By Kevin Dougherty - QUEBEC - Less than 24 hours after it was launched, an online petition calling for the resignation of Premier Jean Charest, has over 67,000 signatures.
The petition will remain online until Feb. 15. Anthony Leclerc, the 18-year-old Quebec City high school student, who is co-sponsor of the petition, said the goal is 100,000 signatures.
The National Assembly started online petitions in October 2009.
The previous high number of signatures was 42,024, collected over three months on a petition, presented by Parti Québécois MNA Bertrand St-Arnaud, calling for a public inquiry into the construction industry.
Amir Khadir, the Québec solidaire MNA for Montreal’s Plateau Mont-Royal Mercier riding, has agreed to present this petition next March when the assembly resumes for its spring sitting.
Leclerc said he and his partner in the Mouvement citoyen national du Québec, which has 41,800 Facebook supporters, approached several MNAs, but only Khadir agreed to present their petition.
Leclerc said the group is non-partisan and was started after the Charest government’s budget last spring, which proposed spending cuts and new health taxes.
“We want to shoe that simple citizens can change things,” Leclerc said.
The petition offered three reasons why Charest should resign: his refusal to call a public inquiry into the construction industry, his refusal to impose a moratorium on shale gas development and his refusal to negotiate the spending cuts.
Petition link:
[www.assnat.qc.ca/fr/exprimez-votre-opinion/petition/Petition-1123/index.html->www.assnat.qc.ca/fr/exprimez-votre-opinion/petition/Petition-1123/index.html]
kdougherty@montrealgazette.com