MONTREAL - The New Quebec Movement (NMQ) set out its ground rules for the quest for independence with the main thrust being that public consultations should deal with independence rather than dwell on the parties themselves.
The NMQ was born this summer from the popular dissatisfaction personified in the form of several high-profile defections from the Parti Qeubecois. Four hundred packed its first meeting in August.
Jocelyn Desjardins presided a meeting of the party.
"We have only one chance to do this job the right way, everybody must be in line on the same questions and we must rebuild our unity of action and content," he said.
Desjardins laid out five conditions that would help consultations succeed.
The first is to assure that the exercise would not wash dirty separatist linen in public.
He said that consultations must be open to all citizens, groups and political formations, "there's no freak show in that," he said.
And no question must be tossed out, "the occasion must be taken to cover all the angles on independence."
The consultations must follow the estates general on French Canada held in the 60s, he said.
And finally the consultations must be co-presided by different generations,
"The movement doesn't belong to boomers or youth, it belongs to all Quebecers," said Desjardins.
Desjardins also said he had frank but unofficial discussions with Gerald Larose and PQ President Raymond Archambault. But he didn't reveal what was discussed.
Desjardins said there would be three more public meetings of the NMQ, the next taking place on Sept. 25 in Quebec City. The others will take place in October in Gatineau and Sherbrooke.
