Bloc leader urges quick return to Parliament

Canwest News Service

Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe told reporters at a news conference in Montreal Oct. 15 that Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to recall Parliament soon. (Mathieu Belanger/Reuters)

MONTREAL - Prime Minister Stephen Harper heads a minority government and shouldn't forget it, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe said Wednesday as he called on the Conservative leader to recall Parliament as soon as possible.

Speaking to reporters the morning after his sovereigntist party won 50 of Quebec's 75 seats, Duceppe also urged Harper to work constructively with other parties so that MPs can deal with the problems facing Canada's economy.

While Harper said Tuesday night that he had a stronger mandate to govern, Duceppe said English Canada may have given the majority of its seats to him, but Quebec gave the majority of its seats to the Bloc.

"I call on Mr. Harper to respect the democratic will of Quebecers by governing with openness and by making compromises. That is the mandate that he was given. I expect the prime minister to head a government that is less partisan, less authoritarian and which listens more to the population."

Duceppe laid out a shopping list of steps he wants to see the Conservatives take, including reversing the cuts to arts funding and local economic development groups made by his government.

If Harper goes ahead with his campaign promise of toughening up the youth offenders law, Quebec should be able to opt out of the "repressive" new provisions, Duceppe said.

As for Harper's decision to recognize Quebec as a nation, Duceppe said he wants to see the government prove it is not simply a symbolic recognition with measures such as allowing language laws to apply to workplaces in Quebec that fall under federal labour law such as banks, transportation and telecommunications companies.

Duceppe would not pledge to keep Harper's government alive and give it a chance to govern for a predetermined period, saying he will decide on a case-by-case basis whether it is in Quebec's best interests to support any given government initiative. If something is not in Quebec's best interests, he won't hesitate to vote against it, even if it brings down Harper's new government, he said.

Asked about his party's drop in popular vote and its inability to dislodge several Conservative MPs - particularly in the Quebec City and Saguenay-Lac St. Jean regions - Duceppe preferred to focus on the fact that his party won two-thirds of the seats in Quebec and deprived the Conservatives of a majority government.

While the attempts by the Conservatives to woo Quebec over the past two years, pouring millions of dollars into the province and recognizing the Quebecois as a nation, didn't garner the Conservatives any more seats than they got in the last election, Duceppe said Quebec is just getting its share of the money it pays Ottawa and it wouldn't be right for the Conservatives to start ignoring Quebec's needs.

"That wouldn't be responsible. Stephen Harper came (to Quebec) in the last 48 hours saying how much he loves Quebec. He still loves Quebec this morning, I suppose," he said with a bit of a shrug.