MONTREAL - With her leadership being attacked on all sides, from veteran party stalwarts to young rookies, Pauline Marois was hoping Wednesday's unveiling of the Parti Québecois' new platform would shift the focus in another direction.
It didn't work.
At a Montreal press conference to reaffirm the PQ's desire to achieve sovereignty for Quebec, Marois was forced to answer more questions about a sudden leadership crisis that has enveloped her ever since she asked her caucus to support a controversial special law that would have protected a potential arena management deal in Quebec City from legal challenges.
"I feel like saying we need to calm down and take a deep breath," Marois told reporters Wednesday.
Most of the questions being thrown at Marois were concerning Hadrien Parizeau, 21 and the grandson of former leader Jacques Parizeau, who was premier when Quebec came within a hair of voting Yes in the 1995 sovereignty referendum.
Hadrien Parizeau is the president of the PQ riding association in Crémazie riding, one represented by his grandfather's wife Lisette Lapointe who was one of four PQ MNA's to leave the party in the wake of the arena controversy.
Hadrien Parizeau says Marois must step down because she doesn't resonate with Quebecers.
"I received the support of 93 per cent of our members at our last convention two months ago," Marois replied.
"I don't want to have a discussion about this issue," she added. "The major issue of our party is the sovereignty of Quebec."
But there seem to be too many distractions for that.
In a span of two days, former premiers Bernard Landry and Jacques Parizeau have said Marois needs to change her approach to both leadership and sovereignty.
And many others in her party are furious about what they see as her lack of commitment to sovereignty.
It seems her leadership is being publicly questioned everyday.
"She tried to seem not too bothered by all this fuss about her leadership," said Le Devoir columnist Michel David, "but I'm sure she is but she chose to play it cool, I think."
As for the platform itself, it has the word sovereignty all over it, with the very first section outlining the party's primary goal of winning a sovereignty referendum and then going through what a national Parti Québécois government would do afterwards.
One short section recounts how that government would relate to Quebec's Anglophone community.
"The Anglophone community, installed here for centuries, has strongly contributed to the economic, social and cultural development of Quebec," the section reads. "Its presence and its strength contribute to our national wealth and it is in Quebec's best interests to favour the vitality of this community."
The PQ platform then states that a sovereign government would "reaffirm the guarantee of the preservation of the linguistic rights of the Anglophone community" and "assure the maintenance of the institutional heritage of the Anglophone community."
