AS the temperatures nudged the high 70s, Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar spent yesterday afternoon basking in an altogether different ray of sunshine - the company of Stephane Dion, the Canadian Government Minister for unity.
Seated in the sun-speckled courtyard at One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow, Mr Dewar listened as Mr Dion, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, endorsed his vision for a devolved Scotland in the 21st century United Kingdom. The meeting leaves the heat on SNP leader Alex Salmond who is due to have private talks with Mr Dion tomorrow morning in London.
Before he went into his scheduled 90-minute talk with the Scottish Secretary, Mr Dion outlined how he was on Mr Dewar's wavelength and very much opposed to separatism.
He was at pains to point out that he was in Scotland to listen as much as to give his own views, and that his comments stemmed largely from a dogfight with the separatists of Quebec who want recognition as a distinct society.
Mr Dion said: ''The idea that if I'm a nation I must have a state of my own is I think retrograde, it's not the future, and if it is, the planet will have a tough time.''
Mr Dion said he would listen to what Mr Salmond had to say. ''It's very important to understand how separatist leaders think. What are the arguments they use.
''I have a philosophical commitment to keep Canada united and I think this problem is universal. I don't know how Mr Salmond will react to my views but I hope it will not be a political interference to say that I hope that if I was a Scot I would be proud to be British.
''I may say I'm Quebecker and proud to be Canadian.
''Quebec separatists wrongly think that separation is a solution. It's the separatist ideology we must fight, not the people that believe in it. That's why I've no problem with meeting Mr Salmond. He's a human being. I'm sure he has positive values but he believes in an ideology that in my country is very negative.''
Mr Dion said he believed that in a democracy it was a bad thing to choose your fellow citizens.
''This is a moral mistake. The worst way to create division among Quebeckers is to ask them to give up Canada. What we must find is solutions that give internal capacity to have your own culture and identity within the existing country. In this world it is a good thing to have different identities and to share the country with people who are different to you but complement you and may give you windows to other continents.''
Since his appointment to the federal cabinet in January 1996, Mr Dion has travelled throughout Canada to explain the Government's national unity strategy.
Looking beyond Scotland and Canada, he believes ethnic conflicts will be the challenge of the next century. ''If countries as blessed as Canada are unable to show the world bolder solutions than its break-up I think we will not fulfil our duty as citizens and human beings on the planet.''
Ultimately he would like to do himself out of a job. By implication unity will have been secured. ''I want my fellow citizens to understand why they must stay together for good. This is demanding but I think we are improving the situation more and more. Quebeckers see the need for a balance between the need for autonomy and the need for solidarity with all Canadians.''
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