With the slogan ‘We have to talk,’ two notable Quebecers have formed a group aiming to tour Quebec and discuss its future.

Organized by the former leader of Option Nationale Jean-Martin Aussant and former student leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the group said in a news conference Wednesday that they get a sense Quebecers are concerned about the future of Quebec but don’t know where to turn.

Quebecers know what they don’t want – corruption, for example – but don’t know what they do, the group said.

Now with a new website, the group plans to tour to 10 cities across the province and hope to take part in collective kitchen events to discuss issues like education, health, independence with the people of Quebec.

"We are going on tour to hear people's solutions and opinions... It's a listening exercise," said Nadeau-Dubois.

Aussant and Nadeau-Dubois say this is not to sell any political program or agenda – they simply want to listen to citizens, adding that they will be reaching out to the anglophone and First Nations communities.

"We want to be inspired by those people and also be inspired," said Cree activist Maitee Labrecque-Saganash.

"We want the people to say 'oh I have a space in the public debate. I can say something. I can do something.'"

That said, their backgrounds – Aussant as leader of a sovereignist party and Nadeau-Dubois as leader of a movement against austerity measures – are clear, and they won’t try to hide them, said Nadeau-Dubois.

“I think it would be hypocritical to go in front of the population and say ‘Oh, we have no opinion on austerity’ or ‘Oh, we have no opinion on independence.’ For Jean-Martin Aussant to come in front of a room full of people to say ‘I’m not convinced of independence,’ that would be a lie, so our project is transparent, our project is honest. We are progressives, and we are in different ways sympathetic to the idea Quebec’s independence. But we want to hear from everyone, especially people who do not agree with us,” he said.

The group will be 100 per cent funded by private money – no public money has gone into the venture.

They said they will submit proposals following the tour, though it’s unclear so far to what end. The group said everything is up for discussion, including starting a new political party.

“People have tried this kind of thing before. It’s the eternal quest for the answer to the question, ‘What does Quebec want?’” said Montreal Gazette political reporter Philip Authier. 

“The interesting aspect about this is that it is seeking the opinion of regular citizens,” said Authier, referring to the approach of being invited into kitchens. “It’s kind of a different approach, but what remains to be seen is will people respond to this.”

In particular, Authier questioned how the non-francophone communities will respond to the group.

“They say they want to be open, they want to talk to the anglophones, they want to talk to the allophones, and I’m sure in good faith they will try, but the question is, will these communities respond?” he said.