US embassy cable - 05QUEBEC101

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 QUEBEC 000101 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  6/17/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, ECON, CA, Parti Quebecois 
SUBJECT: PARTI QUEBECOIS CONGRESS:  ROADMAP TO SOVEREIGNTY, MAYBE 
 
REF: Quebec 91 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Abigail Friedman, Consul General, Quebec City, 
State. 
REASON: 1.4 (d) 
 
1.  (c) Summary:  A coalition of widely varying political 
ideologies, the Parti Quebecois (PQ) is united in the goal of 
sovereignty but divided on how to achieve this.  The Party's 
"hard core" stresses Quebec's francophone identity and wants a 
declaration of independence immediately after victory at the 
polls.  The moderates judge that such victory will not come 
unless the Party embraces a gradualist route to sovereignty and 
makes concessions to Quebec's multi-ethnic society.  The party's 
June 3-5 convention (its first in five years), reflected 
factional differences but also demonstrated that on key issues 
the moderate majority - which always has one eye on the voters 
-- is able to make its position stick.  PQ delegates adopted a 
comprehensive, social democratic electoral platform, entitled 
"Project for a Country," which satisfies ideologues on a number 
of points, but on two key issues, sovereignty and language, the 
moderate majority stood its ground.  The PQ hard core will want 
to use the November 15 leadership race to pull the party more in 
its direction.  But that race is in the hands of the wider PQ 
membership that traditionally favor a candidate who can attract 
enough voters to bring electoral victory.  All this suggests 
that the next PQ leader will likely face the same struggle that 
confronted Landry and all of his predecessors: keeping the party 
responsive to a pragmatic Quebec electorate over the 
machinations of a hardcore minority.  The PQ may be hindered in 
achieving its objectives more by its internal inconsistencies 
than by the absence of a perfect leader.  End Summary. 
 
A Social Democratic Party 
--------------------------- 
 
2. (c) At the PQ leadership convention June 3-5, its first in 
five years and the first since its electoral defeat in 2003, 
party delegates reached agreement on a document entitled 
"Project for a Country," which is, in effect, a revamped, 
renamed electoral platform.  That document captures the party's 
vision of Quebec as: 
 
-- francophone, democratic, and pacifist; 
-- social-democratic, favoring solidarity and equality; 
-- strongly pro-union; 
-- favoring a high degree of state intervention; 
-- wary of globalization; 
-- committed to preserving and promoting Quebec's cultural and 
linguistic diversity; 
-- committed to sustainable development; and 
-- supportive of international organizations, such as the U.N. 
 
3. (c) As newly named PQ Executive Council President Monique 
Richard put it to a television audience shortly after the party 
convention, the PQ is an "uneasy coalition of sovereigntists" 
with many factions and diverse positions.  Sovereignty apart, 
the views of PQ members range from a fiscally conservative 
center-right to anti-globalization "greens," with the 
left-of-center predominating.  The PQ consensus is firmly social 
democratic, although fringe positions also make their way into 
the party platform.  (At the June convention, for example, party 
delegates came out in favor of lowering the voting age to 
sixteen and of inviting Quebeckers to use paper instead of 
plastic bags at the supermarket.) 
 
United Behind Sovereignty 
-------------------------- 
 
4.  (c) PQ caucus leader Agnes Maltais, who discussed the party 
platform with CG June 8, said that the "Project for a Country" 
is a communication tool, intended to drive home the point that 
sovereignty is at the top of the party's agenda.  Maltais said 
that in the past, PQ platforms only stated in general terms the 
party's commitment to sovereignty, focusing instead on how a PQ 
government should run each ministry.  The new document calls for 
the next PQ government to use public money to promote 
sovereignty and to adopt laws in preparation for sovereignty. 
Moreover, as the PQ's electoral platform and its Project for a 
Country are now one and the same, the platform commits the party 
to run its next provincial election campaign directly on the 
issue of sovereignty. 
 
But Divided over Strategy 
-------------------------- 
 
5.  (c) Maltais acknowledged that re-orienting and renaming the 
party platform is a concession to the PQ hard core, who fear the 
party is more interested in winning elections than in bringing 
Quebec to sovereignty.  But she stressed that the hard-core lost 
on the all-important issue of strategy to attain sovereignty. 
Convention delegates rejected the hard core bid to adopt a 
resolution calling on the PQ to declare an act of independence 
immediately after an election victory.  Instead, the delegates 
supported the approach favored by former PQ leader Bernard 
Landry, which calls for a referendum "as soon as possible" after 
the next election. 
 
6.  (c) The hard core also lost on an amendment to the French 
Language Charter (Bill 101) that would have prevented 
francophones and immigrants from attending English CEGEPs 
(pre-university junior colleges).  The hard core logic seems to 
be that when Quebec becomes a sovereign country it will have 
only French as its national language, given this, they argue 
against spending public funds on English-language education. 
More moderate delegates at the convention, sensitive to 
electoral considerations, spoke out against the amendment, 
underscoring the folly of taking a stance that gives the party a 
xenophobic, anti-diversity image at a time when it is working to 
expand support among the public.  Ultimately, delegates adopted 
a much watered-down resolution to "remain vigilant given the 
regression of French among certain communities." 
 
Hoping for Another Chance 
---------------------------- 
 
7. (c) While PQ moderates came out of the convention with a 
social democratic platform to their liking, the hard core denied 
Bernard Landry the clear, overwhelming support he had hoped for, 
triggering his resignation halfway through the convention. 
(reftel.)  The PQ hard core is now hoping the leadership race 
scheduled for November 15 will give them another crack at 
imposing its more radical agenda on the party.  They can do this 
either by running a candidate who shares their views, or by 
promising their support to the candidate most willing to 
negotiate concessions to their liking.  The former strategy is 
unlikely to succeed, as a hard core candidate has never garnered 
support from more than about a quarter of the party.  Instead, 
political pundits expect the hard core will seek to expand the 
number of PQ members sympathetic to their cause (through a 
membership drive in advance of the leadership election) and to 
press candidates to reopen the question of when a referendum 
might be held. 
 
8. (c)  But a leadership election is far different from a vote 
of confidence.  Unlike the eighty percent goal Landry set 
himself for his vote of confidence, a simple majority will 
decide the next PQ leader.   And whereas a vote of confidence is 
decided by the roughly 1600 convention delegates, all 75,000 
card-carrying members of the PQ are eligible to vote (and many 
expect this number to increase in advance of the November 15 
leadership election.)  With the hard core in a minority, the 
election process tends to favor a "popular" candidate who can 
appeal to the moderate majority of party members. 
 
Comment: Deja vu All Over Again? 
----------------------------------- 
 
9. (c)  Despite all the media chatter about the radicalization 
of the party with Landry's resignation, the above suggests that 
the next leader may well be -- like Landry and all of his 
predecessors -- a PQ moderate well aware of the need to win 
Quebeckers over to the idea of sovereignty and respectful of the 
party's social democratic agenda.  But as with Landry and all of 
his predecessors, the next leader will be faced with the same 
challenge of making the party responsive to a pragmatic public 
while fending off the demands of a militant hard core.  Despite 
its internal inconsistencies, the party has managed to win 
elections before.  The difference now is that the PQ sees itself 
as at a critical juncture in its history.  With its new 
platform, the PQ is looking for a leader who can both win an 
election and move Quebec rapidly toward sovereignty.   Whether 
there will be a candidate up to the task remains to be seen. 
But equally important, after the recent actions of the PQ hard 
core at the convention, is whether the Parti Quebecois itself is 
up to the task. 
 
 
FRIEDMAN