Toasts are no simple matter in French Canada. The separatist movement, despite a razor-thin local referendum defeat in 1995, is alive and well and waiting for the next one. Separatists refer to Quebec as a nation and a people.
Its emblem, the Fleur de Lis, is everywhere. Conversely, the maple leaf of Canada takes pride of place with the federalists who are as opposed to the break-up of the country as the separatists are committed to a free Quebec. It was into this vibrant debate that the President, Mrs McAleese, arrived on Wednesday. She played it carefully and all went smoothly. At a lunch given in her honour by Mr Stephane Dion, a Liberal Party Minister in the federal government, she avoided the issue. For dinner that night at Montreal's Club St Denis, the top French business club in the city where so much English, it was said, was never before heard, her host was Mr Lucien Bouchard, Premier of Quebec, leader of the Parti Quebecois and strong nationalist.
Mr Dion and Mr Bouchard do not talk to each other but conduct a dialogue of sorts through open letters to the newspapers. Mr Bouchard will be calling an election very soon. A charismatic politician, he is neck and neck in the polls with the new leader of the Quebec Liberals, Mr Jean Charest, whose mother was a Leonard from Ireland. In such waters Mrs McAleese has to tread carefully. Most francophones consider Quebec a nation, not a province, so in certain company that word was best avoided. If she toasted the people of Quebec, as she had toasted other provinces, the separatists would have been thrilled. If she toasted Canada in the presence of Mr Bouchard and his associates, offence could have been taken. Toasting "M. le Premier Ministre" himself solved the problem. Mr Bouchard raised his glass to Ireland. Last evening, the President and her party arrived at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The Maritimes or Atlantic Canada is another story. It is anglophone, mainly Scots and Irish settlers, but with a vibrant French culture. The visit started with a tour of Fort Louisbourg which the French were driven from by the English in the 18th century.
Mrs McAleese's visit has received only modest coverage in the national press but it could very well hit the headlines tomorrow. Her host at dinner in Saint John, New Brunswick is the Solicitor-General of Canada, Mr Andy Scott. He is at the centre of a controversy over alleged excessive force used by the Mounties against student protesters during a visit to Vancouver by Gen Suharto of Indonesia last year.