At an inaugural meeting at Ruby Foo's in Snowdon on Sunday, Nutik attacked the ruling Liberal government.

"No more lies and false promises from Mr. Charest," he said.

"No more 'chantage,' no more fear-mongering now that (we don't have to worry) the disintegrating Parti Québécois will be re-elected if we do not vote for the Liberal Party. That era is now over as of today."

Although Nutik was active in a movement popular among some anglo-rights activists in the late 1990s to partition Montreal, he insisted that Affiliation Quebec is not an anglo-rights organization, but a minority-rights party that represents all Quebecers equally.

"In the past, most of our community's attempts to sustain political and pressure group movements have eventually lost steam and finally petered out," he said. "This is the place for it to end …

"This is a project in which this time we dare not fail because our futures, our children's futures, and perhaps our country's ultimate future depends on our success at achieving improved recognition, status and the equality which has been stolen from us."

With the ruling Liberals reduced to a minority, Nutik suggested a new government could end up abandoning the Liberals' commitment to provide a large part of the funding for the McGill University Health Centre.

"Even a firm commitment today from the non-performing Liberals and Mr. Charest could be erased in a flash by an elected ADQ government," he said.

"Charest has stalled so long in this dossier, in this file, that we may just have been had again … It's a strong possibility the provincial government will not fund our super hospital, because it's been years and years and years and where's the money?"

At one point, Nutik launched an attack on former Westmount mayor Peter Trent, who was mayor in 1997 when Nutik and other partitionists failed to convince city council to pass a resolution endorsing the principles of partition.

"Peter Trent was the guy who stopped the municipal referendums," he said. "It stopped in Westmount. Peter Trent is not one of our friends."

Nutik suggested afterwards that the provincial government was inspired by the partition movement to launch the massive municipal reform that resulted in the creation of megacities. "They wanted to put the partitionists out of business," he said.

While the idea of Quebec's partition has fallen by the wayside since then, at least one Affiliation Quebec supporter was intrigued by the concept. "If it comes down to it, it certainly is divisible," said Lucas Kilradey, a Concordia University public affairs student who lives on Atwater Avenue.

"Montreal's more distinct from the rest of Quebec than Quebec is from the rest of Canada clearly," he added. "So at this point, whichever party represents Montreal is the best thing. Because Montreal is sociologically, politically, financially, culturally just different."

Even if Affiliation Quebec failed to reach the 100-signature goal last Sunday, the party has six months to obtain the rest. In accordance with electoral law, the party must also leave a $500 deposit with the director-general of elections.