Microchip's pic-as throws syntax error on macro define
It seems to be a bug in pic-as
InitPortA(space)(space)---(space)MACRO
made the syntax error happen.  Replacing the white spaces with a press of the tab key made that line compile.  It seems that not all white spaces are taken as the same thing
This has become moot for me because I rolled back to v5.35 and mpasmx. I think it is better to finish my project with that version.  I saw reports on line that suggested that pic-as is quite buggy.  Perhaps my issue was one of the bugs.