Centenary of René-Lévesque | PSPP denounces the evacuation of sovereignty

Exasperated by the speeches in honor of René Lévesque where the sovereignty of Quebec is omitted, the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon wanted to send a message Monday “to all those who do not tell the truth to themselves “.

Vincent Larin
The Press

In front of the province’s political elite gathered Monday evening at the Grande Bibliothèque to mark the launch of the “Lévesque year”, a series of events organized to mark the 100^e birthday of the founder of the Parti Québécois (PQ), the current leader of the political party wanted to set the record straight.

“We bet that if René-Lévesque still held the pen in a column in the Journal de Montréal, he would have used the same words ‘false pretense’, ‘hypocrisy’ to comment on the political news of the last few weeks”, he declared. over a speech twice as long as that of his opponents.

“There were many former PQ members who gave so much to make us a country and we have a tendency to honor them without mentioning the essentials,” he then explained, as part of a press scrum.

He then confided that he had reconciled with the former PQ Premier, Lucien Bouchard, who recently criticized the current state of the PQ “I have recently seen that the heirs of René Lévesque have lost none of their capacity to react with the vigorous promptness that he characterized him”, moreover dropped the latter jokingly while admitting that he “would formulate otherwise” his comments at the origin of the controversy.

Remember that the presence of Paul St-Pierre Plamondon at this event was not guaranteed since he had initially been omitted from the guest list. After some controversy, he was finally invited to speak to honor his predecessor.

A journalism award

During his own speech, where the question of Quebec independence was not mentioned, the current Prime Minister and leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec, François Legault, thanked the late politician for “Hydro-Québec”, “Law 101”, “Quebec Inc.” and “Pride”, among others.

“It was René Lévesque who gave me the pride of being a Quebecer. It is because of René Lévesque that I am in politics today,” he told the crowd.

A “René Lévesque” prize will henceforth be awarded by the Government of Quebec to a journalist who has “significantly contributed to increasing the influence of information or greatly enriched the quality of information or the journalistic profession in Quebec”, a-t-t he then announced.

no discord

The leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, the party that René Lévesque left to found the PQ, Dominique Anglade praised the politician. “A common thread emerges from the career of René Lévesque: love, passion, conviction and this unshakable faith in Quebecers,” she underlined.

René Lévesque was putting forward “a social project stronger than the individuals who compose it”, declared for his part the co-spokesperson of Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, in a thinly veiled criticism of the government. current.

“He was not looking for the lowest common denominator, in search of the greatest number of votes, he never pitted us against each other. He awakened the best in us,” he continued.

Organized on the occasion of the 100^e birthday of the former journalist, columnist, reporter, host, minister and prime minister, “the Lévesque year” provides several events to mark the occasion.

Among them: a tribute to the 23^e Prime Minister of Quebec on National Day; the inauguration, on August 24 (the day of his 100^e anniversary), the event “In the footsteps of René Lévesque” in Montreal, the opening of an exhibition at the Musée de la civilization in Quebec City on November 17 and a tribute show to the founder of the Parti Québécois and to the French language, next February in Montreal.

Born on August 24, 1922, Mr. Lévesque died on August 1^er November 1987, nearly 35 years ago. Poll after poll, he remains one of the most beloved political figures in Quebec, rightly reminded Lucien Bouchard.