Quebec

QUEBEC CITY, Quebec -- The stage was set yesterday for a showdown between Canada and its French-speaking province when leaders of Quebec said they would hold a referendum on independence by October 1992.If the vote succeeds, Quebec would declare itself an independent nation a year after the referendum.The Quebec leaders held out some hope for the future of a united Canada by saying that they would also be willing to study offers from the rest of the country to change the Canadian Constitution to give Quebec additional powers.

Ottawa. -- In the summer of 1831, when Alexis de Tocqueville was making the journey which produced his great book on American democracy, he visited French Canada, the experience producing in him the sober conclusion '' . . . that the greatest and most irremediable calamity that a people can suffer is to be conquered.''Leaving Canada to resume his travels in the United States, he wrote: ''In Canada there is a great role to be played, at once noble, honorable and dangerous. It is that of a man who dedicates himself entirely to the French-Canadian people, living for their interests, exciting their passions in order to preserve their existence, making himself the disinterested and free counsel of all, mingling his life wholly with theirs, the adversary of the government each time an occasion for attack presents itself, obtaining a thousand concessions from those in power, always asking for more and, when the passions of the master and his subjects are aroused, when the people are enlightened as to their true interests, proclaiming loudly the words independence and liberty!

TORONTO -- A 3-month-old boy was stabbed to death in a Quebec village because he was considered the Antichrist in the rituals of a cult linked to the murder-suicide of 53 people in Switzerland and Quebec last month, the Quebec provincial police say.The police reconstructed the bizarre developments in a burned-out chalet in the ski resort village of Morin Heights, north of Montreal, where five people were found dead early last month.The incident was followed a few days later by the fiery deaths of 48 cult members in two Swiss villages.

Dave Chambers paid the price for the Quebec Nordiques' continuing struggles yesterday when he was fired as coach and replaced by general manager Pierre Page, the man who had hired him.Page met with Chambers for 90 minutes before yesterday's practice, then announced that he will take over behind the bench of one of the NHL's weakest teams.The Nordiques have finished last in the overall standings in each of the past three seasons. They're off to a 3-14-1 start, have lost 10 of their past 12 games and are tied with the expansion San Jose Sharks for the fewest points in the NHL."

LANDOVER -- If the Washington Capitals keep this up, they may have to worry about how to make ice at USAir Arena in May and June.They faced the winningest team in the NHL last night with an injury-driven lineup -- and won, 6-4, over the Quebec Nordiques.To do it, they used a two-goal performance by Peter Bondra, who has 14 goals this month, and a hard-working defense."We knew what to expect," said Quebec leading scorer Joe Sakic, who was shut out last night and on the ice for every Capitals goal.

As Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau was getting ready to leave a meeting of all the Canadian provincial premiers recently, one of his fellows said he hoped they would see him again next year.Nothing personal, but Mr. Parizeau hopes they won't.Instead, he hopes that by this time next year Quebec will be just about ready to declare independence from the rest of Canada.In the election campaign that swept his party into office a year ago last week, Mr. Parizeau pledged to hold a referendum on independence eight to 10 months after victory.

On the surface it is a clear choice for Quebeckers and the long Canadian nightmare finally can move toward resolution: Vote for the Parti Quebecois if you want the province to separate from Canada, vote for the Liberals if you don't.But that would be too easy, wouldn't it?The opportunity comes tomorrow, when Quebec votes for a new provincial government. The outgoing government is Liberal. The Liberals won last year's national election and still are standing tall in the polls. So this would indicate the Liberals stand a good chance of retaining control of Quebec.

PRIME MINISTER Jean Chretien, the Quebecer holding federal Canada together, has reopened the debate on Quebec sovereignty just when the separatist Quebec premier, Lucien Bouchard, was hiding the issue for two years while gearing the economy up to it. Mr. Chretien is right to be pro-active and not merely reactive.When Quebec's referendum last October defeated separatism by less than one percentage point, creating a sense of inevitability, federal Canada had no position. What was the legal standing of the referendum?

CALGARY, Alberta -- As Quebec voters prepare for an anticipated autumn vote on whether to separate from Canada, the rest of the country is sending a new message to would-be separatists: Love it or leave it.In a reversal of 30 years of Canadian popular sentiment and public policy, Quebecers are being told not to count on any more compromises or concessions in exchange for staying in the country, and to expect tough negotiations on the terms of separation if...

ANNAPOLIS -- The United States' bid for its first world water polo championship since 1904 was ended, but not easily, by the aggressive defensive tactics of Quebec yesterday at the Naval Academy.Quebec took the United States out of its game while building three leads of three goals each. Quebec survived the last and strongest American rally to win, 9-8, for the championship of the first Women's Junior World Water Polo Invitational.Quebec, which has not lost to the U.S. junior team in four meetings (3-0-1)