest. Both men are committed to fighting separatists who want independence for Quebec.

"We are at the dawn of a new era, an era that will see us build a strong, united, free and independent Canada in which a confident, autonomous, proud and unified Quebec can develop its full potential," Harper told Quebec legislators.
Under the terms of the deal, Quebec will have a permanent representative inside Canada's UNESCO delegation, who will help devise Canadian policy. Harper had to tone down an earlier promise for a totally separate Quebec delegation, something only independent nations are entitled to.

The agreement is also likely to boost the fortunes of Charest, whose Liberals trail the separatist Parti Quebecois ahead of provincial elections expected next year. The PQ is promising to hold another referendum on independence if it wins.
A delighted Charest declared the deal was "the greatest victory in the history of Quebec diplomacy."
Charest faces a tricky balancing act between fending off the separatists on one hand and showing voters he is doing enough to defend the interests and culture of Quebec, a province of 7.5 million people, most of whom speak only French.

A greater role at UNESCO was one of his top priorities. Another was that the federal government address the so-called fiscal imbalance -- complaints by provinces that Ottawa hangs on to a disproportionately large percentage of tax revenues.
In its first budget this week, the Harper government promised to hold a conference with the provinces later this year to look at ways of dealing with the imbalance.
Observers say Harper is clearly trying to boost support for his Conservatives in Quebec at the expense of the Bloc Quebecois -- the PQ's federal wing -- which holds most of the province's 75 parliamentary seats.

The Bloc said it would support the government's budget because of the promise to deal with the imbalance, which is also one of the separatist party's main platforms.
But observers said Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe was more concerned with a poll this week that showed his party narrowly trailing Harper's, something unthinkable six months ago.
"By making the fiscal imbalance the ultimate test of federalism, Gilles Duceppe has got his finger trapped in the gears. The rest of his body could follow if Harper's government and the provinces find grounds for an agreement (on the imbalance)," wrote commentator Vincent Marissal in La Presse.

A final deal on the imbalance could result in the ultimate victory for Harper -- gaining enough Quebec seats in the next federal election to win a majority and helping Charest win the next provincial election, thereby staving off the separatists.

Funt: http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-05-05T165014Z_01_N05323272_RTRIDST_0_CANADA-POLITICS-QUEBEC-COL.XML- Autur: David Ljunggren

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