SAGUENAY, Que. – Pauline Marois has had enough of the crisis in the Parti Quebecois and says it’s time for members to show some discipline.
The PQ leader began a two-day meeting of her legislature caucus saying it’s time for the squabbling party to come together and get on with the job of being the alternative to Premier Jean Charest’s Liberals.
“We need to get a grip,” she told reporters Wednesday. “We need to find cohesion and coherence.”
The PQ has been rocked by one crisis after another this year, beginning with the blow to the sovereigntist movement dealt by the near-annihilation of the Bloc Quebecois by the NDP in the May 2 federal election.
After that, five members bolted caucus in June, including heavyweights Pierre Curzi, former cabinet minister Louise Beaudoin and Lisette Lapointe, wife of former premier Jacques Parizeau.
Critics of Marois’ go-slow approach to sovereignty, they pegged their ire on her support for special legislation that would protect the multimillion-dollar deal to build a controversial Quebec City arena from any legal challenge.
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The trio aligned themselves with a sovereigntist citizens’ movement which many point to as evidence of fragmentation among sovereigntists.
And the PQ has seen a dramatic slide in its popular support, putting it in third place in recent polls behind the Liberals and a right-leaning coalition led by former PQ minister Francois Legault.
The PQ’s position has raised eyebrows because Legault’s group isn’t even a political party yet.
Marois acknowledges work needs to be done. She planned to bring proposals to the meeting, which is to prepare her caucus for the resumption of the legislature on Sept. 20.
Her critics, including Bernard Drainville, were also expected to put some ideas on the table.
While some people agreed with a recent posting on Drainville’s Internet site where he called for the party to revamp the way it does business, others said he should have brought his ideas to caucus first.
Caucus head Monique Richard echoed Marois’ calls for unity and said there needs to be more discipline.
“The caucus is still the place to make proposals,” she said, noting that Marois did not deserve to be the lightning rod in the current party storm.
“We must respect the caucus,” Richard said.
Francois Gendron, the dean of the caucus, said he would have preferred that Drainville choose another strategy but he acknowledged the PQ has to change.
House leader Stephane Bedard said Quebecers had not been presented with the best image of the PQ in the last few months.
“What is best is in our ideas,” he said. “We have to put those ideas forward.”
Two caucus members couldn’t attend because of illness. The four Bloc members who survived the NDP wave in Quebec were invited to attend the meeting.
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