Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, late February 1995, President Bill Clinton offered some remarks in Canada in which he says this.

Quote, in a world darkened by ethnic conflicts that tear nations apart, Canada stands as a model of how people

of different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity, and mutual respect.

Those are pretty bland feel-good comments. I think I saw that on a

Hallmark card once. But the context within which Clinton offered these remarks

was anything of a plan. He was saying this in front of the Canadian Parliament on the cusp of a

referendum in Quebec over independence the question of whether the French-speaking

province would secede from the rest of Canada that referendum was defeated in an incredibly razor-thin vote. So in

this moment Clinton offers these planned remarks but they are generally seen as

advocating against Quebec independence or maybe just as a kind of don't rock the boat kind of remarks and you can see how this was all received when he says this the entire Canadian Parliament leaps to its feet to applaud his comments

except for the 53 members of the Quebec Separatist Party.

So let's go to 1995, the fight in and you know for our purposes why Clinton is sticking his nose into all of this

or trying not to or whatever it is but here to discuss as always Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley.

Hello there.

Bonjou Jejorie.

Ah, there it is.

I don't know how you say hey there.

Right.

Well, and Cabocouac French, I'm not even going to try it.

It's a fascinating accent.

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