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PQ looks for help keeping dream of sovereignty alive for Quebecers

Canadian Press Article online since May 15th 2008, 23:00
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PQ looks for help keeping dream of sovereignty alive for Quebecers
Parti Quebecois Pauline Marois speaks to reporters. THE CANADIAN PRESS - Peter McCabe
MONTREAL - Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois hopes a little harmony among sovereignty supporters will kick-start a cause that has stalled in the eyes of many Quebecers.
Despite the PQ's win in two of three byelections held earlier this week, Marois acknowledged Friday the independence movement currently lacks "effervescence."
"There will be moments when it will be slower," she told a news conference at the PQ's headquarters in Montreal. "There will be moments when there is greater resistance."
She said the arguments for an independent Quebec must be updated to better reflect the realities of a globalized world.
Marois pledged her party would consult widely, including with rival political parties, for ideas on how to rejuvenate the movement.
"The objective is not partisan, it's the project of a people to choose their independence," she said.
"It would seem to me that we have to be capable of putting short-term interests aside to rally around the objective."
But currying favour among the smaller sovereigntist parties, such as Quebec solidaire and the newly-formed Parti independantiste, could prove difficult.
The Parti independantiste is particularly hard on Marois for her decision to take referendum talk off the PQ table.
When former PQ leadership candidate Ghislain Lebel recently jumped to the new party - after a brief stop with Action democratique du Quebec - he accused Marois of being obsessed with power.
Lebel is only the latest in a string of high-profile sovereigntists to break with a PQ they feel is toothless without the commitment to hold a referendum.
"If they want to come back they are welcome," Marois said Friday. "The doors are wide open."
Marois has staked her leadership on her ability to guide Quebec to independence by steering clear of issues that make voters weary - chief among them, a sovereignty referendum.
But all that grumbling in recent weeks has forced Marois to reassert her commitment to sovereignty.
Marois signalled Friday that the PQ shouldn't be the only one willing to rethink the ways to independence.
"The responsibility for motivating people cannot rest exclusively on the shoulders of the leader or the parliamentary wing of the Parti Quebecois," she said.
She offered no details on what form this cross-party consensus might take, but Marois didn't rule out forming a common front on the sovereignty question for the next election.
The PQ will launch its consensus-building project by forming a committee to draft a manifesto of the updated arguments for sovereignty.
"We're optimistic that what we will create in the coming months will create a new interest," said Daniel Turp, the legislative member heading the group.
"I think there will be an interest in the arguments we will put to Quebecers."
The manifesto will be presented to PQ members in October.
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