Quebec Separatists Fight for Reelection

Posted on Mon, Apr. 14, 2003
Quebec Separatists Fight for Reelection
PHIL COUVRETTE - Associated Press

MONTREAL - In a topsy-turvy election campaign, Quebec's pro-independence party has played down separation from Canada while the main opposition has sought to keep the issue prominent.

The French-speaking province votes Monday on whether to give Premier Bernard Landry's separatist Parti Quebecois a third straight term in power, and another chance for a sovereignty referendum.

Landry's party, created to make Quebec independent from Canada, faces a strong challenge from the Quebec Liberal Party headed by Jean Charest, a proponent of keeping Quebec in Canada. The Parti Quebecois slogan was "Let's Stay Strong," while the Liberal party countered with, "We're Ready."

More than 5.4 million voters are registered to decide who fills the 125 seats in the National Assembly, as the provincial legislature is known. The party that controls the legislature forms the government.

Opinion polls indicated a race too close to call, after a surge in support for the Liberals in recent weeks. Pollsters say voters want change after nine years of Parti Quebecois rule and a divisive 1995 sovereignty referendum that failed by the narrowest of margins - less than a percentage point.

"After two mandates, that's enough," said Myriam Ferland, 38, voting in the Mont-Royal riding, or district, in Montreal.

Landry, 66, a former finance minister, insists a sovereign Quebec remains his aim. But with polls indicating most Quebecers oppose another referendum any time soon, he has soft-pedaled that issue, saying he would hold another referendum only if it was sure to succeed.

His campaign focused on social issues, proposing benefits for young families with children to promote population growth among the Francophone population.

Responding to the Liberal surge in the polls, Landry spent the final weekend of campaigning attacking his opponent's programs as too expensive and saying Charest would fail to stand up to the federal government on behalf of Quebec.

"The federal government wants Jean Charest as Quebec's advocate," Landry said Sunday. "They know he's not as effective as I could be and I was."

His message resonated with Denise Fortin, a Mont-Royal voter.

"We've had good government during a difficult period," she said. "No party would have done better on health care. We have eliminated deficits. We don't want a return to deficits."

Charest refused to let Landry's separatist leanings get hidden, saying the premier only wanted a chance to hold another referendum. He was careful to acknowledge the legitimacy of the sovereignty movement, calling for those seeking to break from Canada to vote for his party anyway to bring change.

"There will always be a sovereignty movement in Quebec and you have to accept the fact that they defend that idea like I defend mine," he said Sunday.

A Liberal victory would signal the continued calming of separatist sentiment in a province where 80 percent of the people speak French.

While Landry is credited with running a competent government that has brought a stable economy, some wonder if a committed separatist can bring political calm. That question became even more pertinent because of the Iraq war, which is strongly opposed by a majority of Quebecers.

Landry was expected to benefit from the war, with people gravitating to a stable status quo in times of unease. But the Liberals made inroads by arguing they offer cooperation, instead of confrontation, with the rest of Canada, said Anne-Marie Marois of Leger Marketing, a polling firm.

Seven other parties fielded candidates, but only one, Action Democratique du Quebec, was expected to win any seats.