Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 4

A4 The Edmonton Journal, Saturday, November 18, 1995 Canada lOucEiard faces hercuBean task as Quebec premier mem JLmJUm hi i A- 1 THE ISSUE: The future of Quebec Independence now that Premier Jacques Parizeau is stepping down. WHAT'S NEW: Next week, Bloc Quebecois Leader Lucien Bouchard Is expected to announce he wants the job. WHAT IT MEANS: What Bouchard does once he Is in power will have a dramatic impact on Canadian politics over the next few months and years. WHAT'S NEXT: His announcement could come as early as Monday. An Jr 7 ANNE MclLROY Southam News for The Journal Montreal What next for the Miracle Man of Quebec politics? Bloc Quebecois Leader Lucien Bouchard is expected to answer the call of his people next week and announce he wants to become premier of Quebec.

With no likely challengers, he could glide to power by February, a messiah to his new party and a hero of almost mythic proportions to many ordinary Qucbecers. But the miracles may well cease once he takes office. Bouchard would face a herculean task: cleaning up the public finances of a province with one of biggest debt and tax burdens in the country, while at the same time steering Quebec out of Canada. It is not clear which will be the priority for Bouchard, who told Que-becers on referendum night that the next vote on their future could come sooner than they think. However, the course he sets will have a dramatic impact on Canadian politics in the months ahead.

1 The Parti Quebecois doesn't have a strategy now. Some in the government are pushing for a snap second referendum. Others want to wait and give the federal government and the other provinces a chance to fumble on a new constitutional offer. There is also talk of a quick election to give Bouchard a popular mandate. A provincial election would also allow the PQ to call another referendum without that Quebec would remain the last social democratic stronghold in North America, vowing the province would resist the conservative wave sweeping the rest of the continent.

Now it appears he will be the one forced to embrace austerity and make the same difficult decisions taken by the premiers he has criticizedAlberta's Ralph Klein, New Brunswick's Frank McKenna and Ontario's Mike Harris. Bouchard, though, has enormous credibility among Quebecers. He appeared reluctant to take the top job, and said he promised his wife he would leave politics. Therefore, becoming premier will mean that he sacrificed an ordinary family life. That could mean Quebecers will accept what he says and does.

Cutting spending will not be his only challenge. The government has promised reforms to the education system and Bouchard must deliver. He could also face trouble within the often fractious Parti Quebecois. Political columnist Michel David says Bouchard's imperial style may not sit well with some members. "Even the beloved Rene Levesque was plagued to the end by the mood swings of party members.

They had an undeniable affection for him, but that never translated into carte blanche." David wonders what would happen if the party adopts a position Bouchard opposes: If they were to decide, for example, that an electoral victory is sufficient to declare independence. "I can't help but think that he would simply walk away." File photo Lucien Bouchard in Lac St-Jean during the referendum campaign amending the province's electoral law. Polls suggest they would have little trouble winning; a recent survey showed that almost 55 per cent of Quebecers want Bouchard to be premier. Concordia University political scientist Guy Lachapelle agrees Liberal Leader Daniel Johnson would have little chance against the charismatic Bouchard, calling a contest between the two "the worst case scenario" for Johnson. Still, Quebecers are impatient for good government after the lame-duck final years of the Liberals and the referendum-driven first year of the Parti Quebecois government.

They are also weary of campaigns, having gone to the polls four times in four years. There are signs Bouchard is leaning towards the go-slow approach. The Quebec City newspaper Le Soleil reported this week that he would put off a referendum to concentrate on restoring fiscal order. Quebec's projected deficit is $3.9 billion. Except for Ontario, it is the only province that hasn't significantly reduced or eliminated its deficit.

But unlike Ontario, it hasn't set a target date to do so. Quebec's deficit reduction plan centres on increasing government revenues through improved economic growth. But the economy has been more sluggish than predicted and financial analysts and debt-rating agencies say they will be watching Quebec closely over the next few months. For ordinary Quebecers, the financial news in the post-referendum period is grim. The last budget threatened a one-per-cent provincial sales tax increase if the Yes side lost and the new finance minister, Pauline Marois, says she is sticking to that plan.

Social welfare cuts are also in the works because more families are on social assistance than the government expected. But the PQ has always blamed the province's woes on cuts in federal transfer payments. Bouchard is sure to take up that refrain if he becomes premier. During the referendum campaign, he repeatedly promised Beaujolais boycott to protest French N-testing fizzles BRIAN McKENNA The Canadian Press liis Weekem morrfon, Albert year after year," she said. In Ottawa, a handful of demonstrators gathered Thursday outside a liquor store in the capital's trendy neighborhood known as the Glebe.

"We feel it's a good way of having an impact on their decision-making," said Richard Saunders of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade. "They'll listen to their pocketbooks more than anything else." Some customers signed the group's petition, and others left the store with only Italian or Canadian nouveaus. That left sales of the French product, which at about $13.50 a bottle in Ontario is almost double the price of some Italian labels, relatively slow at that location. But it was a different story at another LCBO store near Parliament Hill. "It's selling very well," said manager Derrick Mayson.

"There are certain areas, no doubt where nuclear testing protests may be going on and affecting sales, but not here." The Liquor Control Board of Ontario confirmed that early sales were generally going as expected. "We've been tracking French wine sales to see if we'll see some impact (and) we really haven't seen a significant decline," said LCBO spokesperson Chris Layton. Overall, sales of French wine are down about three per cent across the province. But Layton said the decline could be attributed to a hike in prices and a recent Ontario wine promotion. If Canadians care a hoot about French nuclear tests in the South Pacific, you'd never tell it by the way they continue to drown their sorrows.

1 The ballyhooed boycott of this year's Beaujolais nouveau, it appears, is something of a bust. Anti-nuclear activists around the world have attempted to put the squeeze on the French wine industry to protest continuing French nuclear weapons tests on Mururoa atoll in the South Pacific. A centrepiece of that protest has been the boycott against this year's Beaujolais nouveau, which by tradition goes on sale on the third Thursday of November. But a spot check across Canada showed sales of Beaujolais are about the same as always. Even in places where the over-hyped (and some say overpriced) wine is moving more slowly, spokespersons are reluctant to blame the boycott.

"The event itself is just starting to lose momentum," said Leslie Myers of the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch. Myers talked with managers of four liquor outlets and said sales were slow for three French nou-veaus they were carrying. But it was no different for Italian and B.C. nou-veaus which went on sale at the same time.

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