 Former Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard. (QMI Agency, file)
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QUEBEC CITY - In a rare public appearance Tuesday, former Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard criticized the Parti Quebecois and its leader Pauline Marois.
Bouchard, 71, who led the province from 1996 to 2001, was among the invited guests at a conference/debate in Quebec City to mark the 100th anniversary of Le Devoir newspaper.
Bouchard accused the PQ and Marois of closed-mindedness in the ongoing debate about Quebec's identity.
"It looks like the Parti Quebecois is trying to replace [the Action Democratique du Quebec] in the world of radicalism," he said. "[And] My brother was compared to Elvis Gratton by Pauline Marois. I'll never forget that. That sure doesn't show much openness, now does it?" Gratton is a film and television character who is an Elvis-impersonating caricature of an ignorant federalist.
Bouchard said he has a difficult time recognizing the PQ these days.
"We face a lot of very serious issues, problems with the economy, problems in education, problems with health care, public spending; we'd better start working on solving these issues," he said.
He also expressed some negative comments about PQ founder Rene Levesque.
"This is the first time I've said anything publicly since I admire the man,"
Bouchard said. "The most tragic error he ever made was accepting to negotiate with Ottawa and the rest of Canada the day after the referendum (of 1980).
"You should never walk into a negotiation when you're on your knees. There should always be a balance in power. He was in a disastrous state and what had to happen, happened. They crammed a constitution that we didn't want down our throats. We were brutally forced to accept a charter of rights and we've had to live with it since then."
To provide Quebec with renewed enthusiasm, Bouchard feels the province should exploit its electricity resources for their true market value.
"We had hoped to create a compassionate and solidarity society. The state no longer has the means to fulfil this mandate. It's run out of steam," he said. "We have a deficit, we're in deep debt. We've run out of leg room and we must absolutely finance education. We must understand the needs. We want to retain our social programs. How do we do it? We must start anew and create wealth. We are politically blocked."
