QUEBEC CITY – Parti Québécois (PQ) leadership hopefuls are revving up their campaigning this summer and some say they’re reinvigorated about Quebec independence after the Brexit vote.
While engaging people in politics during the summer isn’t an easy task, candidate Véronique Hivon is determined to meet with voters even while they’re on vacation.
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“I will go see them at the beach,” she joked.
“I’m really touring and I’m going to see people where they are. This is what I’m going to do with my family this summer.”
Five people have thrown their name into the ring for the Parti Québécois leadership so far.
MNAs Jean-François Lisée, Alexandre Cloutier and Martine Ouellet join Hivon.
Lawyer and activist Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is also running.
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While they don’t agree on everything, the debate has centered around one ongoing issue.
“Sovereignty is at the heart of what the Parti Québécois is all about,” said Hivon.
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Fellow candidate Lisée has said he would wait until after 2018 to start the referendum talk, while Ouellet wants to form an alliance with all sovereignists and run a 2018 election campaign around the debate.
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“The independence will be the central thing and it’s important that the Parti Québécois become again, a vast popular movement,” said Ouellet, who added the PQ can learn a lot from Great Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.
“What Brexit demonstrated is that a referendum is the best democratic tool that states have.”