Quebec PQ -- BY [RHEAL SEGUIN] Quebec Bureau QUEBEC Premier Jacques Parizeau inched closer yesterday to building the crucial alliance of all Quebec nationalists needed to win a referendum on sovereignty.

Parizeau mends fences and builds referendum alliances Quebec Premier says he's willing to consider all ideas, and Parti Action Democratique accepts theory of breaking away, then negotiating

Friday, April 28, 1995

RHEAL SEGUIN

Quebec PQ -- BY RHEAL SEGUIN Quebec Bureau QUEBEC Premier Jacques Parizeau inched closer yesterday to building the crucial alliance of all Quebec nationalists needed to win a referendum on sovereignty.

After mending the recent rift between his party and the Bloc Quebecois, Mr. Parizeau has extended an olive branch to the Parti Action Democratique, bringing the two parties within striking distance of a deal.

First, the PAD, which represents a loose coalition of moderate nationalists including former provincial Liberals, accepted the principle that Quebec must break away from the current federal system before re- negotiating a new political union with the rest of Canada.

"In order to achieve such a union, we must first get out of the current federal constitutional framework," PAD Leader Mario Dumont said during a National Assembly committee hearing on the spending estimates for the Premier's Office.

Secondly, a senior government official said the Parti Quebecois now appears willing to include, in the revised version of its sovereignty bill, proposals on the type of political union the government would seek to negotiate with the rest of Canada if Quebeckers vote for sovereignty. By placing greater emphasis on achieving a Canada-Quebec union, the PQ has taken a major step toward embracing the PAD platform.

"We are getting closer," Mr. Parizeau said during the committee hearings, noting that the final decision on political union will belong to the rest of Canada.

"Far be it from me to refuse beforehand possibilities of agreements with Canada. I recognize that there are three Canadians for each Quebecker; therefore, by virtue of their (demographic) weight, it will be their decision that will prevail."

The only remaining stumbling block is whether political union will be included in the referendum question, as demanded by the PAD. Mr. Parizeau insisted that the matter is being debated and cautiously examined by all sovereigntists.

"Don't anticipate, don't push me," he told reporters. "You will see. We are thinking, we are examining, we are discussing."

Mr. Parizeau indicated that he is willing to entertain all ideas, including the PAD's proposal for a common parliament similar to that of the European Union. Until now he has always rejected such notions. However, he repeated that the Quebec government needs a clear mandate to achieve sovereignty, and he insisted again that sovereignty would not be conditional on the rest of Canada accepting a new political union.

Until now, the PAD has insisted that Quebec could renegotiate a new Canada-Quebec union while remaining within the current federal system and that the referendum should be for a mandate to negotiate greater political autonomy for Quebec.

Before fully accepting the PQ's strategy to achieve sovereignty, Mr. Dumont wants assurances that Mr. Parizeau will not abandon the concept of political union if Quebeckers vote for sovereignty.

"The issue (of political union) must be included in the question," Mr. Dumont told reporters yesterday. "On the morning following the referendum, the government, its allies and the (sovereignty) coalition must begin the process toward realizing a new union."

The PQ said it has no problem making that commitment because negotiations with Ottawa would begin soon after a successful referendum. The talks would first deal with Quebec's share of the debt, a senior PQ government official said. Those negotiations would automatically lead to talks on economic association, at which time the PQ says it would initiate discussions on a new political union if the rest of the country would co- operate.

The PQ officials say the rest of Canada would have to negotiate because financial markets would want to know how a sovereign Quebec would pay back its share of the debt.

The PQ's draft bill on sovereignty states that Quebec would become sovereign no later than one year after a Yes vote in a referendum. The period before Quebec's proclamation of independence would be used to begin negotiations on apportioning debt and on economic association.

But the PQ wants to explore the idea of political union and come up with its own definition of the concept before including it in the revised bill. The new form of the bill will also include an offer of political union, to be made to the rest of Canada before the referendum.

However, some PQ members argue that Mr. Parizeau may be taking a serious risk in agreeing to the plan for negotiations on a new political union during the one-year interim period. An offer of renewed federalism from the rest of Canada that was acceptable to most Quebeckers could undermine the PQ plan to proclaim sovereignty.

But the PQ says a Yes vote on sovereignty would undermine Prime Minister Jean Chretien's leadership. According to the PQ, Canadians would want to decide who would negotiate an association on their behalf, and by the time they resolve the crisis it would be too late for the rest of Canada to do anything but accept the referendum verdict with or without political union.