Candidate for PQ head promises referendum
MONTREAL— Parti Québécois leadership candidate Martine Ouellet says she would hold a sovereignty referendum in her first term as premier.
The former PQ cabinet minister entered the race to succeed Pierre Karl Péladeau as permanent leader Friday and is the only one of the four declared candidates to announce plans for a first-term referendum.
“The time for waiting is over,” Ouellet told supporters in Montreal.
“We’ve been waiting for 20 years, and at this pace if we don’t give a serious push to the independence movement we will wait a long time as spectators of our future.”
Asked by a reporter if voting for her for the leadership position meant a vote for an independent Quebec, she answered “clearly.”
She said sovereignty is necessary to end what she called the provincial Liberals’ “pillage” of the province and to change the balance of power with Ottawa.
“Imagine everything we could do if we held all the cards,” said Ouellet. “Imagine: Quebec, the first French country in North America.”
She said the province’s will is being “crushed” by federal decision-makers on important matters such as the Energy East pipeline.
“Quebec says no, but Canada wants to impose it on us,” she said, saying the pipeline would pose a huge risk to the province’s drinking water supply. No, Quebec is not for sale.
“Independence means making decisions for Quebecers, by Quebecers.”
Ouellet, 47, finished third in the last leadership race in 2015 behind Péladeau and Alexandre Cloutier. Péladeau resigned this month.
The PQ is scheduled to choose its new permanent leader between mid-September and mid-October.