His first public declaration after leaving office came in 2005, when he chided Quebecers for being less productive than their neighbours to the west and south. He signed the so-called “Lucid Manifesto,” a non-partisan ode to less government and higher productivity. In 2006, speaking to an audience at McGill University, he said that Quebecers, teetering on the brink of economic and demographic collapse, were nonetheless “hiding in denial and immobility” and refusing to acknowledge their problems. Péquistes heaped scorn on the man who once nearly realized their dream. “Once again we Quebecers disappoint Mr. Bouchard,” said former Péquiste premier Jacques Parizeau.
Since then, and until this week, Bouchard has largely kept himself out of the headlines. As Bouchard’s former adviser Jean-François Lisée notes, the few public statements he’s made have been unusually kind to Premier Jean Charest, his former political opponent. “He’s apparently decided that enough time has gone by that he can embarrass [PQ leader] Pauline Marois,” Lisée told Maclean’s recently. “That’s his choice.” (Charest, who is under fire for his handling of the construction industry corruption scandal and reasonable accommodations files, seemed delighted with Bouchard’s distraction last week.)
Bouchard’s continuing public feud underscores the obvious: the PQ was never a good fit for its fiscally conservative former leader. “It’s true that his relationship with the PQ has always been difficult,” Lisée said. Policy-wise, Bouchard was far more at home in Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservatives—where he was a cabinet minister before bolting to form the Bloc Québécois in 1990—than on the PQ’s stubborn leftist perch. “People to the right of centre are orphaned,” says Brassard. “They don’t have a party that suits their needs. That’s been the situation in Quebec for a long time.”
That’s another piece of the Bouchard enigma: whenever he pokes his head out, there is inevitable speculation that he will return to politics to swoop Quebecers off their feet once again. He remains extremely popular: a recent poll said a Bouchard-led party would handily beat Charest’s Liberals and Marois’s PQ. Current and former members of the Action démocratique du Québec, Quebec’s languishing rightist party, practically salivate at the possibility of his return.
Bouchard, though, doesn’t seem to want to be a saviour any longer. “I would be extremely surprised if he went to the ADQ,” said Lisée. “I think there was a chance for him in 2005, when he helped produce the Lucid Manifesto. That’s when he would have had his winning conditions, to use his term, and he chose to not do it.”
At 71, Bouchard would rather write a book. “I haven’t written it yet, and it’s already making me suffer,” he said recently. Until his words are on paper, Quebecers who pine to be vexed and enthralled with Lucien Bouchard will have to wait until he next comes out of his shell.
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