Inspired by the province's nationalist past, Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault says it's time for Quebeckers to once again become "masters in their own house."
In his closing remarks at the CAQ's founding convention on Saturday, Mr. Legault repeatedly used the old Liberal slogan " maîtres chez nous," which launched Quebec's Quiet Revolution in the early 1960s, and urged Quebeckers to set aside the federalist-separatist divide and unite behind his "nationalist" party.
"After the sovereigntists and the federalists, we need nationalists in power in Quebec," Mr. Legault said. "We nationalists have united our forces and we are proposing a strong, competent and responsible leadership."
Nationalism has become Mr. Legault's new calling card as he attempts to give his fledgling party a much needed boost to win back the support he lost since announcing the creation of the CAQ last fall.
The party members adopted its first party program on Saturday and are now poised for an election Mr. Legault firmly believes will be held this spring.
The new party strategy was clearly focused on convincing Quebeckers – especially francophone voters – that while the CAQ was committed to setting aside the debate over sovereignty and Quebec's place within Canada, it is still part of the province's struggle for more autonomy.
"We see this is as our moment in history, as a window of opportunity to cut away from the debate that has divided us through the best of the last half-century: the debate over separation," he told more than 500 cheering delegates. "Now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity… working together, united, focused not on constitutional debates but on the fixes our society urgently needs."
This was undoubtedly Mr. Legault's most emotional moment since he quit the Parti Québécois a few years ago, only to come back and launch his own political party. He fought back tears and his voice shook as he cried out: "we have a program!"
Some of the proposals adopted during the convention will require negotiations with the federal government, including changes to the Constitution to meet specific demands. These include a proposal to abolish so-called bridging schools that allow children of wealthy francophone and allophone Quebec families to attend costly private schools in order to become eligible to attend English-language schools.
The party also adopted a proposal to abolish school boards, a thorny issue that could be challenged before the courts by the English speaking community should the CAQ reach office.
Retired teacher Chris Eustace, a CAQ member from Montreal's anglophone community, argued that it was wrong to say that Mr. Legault's proposal would take constitutional rights away from the anglophone minority in Quebec.
"I am definitively in favour of abolishing school boards," Mr. Eustace said. "This business about Legault's plan of abolishing English school boards, infringing on the rights of the English community and it being unconstitutional is dead wrong."
Mr. Legault also wants to become the voice of entrepreneurs in the province. The proposals adopted by delegates included changes to labour laws that would make it more difficult to join a union or for daycare workers to go out on strike. Another proposal would open the door to a mixed private-public health-care system that would be the first of its kind in Canada.
He also Premier Jean Charest of tarnishing the reputation of the business community through allegations of fraud, collusion and corruption involving the awarding of government contracts and the ties to alleged illegal party financing schemes.
"I am committed to integrity. The integrity of not favouring the friends of the regime, the integrity of never being at the mercy of special interest groups, the integrity to fight the cancer of corruption," he said.
He accused the Liberal government of caving in to the interest of foreign investors in its dealing with mining companies in Northern Quebec. The CAQ would require the province's giant pension fund, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, to set-up a $5-billion fund that would be used to take a minority interest in mining and other natural resources companies.
The Caisse must become an active player in promoting Quebec entrepreneurship in the province, as it was in the 1960s and 1970s, the CAQ Leader said.
Anticipating an election call in the coming weeks, Mr. Legault urged Mr. Charest to settle the 10-week strike waged by college and university students. He said that, after several riots and clashes with police, the time has come to sit down with the student leaders and work out a settlement.
"Jean Charest has a duty as Premier to call a meeting this Monday. he has to put an end to the confrontation. … It is high time to put an end to the clashes," Mr. Legault said.
Rhéal Séguin