Pierre Karl Pladeau's timid reign reflected Parti Qubcois's identity crisis

When Pierre KarlPladeautook thepodiumat a Montreal press conference on Monday to announce he was stepping down as leader of thePartiQubcois for family reasons, he listed his accomplishments.

It was a short list.

He spoke vaguely of forcing the Liberal government to"backtrack."And he recalled that the PQ won abyelectionlast month, though it was in a riding the party has held for decades.

But that was pretty much it.

• Pierre KarlPladeauquits asPartiQubcoisleader
• Key moments in PKP's short political life
• 'Pierre Karl was my country': Julie Snyder's interview on Pladeau, marriage and politics
• PQ's referendum woes go deeper than Pierre Karl Pladeau

The only other accomplishment thatPladeaumentioned was having laid the groundwork for a potential alliance of Quebec'sfragmentedsovereigntistgroups.

"It's an important project," he said. "I am trusting our supporters to continue it."

IfPladeau'sbrief tenure at the head of the PQ is to leave a legacy, it will likely hinge on whatever progress is made unitingsovereigntistforces.

And even then,Pladeau'sabsence might count as his bigger contribution to that enterprise.

Pladeauthe mogul vs.Pladeauthe leftist

Pladeau'sdeparture, at a time when heseemed to finally be getting his sealegs as a politician, came as a shock to the party, but hisrelationship with the PQ base had always been awkward at best.

Many leftist sovereigntists had difficulty separating Pladeau the business mogul from Pladeau the leader of an ostensibly progressive political party.

To them, he was proof that the movement was selling out its fundamental values.

But Pladeau had nevertheless been making an earnest effort in recent weeks to reach out to the other provincial sovereigntist parties both the small (Qubec Solidaire, which has three seats in the National Assembly) and the microscopic (Option Nationale, which has zero seats).

The PQ leader co-authored an open letter in LeDevoirnewspaperthat sought to build bridges with these explicitly progressive parties. They have repeatedly criticized the PQ for assuming it has a monopoly on the sovereigntist movement.

"We have rethought and reinvented our whole approach," the letter read.

"More than ever, we are convinced that the diversity within the independence movement constitutes not a weakness but a veritable strength."

At a meeting last week, the three provincial parties and their federal counterpart, theBlocQubcois,agreed to draw up a "common road map" for how to achieve sovereignty. It wasatimid consensus, and the question of a possible alliance on the provincial scene was punted into an indefinite future.

Polls have suggested such an alliance could be beneficial for the PQ, whichhas struggled to catch up withthe governing Liberals, even though they have been mired in a number of ethics scandals.

That inability to gain ground on the Liberals likely had many in the PQ second-guessing their decision to hand the party's reins over toPladeau, which they did in overwhelming numbers last May.

Going left or right?

Pladeau'sascension to the party's leadership was eyed suspiciously by its leftist base. Manywere willing to acceptif not forgive his months-long lockout ofJournal deMontralemployees, whichunderminedthe party's all-important relationswith labour, if itmeanta revival of the party, which lost 24 seats and its minority governmentin the2014 election.

• Pierre KarlPladeauand Julie Snyder separating
• ONE YEAR AGO:Pierre KarlPladeauelected leader ofPartiQubcois
• Quebecor paid 12% in taxes, investigation shows

The former president of media giantQuebecorInc. was meant to bring a sense ofbusiness acumento a party often knocked for its willingness to bankroll ambitious social programs with government revenues.

ButPeladeaualso represented the conservativenationalist, as opposed to progressive leftist,element of the PQ psyche. He is reported to count among his intellectual influences sociologistsJacquesBeaucheminand MathieuBock-Ct, known for their wariness of multiculturalism and strident defence offrancophoneculture.

Taken together, this appeared to be the perfect package that would enable the PQ to recover votes from Coalition Avenir Qubec, a centre-right, "third way" party that is neither sovereigntist nor explicitly federalist with which the PQ competes in many suburban ridings around Montreal.

But Pladeau's leadership wasn't marked by a particularly nationalist tone especially compared with his predecessor Pauline Marois's doomed charter of values. Nor did he double down on the leftist rhetoric.

He also didn't stray too far fromthe PQstatus quo on economic mattersother than perhapsfailing tooppose the Liberals' austerity measuresas fervently as somepartyhardlinerswould have liked.

By making timid nods in all directions,Pladeauin many ways reflected the pervasive latent uncertaintyabout the party's identity.

His successor will be forced to choose between pursuing convergenceon thesovereigntistleftor adopting a moreconservative brand of nationalism.