Though "shocked" and "disappointed" by Lucien Bouchard's recent pessimistic comments on sovereignty, the Bloc Québécois vows sovereignty will continue to frame the party's approach to all policy issues.

After nearly a decade out of the public eye, the charismatic founder of the Bloc Québécois burst back onto the Quebec political scene last week, causing a media flurry with some surprising views on Quebec's sovereignty project. A former Quebec premier who championed the "yes" side during the 1995 referendum, the 71-year-old Mr. Bouchard created a national sensation on Feb. 17 when he said he's convinced he wouldn't see another referendum in his lifetime.

Speaking at a colloquium reflecting on the past 100 years of Quebec's political history, Mr. Bouchard said "people don't want [a referendum] in the short term, that is to say, in several years."

While he said he remains a sovereigntist, Mr. Bouchard said sovereignty is "unattainable," according to Le Devoir reports. He added that sovereignty, in any case, is not the solution to Quebec's problems, and that the Quebec nation needs to embrace a new dream.

Despite this volte-face by one of Quebec's iconic separatists, Bloc Québécois MPs say their resolve for an independence is unshaken.

Last Tuesday, as Mr. Bouchard's comments were reverberating through Quebec, Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe (Laurier-Sainte-Marie, Que.) made it abundantly clear he had not reconsidered his sovereigntist ideas during a speech delivered at a Canadian Federation of Agriculture forum in Ottawa.

"Clearly, for Quebec, being in Canada has more disadvantages than advantages," Mr. Duceppe said. "It's true for agriculture, but also in other fields like the economy at large, the environment, language and culture...Quebec has no future in Canada!"

Said Mr. Duceppe: "Without sovereignty, Quebec will become more and more marginalized inside Canada....We must continue to prepare the ground for giving the Quebec nation a sovereign country."

In a scrum following his speech, to which offended anglophone farmers responded with derision, Mr. Duceppe minimized the difference between his position and Mr. Bouchard's. He underlined the fact that Mr. Bouchard remains a self-identified sovereigntist, and said that the party's founder just "doesn't think it will come very soon."

Bloc Québécois MP Claude Bachand (Saint-Jean, Que.) said he was "disappointed" by Mr. Bouchard's comments.

"I've always known him as a great sovereigntist so it was a great shock to me," he said.

Bloc House Leader Pierre Paquette (Joliette, Que.), meanwhile, said it may be sour grapes because Mr. Bouchard ultimately failed to bring independence to his province.

"I think he's a little bitter because he was not able to do the project," he said.

Bloc MPs said that, upon a close reading, Mr. Bouchard was mostly urging Quebecers to focus on pressing issues in society.

While a referendum granting sovereignty may be decades away, Bloc MPs said sovereigntist ideas will remain the bedrock of their party's approach, and that they will advocate positions and policies an independent Quebec would adopt.

Mr. Paquette, meanwhile, said that the Harper government's policies—such as climate change skepticism and inaction, a lack of initiative on sustainable development, and failure to support Quebec's struggling forestry and manufacturing sectors—are fanning indépendantiste flames. He said many Quebecers realize that the ultimate solution to solving the province's financial, social, and economic problems is independence.

The Bloc MPs added that they are not discouraged by the suggestion independence may yet be years away. After all, they said, the ideas that underpin the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s had been bubbling since the 1940s.

They noted, as well, that a large and stable proportion of Quebec residents—upwards of 40 per cent—support sovereignty. While Mr. Bouchard's comments caused a "tempest" in Quebec, they said, it has already blown over.

Le Devoir publisher Bernard Descôteaux, who hosted the discussion where Mr. Bouchard delivered his comments, said he doubts Mr. Bouchard's comments will significantly alter the sovereignty debate, and that "nobody in Quebec sees a referendum before a horizon of four years, five years, 10 years." However, he said, this surprising pessimism could serve as a motivator to some.

Antonia Maioni, the director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, said Mr. Bouchard's comments will have little lasting affect on the sovereignty debate.

"I don't think it's taken the wind of anybody's sails, because sovereignty is not a front-burner issue," she said.

She situated Mr. Bouchard's comments in the ongoing left-right debate in the province, and said he speaks for a conservative, realist branch of the Quebec political family

"He's trying to make a point that Quebec has to get on with the business of meeting the new challenges of this century," Prof. Maioni said. "He's part of a group—the lucides—who think there needs to be an overhaul of how the Quebec state acts in society, downsizing, a more coherent approach to things like higher education and social programs."

jdavis@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times