Quebec pro-independence party Option Nationale loses its founder, leader

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Jean-Martin Aussant speaks at the legislature in Quebec City on April 5, 2012. Quebec\'s upstart pro-independence party has lost its founding leader. Jean-Martin Aussant - who created, led, and was the public face of Option Nationale - has announced he\'s leaving politics, placing his party before an uncertain future. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

MONTREAL – Quebec’s upstart pro-independence party has lost its founding leader.

Jean-Martin Aussant — who created, led, and was the public face of Option Nationale — has announced he’s leaving politics, placing his party before an uncertain future.

The former Morgan Stanley economist was seen in opposition as a rising star on the Parti Quebecois benches and as a candidate for finance minister in any future PQ government, but he left in 2011 to create a party that would be more aggressive in pursuing sovereignty.

Option Nationale failed to win a seat in last year’s provincial election. However, the party had unnerved some in the PQ because of its youthful leader, growing grassroots, and popular online presence.

The 43-year-old Aussant says he wants to spend more time with his family.

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