Yves-François Blanchet went on Tuesday to present his vision of the economy of an independent Quebec to the Montreal business community.
The leader of the Bloc Québécois was the guest of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM). He noted in particular the incompatibility, according to him, between a Canada “whose economic model is oil”, while “Quebec is perhaps the state best placed in the world to suggest a different model of conciliation between ‘ecology and economy’ with in particular its clean hydroelectric energy.
He described Quebec’s independence as “the natural outcome” of the political, economic and social reforms of the Quiet Revolution, including the nationalization of hydroelectricity, the creation of the Caisse de dépôt et placement and the democratization of education. He called for better development and local transformation of natural resources, an innovative economy, where the wealth produced is shared as well as a reception of immigrant labor “in a generous, welcoming French state and responsible”.
“Is this model [économique], can Quebec achieve it in Canada? No,” he said. Because too much attention and resources are given in Canada to the Alberta oil sector, but not only that. Also, because multiculturalist Canada understands nothing about the Quebec secular state project and because aid for research and innovation in French always comes second behind what is done in English, explained Yves-François Blanchet at a press briefing afterwards.
We realized from the start that the event was not going to be an ordinary chamber of commerce dinner. Instead of the usual polite applause, the presentation of the guests at the head table sparked bursts of cheers when the turn of its best-known guests came, including the former premier of Quebec, Pauline Marois, the former leader of the Parti Québécois and businessman Pierre Karl Péladeau and former leader of the Bloc Québécois Gilles Duceppe. The speaker’s speech would then elicit several other rounds of applause from some 450 business people, Bloc MPs and Yves-François Blanchet sympathizers who came to hear him in the dining room of a large hotel in the downtown.
Devil’s advocate
A question-and-answer part was also planned during which the president and CEO of the CCMM, Michel Leblanc, had to play the role of devil’s advocate. From the outset – and contrary to the public mood on Tuesday – he noted that, if support in the polls for Quebec independence is currently still far from what it has been in the past, it’s probably still a little weaker in the business community.
Indeed, he argued, in this period of numerous geopolitical, economic and commercial upheavals in the world, the last thing the business world would need is the uncertainty that a “new referendum crisis” would bring. , especially if it was to obtain the same result as the last two times. And then, he explained at a press briefing afterwards, how to be sure that a possible declaration of independence by Quebec would not blur or break, even temporarily, vital links for Quebec with its economic partners. and commercial?