Aug 25, 2006Articles: Gay Politician Sworn In As Party Leader
By VZ
(Quebec City, Quebec) Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Boisclair was sworn in as a member of Quebec legislature, declaring that his sovereigntist party wants to build a new Quebec.
(Quebec City, Quebec) Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Boisclair was sworn in as a member of Quebec legislature, declaring that his sovereigntist party wants to build a new Quebec.
Boisclair also promised to put in place a super-team of candidates for the next provincial election, expected next spring.
``We will have a team as talented as the one that Rene Levesque had in 1976,'' Boisclair later told a news conference.
The PQ first came to power in 1976 under the leadership of the late premier.
``I'm been calling on the best Quebecers to get involved in the political debate and I've been meeting with many of them in the past few months,'' Boisclair said.
But he was evasive when asked if he'll outline, before the next election, how Quebec will make the change from a province to a country. The openly gay Boisclair, who was elected PQ leader nine months ago, said he was not going to discuss election strategy. He said the PQ's goal of sovereignty is based on the promotion of education. To do this, Quebec must be sovereign ``to control all the levers of its development.''
Boisclair said an eventual PQ government ``will build a new Quebec which will contrast with the neo-conservative Quebec which the Liberal team of (premier) Jean Charest is trying to develop.''
``We will take Quebec out of the lethargy into which it was plunged by Jean Charest,'' he added.
The new leader of the Official Opposition in the Quebec national assembly was sworn in along with Marie Malavoy. Both PQ MNA's were elected in byelections which were held last week in two Montreal area ridings. Boisclair earned his seat by winning a byelection in the Montreal east-end riding of Pointe-aux-Trembles.
The PQ leader easily won the riding because the governing Liberals and Quebec's other major party, the Action democratique du Quebec did not field any candidates against him. Malavoy's riding of Taillon has been a sovereigntist stronghold for 30 years.
During her comments, Malavoy invited women to get involved in politics, noting that in the byelection in her riding the four main political parties all had women candidates.
Boisclair's return to the legislature comes two years after he quit in 2004 to briefly attend Harvard University. He was elected for the first time in 1989 in the riding of Gouin in central Montreal at the age of 23 and was re-elected three times.
The current standings in the Quebec legislature are: Liberals 73, Parti Quebecois 46 and Action democratique five. There is also one Independent.
