PQ leadership hopeful Martine Ouellet committed to referendum in first mandate

QUEBEC – Parti Quebecois leadership hopeful Martine Ouellet said Thursday the turmoil resulting from Britain’s ”Brexit” vote won’t make her rethink her referendum timeline.

Of the five candidates vying to replace Pierre Karl Peladeau as the sovereigntist party’s permanent leader, Ouellet is the only one thus far who has committed to calling a referendum in a first mandate as premier.

At a news conference, Ouellet said she believes the economic and political instability in the wake of the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union is temporary.

“I think it will fall into place, I’m not worried,” she said, adding Britain has “all the strength it needs economically” to weather the turmoil of the financial markets.

The former cabinet minister said the victory of the ”Leave” forces proved the British public was not swayed by the corporatist discourse of institutions pushing for the status quo.

“It shows it isn’t up to financial institutions to decide people’s futures, but for the people to decide,” she said.

Ouellet said her referendum plan includes working with other sovereigntist parties and producing a document to educate the general public on the merits of independence.

“At a glance they’ll have all the information, and it won’t be a tool for the initiated, but for all citizens,” she said.

The PQ will announce its new leader on Oct. 7.