Parti Quebecois election platform highlights values charter and French language

LAVAL, Que. – The Parti Quebecois has released an election platform today that puts the proposed charter of values and protecting the French language at the top of its list of priorities.

The platform outlines 36 commitments in all, ranging from identity issues to the economy and the environment.

There’s another priority that’s not numbered but gets listed before all the others, in a preamble on the document’s first page: a commitment to Quebec independence.

The platform says the PQ will call a referendum when the time is right but doesn’t commit to a time-frame, and until then will work to defend the province’s interests within Canada.

That echoes comments made by PQ Leader Pauline Marois in recent days as she makes a push for a majority government in the April 7 election.

The 23-page document was unanimously approved by party members on Day 4 of the campaign, at a meeting at a Laval hotel.