Skip to main content

Former PQ premier Jacques Parizeau accompagnies his wife, Lisette Lapointe, after she quit the the party in Quebec City on June 6, 2011.CLEMENT ALLARD/The Canadian Press

The rift in the Parti Québécois continues to widen as the patriarch of the sovereignty movement, former PQ premier Jacques Parizeau, took on a band of "young" caucus supporters of Leader Pauline Marois.

The fallout has left Ms. Marois's leadership even more discredited than it was last week when four PQ caucus members quit over her handling of sovereignty issue and her attempt to muzzle debate over Quebec City's controversial arena project.

In a letter published in the Montreal daily Le Devoir, Mr. Parizeau took aim at the party's "diluted" sovereignty objective and "uncertain" approach to achieving it. He also strongly criticized the way Ms. Marois imposed the party line on a PQ private member's bill that inhibits a Quebecker's right to legally challenge a management deal for the proposed arena project.

What prompted Mr. Parizeau's scathing remarks was a letter published on Saturday by a group of "young" PQ MNAs urging Mr. Parizeau to have faith in the new generation of sovereigntists and encouraging him to keep quiet and abstain from criticizing Ms. Marois's sovereignty strategy.

"After all this mess you essentially come and ask me to keep quiet!" Mr. Parizeau said in his letter. "How could you for one moment think that I would comply? I don't intervene often: In fact I do so less and less. I don't abuse my right to speak but I demand it."

The former premier ridiculed the self-proclaimed "young" MNAs, noting that some of them are well into their 40s. At that age, party founder René Lévesque had nationalized hydroelectricity in Quebec, Mr. Parizeau said, adding that at that age he had already worked for three premiers.

"Back in those days, we used to call 40 years the age of experience," Mr. Parizeau wrote.

When the MNAs explained that they were sovereigntists because they wanted to defend "democracy, the values of peace, solidarity, sustainable development and the protection of the environment," Mr. Parizeau called it nothing more than boasting.

"I can assure you that you won't get the attention of journalists with this kind of boasting. But you surely have attracted attention by this muffled invitation to have me keep quiet," Mr. Parizeau said.

What is truly at stake, he insisted, is the right to speak out and debate issues such as sovereignty. The right to speak has nothing to do with age or generations, he argued. "When it comes to the right to speak, there is no such thing as age nor 'youthism.' We are all citizens."

It was unclear why the dozen PQ MNAs chose to attack Mr. Parizeau directly. One explanation may be that his wife, Lisette Lapointe, one of the four PQ dissenters, had led the fight against Ms. Marois's "weak" stand on sovereignty. When she quit the PQ caucus last week, Ms. Lapointe made a damning statement when she referred to the "extreme authority of a leadership obsessed with power."

Jean-Martin Aussant, the only one of the four PQ caucus deserters who openly called for Ms. Marois's resignation, said the MNAs' campaign against Mr. Parizeau will backfire. He said it will do even more harm with voters. A recent poll suggests Ms. Marois is no longer being considered as a credible alternative to Jean Charest's Liberals.

"There are two clans: those who seek votes to take power and then search for means to talk about sovereignty, and there are those, like me, who say that we need to get elected by talking about sovereignty," Mr. Aussant said. "The MNAs sent the letter to the wrong person. They should have sent it to Ms. Marois, not Mr. Parizeau."

Mr. Parizeau's letter provoked a harsh response. François Rebello, 40, one of the caucus letter-writers, called Mr. Parizeau a grandfather and suggested he do other things than try and manage the caucus. Colleague Nicolas Girard said the comments by the MNAs were misinterpreted and largely exaggerated.

Damage from the war of letters is widening the wedge between PQ clans, making Mr. Marois's attempts to regain control over the party much more difficult. On Wednesday, she will unveil her party's pre-election program in a bid to divert attention away from the controversy. However, she may find it difficult to avoid the media glare triggered by this latest round of party infighting.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe