At risk of backlash, Ottawa vows to enter secession case

OTTAWA -- (AP) -- Despite a warning from Quebec's separatist government, the federal government said Friday it will intervene in a court case challenging the province's right to secede unilaterally.

Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard said last week that federal intervention in the case could provoke him to call an early election that would pave the way for another independence referendum if he wins.

However, the federal justice minister, Allan Rock, said the government felt compelled to intervene in the case to respond to Quebec's claim that the Canadian constitution and courts should have no role in any Quebec secession bid.

``That is a position that cannot go unanswered,'' Rock said.

In the court case, Montreal lawyer Guy Bertrand is asking the Quebec Superior Court to impose a permanent injunction against future referendums on secession. He argues such votes are unconstitutional and that Quebec lacks the power to separate unilaterally from Canada.

A hearing is to be held Monday.

Rock said he was aware his announcement could provoke a backlash in mostly French-speaking Quebec, but stressed he was not trying to defy Bouchard.

``This is not a political act,'' Rock said. ``It is strictly a legal act, an intervention on a very precise and very important point of law.'

Rock said he doesn't want to limit in any way ``the right of the population of Quebec to express its will in a referendum in a democratic fashion.''

But Gilles Duceppe, a leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois in the federal Parliament, denounced Rock's decision as an affront to the Quebeckers' right to decide their future.

Bouchard's government argues that Ottawa must accept the results of a referendum on sovereignty and that Quebec can separate without federal consent.

There is no provision in the constitution for a province to leave the federation.

The separatists narrowly lost a referendum last fall, receiving 49.4 percent of the votes.

Bouchard, who took office in January, has said he would not organize another referendum until after the next provincial election. He doesn't have to call an election until 1999, but is threatening an early vote if Ottawa challenges the right to unilateral secession.