Conseil de la Souveraineté du Québec

The Conseil de la Souveraineté du Québec is a non-governmental organization promoting Quebec sovereignty in the Canadian province of Quebec. The council was started in 2003 at the initiative of the province's Parti Québécois government. It has been renamed to Organisations unies pour l'indépendance (OUI) in Dec.2014.

An earlier organization of the same name existed in 1995 and played a prominent role in the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty.

The original council was established in May 1995, with former Parti Québécois cabinet minister Yves Duhaime as its first president and prominent Quebec nationalist Louise Laurin was its first vice-president. While it had only a small membership, it was regarded a serious force in influencing public opinion. During the buildup to the referendum, it ran full-page advertisements in English-language newspapers arguing that the government of Canada was wasting millions in taxpayer dollars by promoting Canadian federalism in Quebec.

Quebec's Parti Québécois government authorized payments to the council amounting to four million dollars in August and October 1995; this money was not subject to campaign finance limits, as it was all spent before the referendum campaign officially started. Duhaime argued that the money was well spent in countering Canadian federalist advertising. The council also raised and spent a further one million dollars in the same period.

The new council was launched in early 2003, at the urging of former Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau. It was designated with charitable tax status and was assured of regular financial support from both the Parti Québécois and Bloc Québécois; both parties also nominated one member to its eleven-member governing board. The new council's first leader was Gerald Larose, who continues to hold this position as of 2011. The council has urged the Parti Québécois to maintain an openly sovereigntist ideology.

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Wikipedia