‘We must make any sacrifice necessary’ to protect Canada’s independence and unity, says former PM. Former prime minister Stephen Harper urged the Liberal and Conservative parties to take on the challenges of our time together as the country stares down two potentially existential threats to its sovereignty: an imperialist president to the south and separatist movements in Alberta and Quebec.
Speaking at an event Tuesday where his official prime ministerial portrait was unveiled on Parliament Hill, Harper said while the two major parties may differ on some matters of policy, those issues should be secondary to keeping the country together.
“In these perilous times both parties, whatever their other differences, must come together against external forces that threaten our independence and against domestic policies that threaten our unity.
“We must preserve Canada, this country handed down to us by providence, preserved by our ancestors and held in trust for our descendants. We must make any sacrifice necessary to preserve the independence and the unity of this blessed land,” he said. In his own remarks to the crowd assembled for the unveiling, a who’s who of Canadian politics past and present, Prime Minister Mark Carney praised his predecessor for always being mindful of regional cleavages. On Harper’s watch, popular support for a Quebec referendum on independence was at its lowest point in decades and western alienation was a marginal issue.
“Prime Minister Harper consistently understood that Canada’s strength has always come from holding together a country that stretches from coast to coast to coast,” Carney said. “He spoke directly to Western Canada’s sense of contribution — the responsibility not as a region to be managed, but as a core pillar of our national project,” he said.
Source: cbc.ca/news
