QUEBEC CITY–The Quebec government is accusing organizers of an event commemorating the 1759 battle of the Plains of Abraham of being apologists for hate and terrorism for including a passage from an FLQ manifesto.

Sam Hamad, the provincial minister responsible for the provincial capital region, said yesterday the government will have nothing to do with the event to be held Sept. 12-13.

Hamad was particularly critical of organizers for including a reading of the Front de libération du Québec manifesto.

The FLQ, which conducted bombing campaigns and kidnappings in support of Quebec independence, triggered a national panic with the October Crisis of 1970.

Its manifesto was a lengthy left-wing screed against the ills of capitalism, sprinkled with several denunciations of English dominance over francophone Quebecers.

"This is far from poetry," Hamad said.

"The FLQ for me, the memories I have, are of assassinations, of bombs."

He also chastised organizers for including Patrick Bourgeoys, of the Réseau de résistance du Québécois, which Hamad said had made calls for violence.

In 1970, the FLQ kidnapped British diplomat James Cross and Quebec labour minister Pierre Laporte. Cross was eventually freed but Laporte was found murdered.

Hamad said the organizers have dampened the pride Quebec City felt after its successful 400th anniversary celebrations "by encouraging the people in the FLQ."

This is only the latest controversy surrounding the anniversary of the historic Plains battle.

The show marking the 250th anniversary was meant to replace a planned re-enactment that was cancelled by federal officials, who cited protests and security concerns.

The lineup of guests includes some of the leaders of Quebec's sovereignty movement, including Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe.

Descendents of the generals in the battle – Britain's James Wolfe and France's Louis-Joseph de Montcalm of France – will read letters from their ancestors.

Besides readings from works by the Jesuits and Jacques Cartier, passages will also be read from The Street, a collection of short stories by Mordecai Richler, an author who regularly skewered nationalists.

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Organizers say they want the event to be an inclusive and festive event celebrating the survival of the French in North America after the conquest by the British.

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