OTTAWA - Nicolas Sarkozy's stirring declaration of love for Canada this week surprised Quebec separatists who saw it as an abrupt about-face from France's longtime neutrality on the issue of Canadian unity.

But sources in the Canadian government say the French president made it abundantly clear where he stood in his first meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper a year ago.

That encounter at the Elysee Palace made news only for the images it produced of the two leaders strolling the streets of Paris afterward and shaking hands with passersby on their way to lunch.

Canadian officials remained silent about the signals they received from the president behind closed doors: that France's so-called 'neither-nor' policy (neither interference nor indifference to the unity debate) was on its way out.

"(Sarkozy) expressed his intention," said a Canadian official. "He was clear that he wasn't going to play the games his predecessors played."

There was the famous call in 1967 for Quebec independence, "Vive le Quebec libre," by Charles de Gaulle at Montreal's city hall which served as a historic morale-boost to the fledgling separatist cause.

Later, French governments counselled the Parti Quebecois on how to seek international recognition. Before the 1995 referendum, Jacques Chirac had promised to be the first world leader to recognize an independent Quebec.

It's unclear how much Sarkozy's view of Canada is shaped by his friendship with billionaire businessman Paul Desmarais - a Franco-Ontarian and staunch federalist.

But at his initial meeting with Harper in June 2007, the new French president indicated he would do things differently.

Harper asked him to help Canada celebrate the 400th anniversary of Quebec City. The president replied that not only would he attend the francophonie summit in Quebec in the fall of 2008, he would also send his prime minister, Francois Fillon, sometime in the summer.

Within months, his office contacted Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean and asked her to participate in events marking the 400th anniversary, said a spokesperson at Rideau Hall.

It is that visit this week that produced Sarkozy's most emphatic public pronouncements on Canada.

He dropped his predecessors' studied ambiguity, saying the French no longer wanted to see their "love" for Quebec and Canada torn apart and adding that the future of Canada and France was one of "two countries."

At an emotional ceremony at a Second World War cemetery, Sarkozy said of the Canadian soldiers buried there:

"We didn't ask those who died here what region (of Canada) they were from. We knew what country they were from. We didn't even ask them what language they spoke. Those buried here, even if they didn't speak our language, saved us and helped us."

In the midst of everything, the Governor General - the representative of British monarchy - has earned widespread news coverage in France and headlines like 'Canada's Almost Queen.'

Sovereigntists are dismayed that the city's anniversary has been appropriated for the cause of Canadian unity.

"It's simply being used as a Canadian nation-building exercise," complained Bloc Quebecois MP Pierre Paquette.

"It's an insult to the Quebec nation and to the 400th anniversary. I don't have any problem with the federal government being present, and if Mr. Harper or a minister had gone to France it would have been fine.

"But to send a Governor General who is a vestige of British colonialism, it's really an insult in the eyes of Quebecers."

However, the presence of the British monarchy at a Quebec anniversary is nothing new.

In his book The Art of Nation-Building: Pageantry and Spectacle at Quebec's Tercentenary, historian H.V. Nelles describes how Quebec celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1908.

Nelles writes that the Prince of Wales hosted the festivities and was greeted by the city's mayor at the foot of the statue of Samuel de Champlain, whom mayor George Garneau called the "glorious founder of Canada."

Officials in Harper's government say he made it clear soon after taking office that he wanted a federal role in the festivities. Within weeks of his 2006 swearing-in, sources say, Harper told staff to get involved in the event.

"(Harper told us): 'Make sure the government of Canada is a full participant.' "

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