RICHELIEU, Quebec - The Parti Quebecois is preparing to unveil a new advertising campaign in the form of a series of TV commercials that make no mention of current leader Pauline Marois or sovereignty.
The ads instead aim to vaunt the integrity of the party and the PQ's devotion to defending the French language.
The separatist Parti Quebecois only aim to promote sovereignty once in power, according to party president Raymond Archambault. "It's much easier to promote our ideas when we're a government rather than when we are in opposition," he said.
Pauline Marois showed no signs of feeling snubbed Sunday as she attended a brunch event alongside Gilles Duceppe in Sorel-Tracy, Sunday.
Contrary to the message reflected in the ad campaign, Marois and other speakers hammered home a message to the party grassroots that the PQ remains the only real separatist option.
The brunch took place fresh after the release of a survey suggesting that former Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe is the only potential PQ leader with sufficient popular support to beat François Legault.
Legault has yet to officially unveil his party but his Coalition for the Future of Quebec has for several months towered over all other comers in voter intention surveys.
Those surveys suggest that the PQ under Marois would come in third place behind the Charest Liberals.
However with Duceppe, the PQ would be ahead in voter surveys, according to the Leger and Leger internet survey of 1,067 people.
According to the poll, Duceppe would attract 37 percent of the vote, compared to 25 percent for Legault and 23 percent for Charest's Liberals.
Harmony reigned at the conference Sunday but under the surface many party militants hope that Marois will allow Duceppe to take over as head of the Parti Quebecois.
The PQ brunch in the Richelieu riding was organized by MNA Sylvain Simard and was attended by about 300 who paid $5 each for the meal.
A gaggle of pundits and journalists was also in attendance however their attempts to address Marois and Duceppe failed, as the two left in great haste without answering questions.
Simard and other MNAs defended Marois who reiterated Saturday that she intends to lead the party into the next provincial election.
Simard dismissed the polls, saying that it was not the first time the party faced such internal pressures.
Drummond MNA Yves-François Blanchet said the media were partly responsible for the current crisis in the PQ.
The same poll revealed that 36 percent of respondents supported sovereignty, the lowest total in many years.
With files from The Canadian Press
