Landry’s death highlights the passing of sovereignty’s pioneering generation
MONTREAL — The death of former Quebec premier Bernard Landry Tuesday prompted a stream of accolades from his former colleagues about his patriotism, his love of the Quebec people and his conviction that the province would inevitably become a country.
But his passing also highlighted the fact that the pioneering generation of Quebec sovereigntists — those who were in the trenches when the Parti Quebecois was born — is dying without seeing its dream realized.
And there are no obvious candidates to fill the role of such departed PQ greats as former premier Jacques Parizeau, who died in 2015, Lise Payette, who died Sept. 5, and Landry.
“For right now, it’s clear that there is the impression that the ranks are thinning,” Louise Harel, a longtime friend of Landry who replaced him as interim PQ leader following his 2005 resignation, said Wednesday.