TROIS-RIVIERES - Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois is trying to put the summer of discontent for the sovereigntist movement behind, and has launched a tour of town hall meetings to drum up support for an independent Quebec, and for her own leadership to that promised land.

The summer of discontent began with the devastation inflicted on the Bloc Quebecois by the May 2 election, when Quebecers rejected the 20-year-old protest party in favour of the orange wave of the NDP.

In June six MNAs left the PQ, five saying they were disappointed by the stance Marois had taken in pushing sovereignty to the backburner, while another left the party while his former attaché was charged with fraud.

Earlier this month a new hardline separatist splinter group, the New Movement for Quebec, held its first meeting, where everyone from former MNAs to FLQ members who were jailed for bombing attacks took to microphones to denounce the Parti Quebecois and its failure to drum up support for a separate Quebec.

Now the woman who was endorsed by 93 percent of PQ delegates at a leadership convention in April is fighting back.

On Tuesday night Marois took her fight directly to the people of Trois-Rivieres, where about 200 showed up to meet the PQ chief and see if she still has what it takes to lead.

Political Analyst Jean Lapierre, who was at Tuesday's town hall meeting, says this is a do or die moment for Marois.

"She has to prove that she could lead, that she could win, and the numbers are just awful for her," said Lapierre. "People are going at her jugular, most of the old Parizeau group and what have you. So she has to reassure her caucus."

At the meeting members of the public grilled Marois on everything from environmental policy to taxation, in addition to sovereignty.

When it was over, Lapierre said it is unlikely that Marois was able to sway anyone to the sovereigntist cause who was not already so inclined, and that means that in addition to the infighting, Marois and the Parti Quebecois risk being seen as a party of the past.

The PQ also faces a looming threat from another former minister who has renounced the drive to independence: Francois Legault and his Coalition for the Future of Quebec.

"People are calling for change and Mr. Legault and his coalition are just the latest kid on the block. People say 'why not try him?'" said Lapierre.

The next public event for Marois is a cocktail evening with PQ MNAs in Chicoutimi on August 31.