QUEBEC – Pauline Marois, who could be elected premier of Quebec next week, has shared some details about her plan to achieve international recognition of an independent Quebec.
The Parti Quebecois leader and current election front-runner suggests in an interview that she’ll adopt a less aggressive approach than the one used before the 1995 referendum.
Marois tells The Canadian Press that she will be pleased to talk about her independence plans with foreign governments.
She says she does not foresee trying to line up promises to recognize an independent Quebec immediately after a sovereignty referendum.
That makes her approach less aggressive than the one used by Jacques Parizeau. He has revealed that before the last vote on independence, in 1995, he had worked to ensure that France would recognize Quebec as a country if his side won the referendum.
But there are some major differences between the current political climate and 1995: support for sovereignty is well off its historic level and Marois, unlike Parizeau, is not promising to hold a referendum in her first mandate.
Also, recent governments of France have been more supportive of Canadian unity than they once were.
