{"id":194129,"date":"2018-12-16T01:30:09","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T06:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=194129"},"modified":"2018-12-16T01:30:09","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T06:30:09","slug":"former-pq-cabinet-minister-poised-to-become-next-bloc-quebecois-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/12\/16\/former-pq-cabinet-minister-poised-to-become-next-bloc-quebecois-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Former PQ cabinet minister poised to become next Bloc Quebecois leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
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He officially launched his campaign on Saturday in Montreal, surrounded by artists and members of\u00a0the\u00a0provincial and federal sovereigntist parties. (File Photo:<\/a> @yfblanchet\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL \u2014 It appears likely that Yves-Francois Blanchet, a former Parti Quebecois cabinet minister, will become\u00a0the\u00a0next leader of\u00a0the\u00a0Bloc Quebecois.<\/p>\n

He officially launched his campaign on Saturday in Montreal, surrounded by artists and members of\u00a0the\u00a0provincial and federal sovereigntist parties.<\/p>\n

A well-known political commentator on Radio-Canada in recent years, Blanchet was first elected provincially in 2008 and served as environment minister in Pauline Marois’ short-lived minority PQ government between 2012 and 2014.<\/p>\n

Blanchet told reporters he is ready to work with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for\u00a0the\u00a0benefit of Quebec.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could propose something which might be good for Quebec and then we will say ‘fine’ we’ll vote with it \u2014 but he might propose something which is bad for Quebec and then, of course, we will say we will go against it,\u201d Blanchet said.<\/p>\n

He added that he doesn’t think his adversaries will be able to prove to him that Canada works.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause nothing works as well as a nation including all its communities \u2014 as a nation taking care of itself and making its own decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Blanchet also appears to be focused on winning\u00a0the\u00a0support of younger Quebecers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0time has come to give a voice, give room, give power and authority to a new generation which has not recognized itself in\u00a0the\u00a0Bloc Quebecois in\u00a0the\u00a0last few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no future for any party, for any country, without its youth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blanchet was critical of former Bloc leader Martine Ouellet during her tumultuous term as party leader, and now has\u00a0the\u00a0support of nine of\u00a0the\u00a0party’s 10 members of Parliament.<\/p>\n

The\u00a010th, Michel Boudrias, decided last week not to run for\u00a0the\u00a0party leadership.<\/p>\n

If no other candidates come forward before\u00a0the\u00a0Jan. 15 deadline, Blanchet will become\u00a0the\u00a0new leader of\u00a0the\u00a0Bloc Quebecois on Feb. 24.<\/p>\n

There was one other sour note at Blanchet’s official launch event \u2014 no one from Quebec solidaire,\u00a0the\u00a0other provincial sovereigntist party, showed up.<\/p>\n

But Blanchet said he wants to continue to seek\u00a0the\u00a0support of all sovereigntists and not just solicit\u00a0the\u00a0approval of Quebec’s sovereigntist parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not\u00a0the\u00a0leaders of\u00a0the\u00a0political parties that I want to call out to,\u201d he said, adding that he doesn’t want to \u201cplay\u00a0the\u00a0game of convergence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m saying to everyone: ‘If you are a sovereigntist, regardless of who you vote for in\u00a0the\u00a0Quebec national assembly,\u00a0the\u00a0Bloc is there for you’.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 It appears likely that Yves-Francois Blanchet, a former Parti Quebecois cabinet minister, will become\u00a0the\u00a0next leader of\u00a0the\u00a0Bloc Quebecois. He …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":194130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-vicky-fragasso-marquis","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}