MONTREAL - Nearly 400 sovereignist militants heeded the siren call of the Movement for a New Quebec (NMQ) Sunday in Montreal, according to organizers.
The group seeks to prioritize the sovereignty issue and has strongly criticized Parti Quebecois, as led by Pauline Marois.
The organizers described the PQ as obsolete and confused in a manifesto published last week.
The document, entitled "Break the Impasse," denounced the notion of seeking sovereignty under Marois.
The NMQ considers itself a citizens' movement rather than a political party. The organizers deny wanting to divide the separatist vote in the next election.
Three recently-departed PQ MNAs, Lizette Lapointe, Pierre Curzi and Jean-Martin Aussant were warmly applauded at their arrival in the crowded room at the St-Laurent Cegep, where the event was held.
One hour into the meeting Pierre Curzi appealed to citizens to hold more meetings and consultations throughout the province. The crowd cheered him loudly.
"We are in a period where things are stirring and it's a little chaotic but we're far from quarreling, so it's the start of some sort of coherence," said Curzi.
Other citizens spoke in defence of sovereignty. One tried to defend the Parti Quebecois but was booed and jeered.
"I find it impressive that, in spite of what politicians order them to do, people are saying, ‘sorry we want to talk about independence and we're doing it, starting now,'" said Lizette Lapointe.
Lapointe and Curzi supported a proposition advanced by Rosemont MNA Louise Beaudoin, who suggested an estates general on the sovereignty movement. Pierre Dubuc, former leader of the SPQ-Libre, a leftist group within the PQ, also supported Beaudoin's suggestion.
François Parenteau, a political satirist from the Zapartiste troupe, also participated in the event.
On Saturday, prominent sovereignists Fernand Daoust and Jacques-Yvan Morin appealed to unity within the sovereignty movement and called on the dissidents to return to the Parti Quebecois.
