Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area.

TORONTO — Canadian Jewish officials expressed satisfaction with the results of this week's national election, which saw a slight weakening of the separatist Quebec party.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien's Liberal Party will remain the governing party by a slim majority.

The Quebec-based Bloc Quebecois, which seeks to remove the French-speaking province from Canada, won 44 seats, down six from the last Parliament.

Any perceived weakening of the separatists will encourage Montreal's 101,000-strong, largely anglophone Jewish community and may slow the exodus of young Montreal Jews to Toronto, Vancouver and other cities.

However, the Reform Party's new status as official opposition may hinder national unity, some observers say: Its "tough-love" attitude toward Quebec probably turned many of that province's voters toward separatism.

"The Reform Party will be a millstone around the federalists' neck for the next few years because they will issue statements that will be seen as anti-Quebec, and those statements will be used to drag down the federalist side," said Irving Abella, past chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

He called the new Parliament a "multiparty quilt," with all five parties — the New Democratic Party and the Progressive Conservatives are the other two — representing different points of view and visions.

Frank Dimant, executive director of B'nai B'rith Canada, sees similarities between this new Parliament and the Knesset.

"We're going to have almost a replica of the Knesset," he said. "We have a Parliament that is divided, with a governing party that has a very slim majority.

"We'll have to do a lot more work and a lot more lobbying to make sure each of the five parties is aware of the issues on the Jewish agenda."

During the campaign, the CJC raised a variety of domestic and international issues, including the presence of alleged Nazi war criminals in Canada, national unity and racism.

To some, the country now seems politically divided along "regional fault lines."

The Liberal Party lost 28 seats in the 301-seat Parliament but managed to keep a majority of 156 seats.

The Reform Party did not win any districts east of Manitoba, while the Bloc Quebecois only won seats in Quebec.

Leader Jean Charest's personal charisma led the once-powerful Progressive Conservatives to a dramatic comeback from 2 to 21 seats, all in Quebec and Atlantic coast provinces.

The New Democratic Party also gained in the eastern provinces, increasing from 9 to 20 seats.

"It's disturbing that the country is so fragmented and that there's only one party that can make a reasonable claim to being a national party," said Harold Waller, a professor of political science at McGill University in Montreal.

"No party is positioned to be an alternative to the Liberals in the next election. That's not good for the country."

Chretien reached out to Reform and Conservative leaders during his victory speech, promising to continue promoting "the longstanding Canadian values of tolerance, openness, generosity and inclusion."