Sovereigntist leader tells McGill students Quebec is a ‘stateless nation’

Erika Meere
CUP Québec Bureau Chief

MONTREAL (CUP) — Parti Québécois (PQ) leader André Boisclair made his case for sovereignty to a room of McGill political science students on Monday, assuring them that the PQ bears no resentment toward English speakers, and that his government would be open to discussing free tuition.

Insisting that he was not trying to win their votes, the provincial Opposition leader told the class of 60 students, the majority of whom were not from Quebec, that he was simply asking them to respect the views of sovereigntists.

“Whatever points of view we have in Quebec, we’ve always debated respectfully,” he said.

In a 40-minute presentation on the aims of the sovereigntist movement, Boisclair stressed that Quebec, with its unique culture and identity, is a “stateless nation,” neither better nor worse than the rest of Canada.

However, he argued that the province would be much better off economically if it were to separate from the rest of Canada, and have the power to establish its own tax system and loosen current trade restrictions.

“Sovereignty isn’t something we’re looking for against anyone. We’re just looking to accelerate economic development in Quebec,” he said.

Boisclair noted that today’s sovereigntists have different goals than their parents’ generation. While sovereigntists previously fought for greater recognition within Canada, he argued, the focus should now be on establishing Quebec’s place on the international scene.

With support for sovereignty hovering just below 50 per cent and Premier Jean Charest’s Liberal government low in the polls, Boisclair believes that there is a window of opportunity for the PQ to form the next government.

“If we do things right in the months to come, there’s a strong possibility that we will win,” he said, reaffirming his promise to call a referendum “as soon as possible” once elected.

He reminded students that Quebeckers are living under a Constitution that was rejected by Quebec’s National Assembly in 1982, and emphasized the importance of establishing clear rules by which the province would achieve sovereignty.

Boisclair said that the federalists did not win the 1995 referendum in an honest way, pointing to the Option Canada scandal in which the “No” side was accused of illegally spending millions of dollars to win the campaign.

In response to a student question about Anglophone institutions, Boisclair said that McGill is already a great asset to the province, and that it would not lose value in a sovereign Quebec.

He also expressed a desire to continue reaching out to English speakers by addressing them in their first language, as he did during his leadership campaign last year.

“I don’t have any resentment toward the English. I’m part of a generation that grew up speaking English and watching Sesame Street,” he said.