Pierre Karl Pladeaus candidacy stirs up PQ membership

Some of Quebecs labour unions are warning that some of theirmembers, whohave supported the Parti Qubcois for years, may not vote for the party this time now that media magnate PierreKarl Pladeau is running.

Many of them told me that they're going to give their vote to Qubec Solidaire because they are afraid that it's a kind of turning point at the Parti Qubcois with this announcement, said Pierre Roger of the FNC-SNC Labour Movement.

Pladeau was the president and CEO of Qubecor Inc., as well as the president of Groupe TVA and Qubecor Mdia which owns several media properties includingSun Media, the TVA television network,wireless and cable providerVidotronand the French-language newspaper Journal de Montral,.

Some political experts say many union members remember the 2009 lockout at the Journal de Montral which lasted two years very clearly.

I think it's a gamble, yeah, and that's why I say there's more than we thought about the fact that [PQ leader Pauline Marois] wants to have referendum. She is brilliant enough to know that it's going to be difficult if the glue of independence is not in place in the coming months or years, said Alec Castonguay, Political Chief of Staff at LActualit magazine.

PQ politicians pleased

Former and current PQ politicians say the candidacy of PierreKarl Pladeau is good news for sovereignty.

Mr. Pladeau's coming is a strong signal that even within the business community there are very strong voices that believe it would be a good thing, and a good deal, if we were sovereign, said PQ Rosemont candidate Jean-Franois Lise even though years ago, Lise asked Pladeau some tough questions inhis blog about how he treated his employees during a Journal de Montral lockout.

We had a public debate that was very interesting, then we had private conversations...and there are issues on which we disagree, Lise said today during the PQs launch in Montreal.

Former Quebec Premier Bernard Landry was a columnist at the Journal de Montral, but he stopped writing for the paper during the lockout.

Today Landry says Pladeau has a lot to offer to the party.

It's a great event not only news, but event for the Quebec democracy, the Quebec future, the Parti Qubcois Quebec as a whole.