Philippe Couillard, Quebec’s new Liberal Party leader, calls for new round of constitutional talks

Quebec's new Liberal leader wants La Belle Provence back into the constitutional fold.

According to the Globe and Mail, Philippe Couillard, who decisively won the party's leadership on Sunday, says that, if elected as Quebec's next premier, he wants to embark on a new round of constitutional talks with the other provinces and the Feds.

[ Related: Quebec Liberals choose Philippe Couillard as leader ]

"We need to be methodical in the way we are going to approach this. The first thing to do is within our party to discuss this question of identity or the specific nature of Quebec and then have conversations with the other governments of Canada on how this could be approached," Couillard said during a news conference on Monday according to the Globe.

Couillard added that constitutional talks could be buoyed by the "symbolic window" which is 2017, Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation.

It was 30 years ago when Pierre Trudeau's government reached a deal with nine provinces, sans Quebec, to add a new constitution, including a charter of rights, to the 1867 British North America Act. Attempts to include Quebec with the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords failed and La Belle Provence remains on the outside looking in.

Bringing them back in seems to be a sentiment that most Canadians support.

According to a 2011 Harris-Decima survey, conducted for The Canadian Press, 58 per cent of Canadians said they were willing "to offer constitutional amendments in a bid to finally secure Quebec's signature on the Constitution."

Couillard, however, might find it difficult to get the federal government to negotiate with him especially if Stephen Harper is still in power or if we have a Justin Trudeau government in 2017.

Both Trudeau and Harper have dismissed the idea of reopening the Constitution stating that they'd rather focus on economic policies.

And while Mulcair has paid lip service to it, it remains to be seen if he'll take the political risk. What if we re-open the Constitution but fail to reach a deal?

[ Related: Quebec sovereignty is still very much a story ]

Couillard still has to win an election to become premier — analysts predict that the Pauline Marois Parti Quebecois minority government will stand for at least another year.

But after that — if that happens — things could get very interesting.

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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