The former Quebec premier from 1996-2001 — one of the architects of the 1995 referendum — is making the rounds this week to promote a new book about his reflections on a life in politics. He has been weighing in heavily on last week’s provincial election, which resulted in the PQ winning a weak minority government.
It is the result, he told Radio-Canada in an interview, of Marois turning the coalition of left-and-right-wing sovereigntists toward the extreme left.
“There was obviously a judgment on the election platform. There were those, like me, who judged it too radical compared to what the party has presented in the past,” said Bouchard, one of the patron saints of sovereigntists.
“Radical in the sense that it went to the extreme, on the question of language, on the fiscal questions, on sovereignty, on the question of secularism. It raised very controversial questions and it went very far.”
Despite what he says are ill-considered promises, Bouchard has abandoned neither the PQ nor the dream of independence for Quebec. And those promises he deems the toughest to accept are unlikely to find much support among the opposition parties.
The former federal Progressive Conservative minister quit Brian Mulroney’s cabinet to found what came to be known as the Bloc Québécois, the federal wing of the PQ. Bouchard left Ottawa to take over from Jacques Parizeau following the 1995 referendum. After quitting politics in 2001, he returned to the practice of law, but has spoken frequently about the need for greater productivity if Quebec is to keep up with competitors in Canada and around the world.
Bouchard says that both the PQ and the hope for independence are in grave danger.
Contrary to the “crusade” of the 1995 referendum, which resulted in a narrow vote to keep Quebec in Canada, the cry of sovereignty falls flat within the province, Bouchard said.
“There isn’t the support of the population . . . . They’ve said clearly that they don’t want a referendum, and there’s good reason not to have one: we’d lose.”
Bouchard said Marois and her caucus were wrong to align themselves so closely with the striking students, which paralyzed Montreal for months on end this spring and precipitated outgoing premier Jean Charest’s decision to call the election.
The real challenge that lies ahead is developing Quebec, building a stronger economy and renewing its social services.
“Quebec has changed so much since (the referendum of) ’95 and we have pressing problems that have appeared — ones that we have the power to deal with. We don’t have to call on Ottawa. We already have all the powers in our hands to deal with them.
“It is these problems — not separation — that should be top of mind for the new slate of elected officials.
“If we lose (again) it’s going to cost us dearly. We can’t afford to lose another referendum.”
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Allan Woods
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