Quebecers can expect a "public consultation" on sovereignty if they elect the Parti Québécois in the March 26 provincial election, PQ Leader André Boisclair said Saturday.
The promise is the PQ's top priority in its electoral platform, which Boisclair released Saturday at the party's national council meeting in Laval, north of Montreal.
Parti Québécois Leader André Boisclair released his party's campaign platform on Saturday, refraining from officially using the word 'referendum.'
(David Boily/Canadian Press)
The platform steers clear from the word referendum, referring to a vote on sovereignty as a "public consultation" or "referendary agenda."
Boisclair has been reticent to use the word referendum in this campaign, but did not mince his words in a closing speech to delegates gathered at the party's meeting.
"We are making the choice in the first pages of our road map, to propose to Quebecers to hold as quickly as possible in our first mandate a referendum on Quebec's sovereignty that will lead us to Quebec's liberty," he told PQ delegates gathered at a Laval hotel.
Boisclair said Quebec needs to be sovereign to fulfill its potential and address other pressing issues. "We have priorities for Quebec, and sovereignty is a tool for us to be able to achieve these priorities," he said.
Spending priorities include education, health care, climate change and debt repayment. The PQ platform promises the party will pump $1 billion into Quebec's education system, with the bulk going toward post-secondary education, and also to lower the dropout rate and repair schools.
The PQ pledges to spend $1 billion on health care, and will tackle global warming by adopting a climate change law to promote a carbon credit exchange, and by abolishing provincial sales tax on hybrid cars.
The platform also commits to paying down Quebec's public debt and would grant tax cuts when the province's economy attains an annual 2.5 per cent growth rate.
A PQ government would also create 20,000 new day-care spots by 2010, Boisclair said.
Liberals attack platform
The Liberal party was quick to tear up the platform, accusing Boisclair of trying to lure Quebecers into a future referendum by softening the language it uses to talk about sovereignty.
Liberal Leader Jean Charest wasted no time in attacking Boisclair, accusing him of underestimating Quebecers' intelligence by playing semantics with the word referendum.
"If Mr. Boisclair produces an electoral platform, and he's not able to say the word referendum, can Quebecers really trust André Boisclair?" Charest said in a press conference in St-Hyacinthe, where he campaigned Saturday to unveil the Liberal party's agricultural policies.
"If the one who is in front of you isn't able to use the right word, and is not able to look you in the eyes and say 'This is what I want to do,' well, you have reason to go look elsewhere," Charest said.
Boisclair says he's tired of Charest's semantic arguments. "I don't want to get myself trapped in a sideshow. We want to have an electoral campaign on real issues. We have a clear platform on the constitutional question."
Charest also said Boisclair's spending ambitions are lofty, because a PQ government could never resolve the fiscal imbalance if it goes ahead with a sovereignty referendum.
PQ forced to pull ad
The Parti Québécois found itself in hot water Friday, when women's groups slammed the party for an internet testimony-style video ad that features a woman talking about life under Charest's Liberal government in an overt allusion to abusive relationships.
The actress in the ad starts by describing how the Charest government was like a honeymoon at first, but then the lies started and things unravelled into a hellish existence until she was forced to end the relationship.
The Quebec Women's Federation blasted the PQ, accusing it of trivializing violence against women.
When confronted about the ad, Boisclair said he hadn't seen it but would order it removed.
With files from the Canadian PressRelated
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| Party | Elected | Leading | Total | Vote Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIB | 48 | 0 | 48 | 33.08% |
| ADQ | 41 | 0 | 41 | 30.80% |
| PQ | 36 | 0 | 36 | 28.32% |
| QS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.65% |
| GRN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.89% |
| OTH | 0 | 0 | 0 | .26% |
| Last Update:March 27, 12:52:21 AM EDT | ||||
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