The Parti Québécois (PQ) wants to take advantage of the renewed popularity of the sovereignist cause to write a “white paper on independence”.
The PQ National Executive Council will make the proposal in good and due form on Saturday at the congress of members of the sovereignist formation, in Sherbrooke. In the event that the activists approve of the idea, the preparation of this document will be entrusted to the political committee, which will have the task of addressing various themes, such as “criticism of the Canadian regime”, “the economy of Quebec independent” and “the question of the integration of federal civil servants.
At their last convention, in 2021, the delegates of the PQ had supported a proposal aimed at “presenting a clear definition of sovereign Quebec”, filled with details on the currency, the army and the borders.
Then, in the middle of the election campaign, the PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, signed up for an interview at the Duty to table a new “budget for year one”, an exercise inspired by the portrait of the finances of a sovereign Quebec drawn up in 2005 by François Legault — then a member of the official opposition. This renewed document has still not seen the light of day.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon promises “an announcement” on the year’s budget at the members’ convention on Saturday. At the party, it is indicated that this is a separate exercise from the white paper, and which will be impossible to table before the presentation of the Quebec Budget 2023-2024, on March 21.
Pauline Marois is the last PQ leader to have raised the idea of a white paper on sovereignty. In 2014, she made it an election promise. His defeat in the election had put a final nail in the coffin of this initiative.
According to data from a survey published in our pages last week, 38% of Quebecers still support the independence option, an increase of six percentage points compared to the last Léger-The duty conducted on this subject in 2018.