A third referendum defeat would lead to a weakening of Quebec’s balance of power against Ottawa, argues François Legault. The Prime Minister responded to the PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who affirmed Tuesday morning that not “holding a third referendum […] It’s like losing him.”
” Oh come on ! When we lost a referendum in 1980 and 1995, it weakened Quebec’s balance of power against Ottawa. […] Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, you have not understood that losing a third referendum on sovereignty would be irresponsible,” he said at a press briefing Tuesday afternoon in Drummondville.
François Legault says a referendum would divide Quebecers.
“The challenge is to bring Quebecers together to say: no matter who will be there at the federal level, we need, for example, more powers in immigration. We need to defend our language and our identity. And for me, the bet I am making is that there is much, much more chance of seeking majority support among Quebecers to repatriate powers, than to answer “Yes” to a referendum on the sovereignty of Quebec,” added the Prime Minister.
In an interview with Radio-Canada on Monday, François Legault brought up the idea of holding a referendum to demand full powers in immigration. However, he has blown hot and cold about this option in recent times.
An ardent independence activist in the past, François Legault set aside sovereignty by creating the Coalition Avenir Québec in 2011. Despite this, the Prime Minister affirmed last month that sovereignty was a “noble project”.
François Legault repeated on Tuesday that “the emergency right now is to halve temporary immigration”. He also indicated that the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, should return to him at the end of August or the beginning of September with figures regarding the drop in the number of immigrants.
“I ask him at least not to do any harm”
Tuesday morning, the PQ leader responded to Mr. Legault’s assertions the day before that losing a third referendum on independence would be “the worst thing that could happen” and that it would be “irresponsible.”
“The Prime Minister is not saying that Quebec independence is a bad thing, he is simply saying that holding a third referendum would be irresponsible in the event that we lose it,” said Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon.
Citing the housing crisis, the decline of French and the difficulty in delivering public services to the population, the PQ leader retorted that what is “irresponsible” is “remaining in Canada”.
“I ask him at least not to do harm and not to contaminate everyone with an unhealthy defeatism which does not correspond to any clear vision of our future,” added Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon.
The PQ leader thinks that François Legault is “very aware of the limits” of his third path that he wants to trace between sovereignty and federalism.
“His thesis will have been invalidated for a federal government that does not care about Quebec’s demands,” he maintained.
“It’s unhealthy for the Quebec nation”
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon also asks the Prime Minister to stop procrastinating on issues like the third link or the referendum on immigration.
“It is unhealthy for the Quebec nation to constantly change its discourse in such short periods […] We need consistency. We need a prime minister who keeps his word,” said the PQ leader, accusing François Legault of following the polls.
He urged him to finally hold his referendum to demand full powers in immigration, a subject on which the Prime Minister has blown hot and cold in recent times.
“Let him hold his referendum on immigration, and once again I will be happy to collaborate,” said the PQ leader.