Article: Quebecer Damages Separatist Cause With Remark on Low Province Birthrate

A week after taking the wheel of the faltering campaign to win the Oct. 30 Quebec referendum on secession from Canada, separatist firebrand Lucien Bouchard has driven it squarely into trouble.

At issue in the incident, for which Bouchard expressed regret Monday night, was an inflammatory weekend reference to Quebec's low fertility rates.

"Do you think it makes sense that we have so few children in Quebec? We're one of the white races that has the least children. That doesn't make sense," Bouchard said in a speech. "It means we haven't resolved our family problems."

The statement quickly deepened the tensions surrounding women's roles and French ethnicity in the restive province, whose people ...

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