Close X
Thursday, October 31, 2024
ADVT 
National

Lucien Bouchard says there's no way to repair friendship with Mulroney

Darpan News Desk Darpan, 20 Aug, 2014 03:06 PM
    MONTREAL - Although they were once close friends, Lucien Bouchard says there's no way to repair his ruptured relationship with Brian Mulroney.
     
    "We run into each other occasionally in Montreal or elsewhere and I think we have an agreement to not embarrass each other," Bouchard said Wednesday.
     
    "We'll shake hands, but to sit down and have a coffee — no. I don't think that's possible. It's not a matter of honour. There are wounds."
     
    Bouchard made the comments after the screening of a new documentary on his political career which will be broadcast Monday evening on the public Tele-Quebec network.
     
    Mulroney, who became prime minister in 1984, named Bouchard as Canada's ambassador to Paris in 1985 and then brought him into his cabinet as environment minister in 1988. They had known each other since law school.
     
    But they fell out in 1990 when Mulroney was trying to salvage the floundering Meech Lake constitutional accord. It was during that time that Bouchard sent a telegram of support to the Parti Quebecois and declared he was a sovereigntist. An outraged Mulroney fired him from cabinet and the two men have never spoken again.
     
    "Friends should not be in politics together when they disagree over principles," Bouchard said Wednesday.
     
    Bouchard went on to found the Bloc Quebecois with a handful of disgruntled Conservative and Liberal Quebec MPs in 1991. He would become leader of the Official Opposition when the Bloc took 54 seats in the 1993 election.
     
    Bouchard said Wednesday he never saw the Bloc as anything more than something to prepare the ground for the 1995 election, seeing it as a "one-shot" deal.
     
    While the Bloc remained a strong political presence for most of its existence, it was crushed in the 2011 federal election by a surging New Democratic Party and now has only three members in Parliament. Bouchard would not comment on his old party's current woes.
     
    Bouchard said he was convinced that his political career was over on the night the sovereigntists narrowly lost the Oct. 30, 1995, referendum.
     
    "When we came home...I was going to finish the session in Ottawa and that was going to be it," he said. "I was going to come back to Montreal and resume practising law."
     
    Instead, he was drafted by the PQ to take over from Jacques Parizeau, who stepped down after the referendum.
     
    Bouchard said he believes the results of the 1995 referendum might have been different if it had been presented to Quebecers in a two-pronged format — one referendum to negotiate Quebec sovereignty from Canada with a political and economic partnership and then another to approve the results of the bargaining.
     
    Bouchard hopes he won't see a third referendum in his lifetime because he says he thinks it will be unsuccessful.
     
    "It's clear. I hope I won't see it because we'll lose a third one. There's no way we can expose ourselves to losing a third one.
     
    "Later on, I don't know."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Two Hikers return Safely after a Night in rugged Vancouver North Shore Mountains

    Two Hikers return Safely after a Night in rugged Vancouver North Shore Mountains
    VANCOUVER - Two hikers have walked out to safety after an unexpected night in the rugged backcountry of Vancouver's North Shore mountains.

    Two Hikers return Safely after a Night in rugged Vancouver North Shore Mountains

    3 People Suspected Of Identity Fraud Involving 200 Victims In Vancouver Area

    3 People Suspected Of Identity Fraud Involving 200 Victims In Vancouver Area
    BURNABY, B.C. - Police believe three suspects used stolen mail such as driver's licences, wills and immigration documents to commit fraud against about 200 people across the Metro Vancouver region.

    3 People Suspected Of Identity Fraud Involving 200 Victims In Vancouver Area

    'Apologies Are Not Enough:' Alberta Tightens Rules On Use Of Government Planes

    'Apologies Are Not Enough:' Alberta Tightens Rules On Use Of Government Planes
    EDMONTON - Alberta says it is tightening rules for government aircraft following a harsh report that outlined inappropriate use of the planes by former premier Alison Redford.

    'Apologies Are Not Enough:' Alberta Tightens Rules On Use Of Government Planes

    B.C. Appeal Court Judge Who Wrote Ruling Dismissing Pickton Appeal Dies

    B.C. Appeal Court Judge Who Wrote Ruling Dismissing Pickton Appeal Dies
    VANCOUVER - A B.C. Appeal Court judge who died while sitting as Canada's longest-serving federally appointed judge is being remembered for his empathy on the job.

    B.C. Appeal Court Judge Who Wrote Ruling Dismissing Pickton Appeal Dies

    Lisa Raitt Stands By Railway Safety Self-Regulation, Despite Lac-Megantic Report

    Lisa Raitt Stands By Railway Safety Self-Regulation, Despite Lac-Megantic Report
    OTTAWA - The Harper government's faith in a deregulated railway safety system remains unshaken and won't be abandoned in the wake of the Lac-Megantic tragedy, Transport Minister Lisa Raitt insisted Tuesday, even as the country's top transportation investigator questioned the current amount of oversight.

    Lisa Raitt Stands By Railway Safety Self-Regulation, Despite Lac-Megantic Report

    Lac-Megantic: Safety Board Says Rail Company Had Weak Safety Culture

    Lac-Megantic: Safety Board Says Rail Company Had Weak Safety Culture
    LAC-MEGANTIC,, - Many factors contributed to the Lac-Megantic train derailment in 2013, including lax safety measures at the company that owned the runaway train, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Tuesday.

    Lac-Megantic: Safety Board Says Rail Company Had Weak Safety Culture