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QUEBEC — Premier François Legault has refused to say that he is a proud Canadian and believes the Liberals have lost their way — reduced to essentially being the party of anglophone and allophone voters.

But he is happy that membership in the Canadian club comes complete with a system of equalization payments, which are providing the province with $13 billion in revenues this year alone.

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As the routine annual debate with the other political leaders to rubber stamp the executive council’s spending plans careened out of control Wednesday, Legault found himself on the ropes over his lukewarm affection for Canada.

It started with questions from a former friend turned foe, Pascal Bérubé, who now leads the same Parti Québécois party Legault himself once belonged to before abandoning the idea of independence to create the Coalition Avenir Québec.

Clearly up to mischief given their mutual pasts, Bérubé used his debate time to challenge Legault to say he is proud to be a Canadian — something Legault never does, preferring to call himself a nationalist.