Duceppe expected to run for PQ if Boisclair steps down

QUEBEC ELECTION

Duceppe expected to run for PQ if Boisclair steps down, sources say
RHÉAL SÉGUIN Globe and Mail

QUEBEC -- The Parti Québécois will decide within days whether to hold a convention that would review André Boisclair's leadership, and if he is ousted, sources say Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe is expected to run to replace him.

Criticism of Mr. Boisclair's leadership mounted yesterday, after the party's humiliating relegation to third place in Monday's provincial election.

Former Parti Québécois leader Bernard Landry blamed Mr. Boisclair for the poor performance and joined the chorus calling for a leadership review and a serious evaluation of where the party is headed.

"The party must review its program, including its leadership," Mr. Landry said in an interview with Radio France Internationale to be broadcast Saturday.

A convention could be held as early as June. Its purpose would be to review the party's commitment to hold a referendum on sovereignty "as soon as possible" after a PQ election victory.

But party statutes also call for an automatic leadership review at the first convention after an election. That means if Mr. Boisclair wants to change the party program at the next convention in order to eliminate the obligation to hold a referendum, his leadership will also have to come under review.

Mr. Duceppe's is the name mentioned most often as a possible successor. He balked the last time the job opened up, but is expected to go for it the next time around.

Some riding association executives are already working to oust Mr. Boisclair after his surprise comments Tuesday that the election results show sovereignty is "impossible" in the short term and the party must change its policy. He said he would stay on as leader "to keep the PQ from falling into denial."

The remarks were viewed as an attempt to put sovereignty on the back burner but they have sparked a backlash that could lead to Mr. Boisclair's downfall. Mr. Landry's comments further fuelled the speculations.

For months now Mr. Landry has been critical of Mr. Boisclair's leadership and was even accused of trying to mount a putsch a few weeks before the election was called. Mr. Landry angrily denied the charges.

Monday's vote, in which the PQ's support dropped to its lowest level since 1970, the year it ran in its first election, has been viewed by federalists as a sign that the sovereignty option is now outmoded, an argument Mr. Landry vigorously denounced.

"What nation would find it outdated to have its freedom?" Mr. Landry said in the radio interview. "There will one day be another referendum because that is the way to achieve independence and one day Quebec will be independent."

If Mr. Boisclair and the PQ want to turn their backs on independence, some are suggesting that the party should be disbanded.

"Without the independence project it is clear that the Parti Québécois has no reason for existing," wrote Patrick Bourgeois and Pierre-Luc Bégin in the pro-sovereignty weekly Le Québécois. "The worst thing that could happen is for the PQ to abdicate. . . . If that should happen, we would have no choice but to quit the party . . . and rebuild elsewhere the hope for freedom."

While the PQ is showing signs of serious internal dissension, Liberals rallied around their leader, Jean Charest, denying that his leadership is also being called into question. The Liberals were re-elected, but as Quebec's first minority government since 1878.

"If we form a Liberal government today, it is because of Mr. Charest," said Environment Minister Claude Béchard, who came close to losing his seat of Kamouraska-Témiscouata to Mario Dumont's Action Démocratique du Québec. "During the last week of the campaign, Jean Charest saved our campaign. Quebeckers elected the man in whom they have the most confidence to be premier."

Justice Minister Yvon Marcoux said: "We are simply happy to have been elected and be given the opportunity to form a minority government. We are still the government, That is what's important."
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"La révolution est à bâtir, ou bien elle se dissipe".
-Jacques Berque

"On ne peut pas dire la vérité à la télévision: il y a trop de gens qui regardent"
- Coluche

In the eventuality that there's no other leader poping out the Pikiou, we 'll need to deal with Duceppe crossing over. I might be wrong on that, but is he really that charismatic? I mean, is he any better than the teeth?

What do we want, a clever politician (we kicked out both Parizeau and Bouchard), an image (Boisclair is holding the doornob) or an orator (any still alive?)