Parti Quebecois MNA Alexandre Cloutier speaks to reporters at the legislature in Quebec City on May 10, 2016.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
Former cabinet minister Alexandre Cloutier has ensured there will be a race to succeed Pierre Karl Peladeau as Parti Quebecois leader.
Cloutier, 38, announced Friday he will become the second candidate to seek the sovereigntist party's top job.
"Today I am ready to assume the important functions of being the leader of the Parti Quebecois," said Cloutier, who was runner-up to Peladeau in the last PQ leadership vote in May 2015.
Speaking in his home riding of Lac-Saint-Jean, he said he is ready to lead a party that would be "modern but faithful to its roots."
A member of the legislature since 2007, Cloutier notably served as the province's Canadian intergovernmental affairs minister from 2012 to 2014.
Cloutier highlighted his work as the party's current official education critic and promised to make the issue a focal point of his campaign.
"I have stood up to defend the education sector with parents, with teachers, with support staff...and I can already announce that I will once again make it a priority during this leadership race," he said.
He promised to be faithful to the party's sovereigntist roots, adding that current globalization trends reinforce the need for Quebec to independently assert itself on the world stage.
Earlier this week former cabinet minister Veronique Hivon became the first person to enter the race, which was triggered by Peladeau's sudden resignation May 2, when he announced he wanted to spend more time with his young children.
The PQ is scheduled to choose a new leader between mid-September and mid-October.
Sylvain Gaudreault, a member of the legislature, is leading the party on an interim basis.