A nation within: The critics rave!

You lost us at hello:

Up until about mid-afternoon yesterday, we thought Prime Minister Stephen Harper was doing a pretty good job in the office he was handed – if only on a trial basis – last January... But sometime about halfway between lunchtime and the supper hour yesterday he lost us. And we fear he may have turned off a whole lot of other Canadians in the process... The prime minister justified his action by saying he hopes the motion will counter one from the Bloc Quebecois that also calls for Quebecers to be recognized as a nation – but not within Canada... What poppycock. And what a transparent attempt to improve the Tories’ woeful third-place standing in recent polling in Quebec. Setting up one province, or one region, of Canada as being distinct or separate from the nation as a whole is dangerous and divisive. Not to mention, it’s irrelevant.

MORE: Harper's divisive Quebec gambit (Toronto Star):

The surprise bombshell that Harper dropped yesterday to have Parliament "recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada" will never placate Quebec separatists, even as it potentially weakens Canada by handing them another argument the next time — and there almost certainly will be a "next time" — they seek to break up this country... Far from defusing an explosive debate triggered by Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff's reckless flirtation with the "Quebec is my nation" concept, Harper's intervention yesterday simply fuels it. And he arrogantly made his move without so much as consulting the public first... Harper's unwise intervention in this debate promises to embolden separatists and create division and bitterness. It was bad enough that Ignatieff and the Liberals blundered down this path. It was inevitable that the Bloc would try to capitalize on it. But it was utterly unnecessary for the Prime Minister to compound the problem by inviting Parliament to endorse this folly and take unwarranted risks with the future of the country.

Stephen Harper and the question of 'nation' (Globe and Mail):

In any other circumstances, invoking the word "nation" would be a terrible idea. It is at best ambiguous, capable of referring both to a community and to a nation-state. Whatever solace the term might give to nationalist federalists in Quebec, it gives even greater pleasure to those seeking to divorce the province from Canada. But politicians must play the hand they are dealt, and in the circumstances of this fractious week Mr. Harper chose well.

The Ottawa press corps are more impressed with the strategic brilliance of it all. See: John Ivison, John Ibbitson, Chantal Hebert, though Don Martin sounds a discordant note:

It will be a nation founded on Liberal disarray, sovereigntist mischief and, ultimately, government desperation. Quebec: A let's-pretend nation created by political expediency.

MORE: There's trouble in the Liberal ranks:

The Liberal caucus on Thursday agreed to support Harper's motion, although MPs are split. While interim Liberal Leader Bill Graham stood to applaud Harper following his announcement, Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis said he'll vote against it. "Are we in Canada to be a nation of nations?" he asked. Quebec Liberal Senator Serge Joyal warned it could be a slippery slope. "The very moment you introduce the concept of a nation within Canada, you open the door to the Acadian Nation, to the First Nations, to all the other groups that might form a cultural community," he said. "Newfoundland could be a nation."

Bob Rae is also cool to the idea (mostly, one suspects, because someone else thought of it). Even the national unity industry is skeptical!