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Presentation by René Lévesque, leade of the new Parti Québécois party formed in the wake of a convention held October 11 to 14, 1968 in Québec City.
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The Emergence of the Sovereignty Movement (INR [crowd applauding and roaring their approval]
[René Lévesque]: Good evening; well as you are surely aware, I am here to speak on behalf of a completely new party.
A political party was founded during a convention held a couple of weeks ago in Québec from October 11 to 14.
A convention attended by, eh, some 800 delegates from over 95 counties in Quebec and representing more than 2000 members.
People who had been meeting for at least one year and immediately began to work very hard.
Indeed, most observers stated that this convention was undoubtedly one of the best prepared and most serious conventions ever seen in Quebec.
During three days, participants developed statutes, meaning a constitution for this party.
A program was developed and a party name finally chosen.
Surely you have heard of it.
It's a name, a wonderful name, even an obvious name and perhaps the most ambitious name that might be found
[change of plan][??]: Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to keep you in suspense a little longer.
[??] I did not have the pleasure of personally voting on the resolution concerning the right to self-determination, but now, at least, I will have the pleasure of announcing to you the, first, the name of the party, of our sovereignist party in Quebec, hey, hey, excuse me, the name of our party: the result of the vote is as follows: Parti Québécois 295 votes out of 500
[cries and applause from the crowd]
[RL]: Hey, who are all these people?
Who are we in this newly formed Parti québecois?
Well there are people from all walks of life you know
There are members of independence movements who have followed this path, if you like, for several years and there are nationalists seeking a path and we have high hopes of drawing them in high hopes of drawing them in or regrouping most of them on the very short term.
All those, in any case, who are ready to employ legitimate political means: persuasion and an organization to achieve our goal.
And obviously you have seen Gilles Grégoire. Behind him are former members of the National Alliance who, for several years and in several regions, have provided proof of persistence and unselfish commitment that might serve as an example for most among us.
And there are former Liberals (reds), your humble servant among them and former Conservatives (blues) also who have finally understood that we will never achieve anything with the old parties, that we will never be able to do anything because the old parties, and it's because there are no committed individuals there who work very hard for Quebec, but because their first concern, as a party, either blue or red
Their first concern, you know, is to maintain the monopoly among themselves, the monopoly of the butter plate
To keep exclusive control of Parliament, government and also patronage and election funds behind the political scene
While the primary goal of the party we have created is first and foremost to break the outdated monopoly held by the blues and reds
To introduce it into the political landscape and prevail with a party that is truly new meaning a party that is really the property of its members a party that listens to them and that has the simple good sense and courage first to look after and as its primary concern to respond to needs and champion the interests of Quebecers now...