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Centaur repeat unlikely

The climate is different, the context is different, but a speech Premier Bernard Landry will give next week to Quebec's English-speaking community is inevitably being dubbed "Centaur 2."

In March 1996, during the denouement of the last sovereignty push, newly named premier Lucien Bouchard extended his hand to anglophones in a conciliatory speech at Old Montreal's Centaur Theatre.

The discussion aroused expectations of a new era of understanding in the often tense relationship between the Parti Québécois government and anglophones.

In retrospect, little came of the meeting.

But the chairman of the Quebec Community Groups Network hopes his invitation to Landry to speak in Quebec City on Tuesday will be a step toward starting up a new and lasting discourse - even if the event itself doesn't live up to the billing as a sequel to Centaur.

"It's a favourite expression, Centaur 2," said Hugh Maynard, who heads the network of English-speaking groups. "This is just my personal opinion, but when I remember back to the Centaur, it was a different time. It was after the referendum. It was a different feeling. And I guess there was an anticipation because of who Mr. Bouchard was.

"This time we certainly haven't set ourselves up in any kind of anticipation of what this may mean."

The invitation was issued to coincide with one of the network's quarterly meetings, said Maynard - and its first since establishing its secretariat in Quebec City to develop a relationship with the provincial government.

The speech to the anglophone groups will be like any other the premier gives, said Landry's spokesman, Hubert Bolduc.

Though he hasn't seen a final version of the speech, Bolduc said Landry will likely stick to his main themes: the fiscal imbalance between Ottawa and Quebec, sovereignty and globalization.

"The message is always the same," said Bolduc.

"In a nutshell, it's the Quebec project and the inclusive society Quebec represents. Whatever nationality you're from, the sovereignty project is an open project in which everyone can participate."

Disappointment from the unfulfilled promises of the Centaur speech means Landry's talk will have far less significance, said Brent Tyler, president of Alliance Quebec.

"This isn't going to be Centaur 2. It's not going to be an extended hand," he said. "Bouchard said a lot of nice things, but in a lot of areas things for anglophones have gotten worse."