Quebec Liberal Party, R.I.P.

When Rene Levesque walked out of the Liberal Party in Oct. 1967, one of the two parties, either the Grits or the Unionists, were condemned. In 1961, Daniel Johnson won the leadership over Jean-Jacques Bertrand, the last Unionist Premier IOTL. The Unionists were divided into two- the separatists and the nationalist federalists, such as Bertrand himself. Johnson tried to refashion the party into a conservative PQ, but the tensions flared when Bertrand won the leadership over Jean-Guy Cardinal, the leader of the separatist wing, in late 1968. In 1970, the party disintegrated forever, with the separatists going to the PQ and the conservative federalists to Robert Bourassa's Liberals. WI Daniel Johnson had lived longer? Would the Liberals kick the can and the fed-separatist divided be between the UN and PQ instead of the Liberals and PQ? I outlined this in Can-Ken, but this involves Paul Sauve living longer, with entirely different circumstances...
 
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When Rene Levesque walked out of the Liberal Party in Oct. 1967, one of the two parties, either the Grits or the Unionists, were condemned. In 1961, Daniel Johnson won the leadership over Jean-Jacques Bertrand, the last Unionist Premier IOTL. The Unionists were divided into two- the separatists and the nationalist federalists, such as Bertrand himself. Johnson tried to refashion the party into a conservative PQ, but the tensions flared when Bertrand won the leadership over Jean-Guy Cardinal, the leader of the separatist wing, in late 1968. In 1970, the party disintegrated forever, with the separatists going to the PQ and the conservative federalists to Robert Bourassa's Liberals. WI Daniel Johnson had lived longer? Would the Liberals kick the can and the fed-separatist divided be between the UN and PQ instead of the Liberals and PQ? I outlined this in Can-Ken, but this involves Paul Sauve living longer, with entirely different circumstances...

But what changes in the end? Who gives two rat-turds what party's the opposition to the PQ if the PQ still exists? Whether it's the Grits or the UN, they'll be the same party, conservative and federalist. I understand your question, and though I'm a péquiste, I have myself wondered the same thing, but in the end it's really not possible. Once sovereignty became an issue, the UN was dead. The nationalists went to the PQ even if they didn't like their social-democratic politics, and the federalists had no other vehicule but the Grits to express their views. Given how rightist the PLQ has gotten over the years, who even needs the UN? :D The meteoric rise and subsequent crash of the ADQ shows how engrained the PLQ's position as the Tory party has become. And that's even with the ADQ giving occasional lip-service to the sovereignty crowd...
 
Not recently, I vividly remember the mass strikes when Charest proposed mild reforms in 2005/6. The lucides manifesto should be translated into appropriate legislation IMO. The Liberals absorbed mild separatism, or at least the "DMZ" IOTL in Bou-Bou'sfourth term.
 
Really, the provincial Liberals in Quebec are called 'Grits'? I didn't know that.

Anyway, the likes of Jean Charest don't really care what the pro-confederation party is called, do they?

Much like the Rightwingers in BC have supported either provincial Social Credit or Liberal parties in opposition to the NDP for half a century.
 
I thought that if the two merged, there could be a better chance, but that'd be impossible. Perhaps the Federalist Party? Or the Liberal Unionists? :D
 
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