Marois admits Quebecers may never be ready for sovereignty
MONTREAL—Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois remains “confident” about the chance of a future referendum on Quebec's separation from Canada but says she is leaving open the possibility that the population will never be ready for another shot at independence.
“We have to evaluate whether it is possible to hold (a referendum) and to win,” Marois said in a radio interview Wednesday morning. “I want to win the next time and I want Quebecers to win together so we won't have one if we don't think we can win.”
Asked by 98.5FM host Paul Arcand if that means it is possible a PQ government would never hold a third sovereignty vote in order to avoid a third defeat, Marois let out a sigh.
“Listen, that's not what I wish.”
With polls showing only about three-in-10 Quebecers supporting separation from Canada the raison d'être for the PQ has become its chief liability in this election. After a first week of the campaign that was dominated by Marois and her candidates talking about a referendum, support for the PQ sunk, support for the Quebec Liberal party rose and the political barometer has been changed little in the ensuing weeks.
Since that disastrous first week, Marois has promised that a re-elected PQ government would not push the Quebecers toward another referendum and insisted that the choice in this campaign is about which party is best equipped to deal with the economic and social issues facing the province.
She did, however, say in a morning news conference that even if re-elected with a minority government, her party would push ahead with a public consultation on “the future of Quebec” — which many see as little more than a forum to air Quebec's grievances with the federal government and better explain why the province would be better off on its own.
