Parti Quebecois leader Pierre Karl Peladeau spoke to students at Dawson College on Friday about his career, business, and why Quebec should be independent.
He also took questions from students who grilled him pretty hard about education and head offices.
"You know what? I was invited and I always appreciate invitations," said Peladeau.
When asked if the province should stop spending money on the OQLF and divert the funding to education, Peladeau said the Office de la langue francaise had an important role to play in the enforcement of Bill 101.
A student then asked about how he felt regarding a recent proposal to restrict English-language CEGEPs to those eligible for English education at the elementary and high school level.
"It's a democratic party, and there's different opinions and at this stage I'll tell you there's no final position on it," he said.
To students who said that the push for an independent Quebec had convinced many companies to leave Peladeau said that he felt many companies now regretted moving their head offices out of the province and wished they could come back.
Peladeau found himself in a tough spot when one student said unions in Quebec have too much power, citing the example of poor teachers who could not be fired.
Peladeau is notorious for locking out unionized employees dozens of times while he was running Quebecor, and is now dependent on courting the goodwill of labour unions.
He said that unions had been instrumental in developing Quebec's economic might, due in part to the Fonds de Solidarité FTQ investment fund.
He also said that separation makes economic sense because Quebec taxpayers send $50 billion to Ottawa, and he believes that money should stay here instead.
At the end of the talk many students said they were impressed that Peladeau had spoken to them, but that he did not win many over to his point of view.
