QUEBEC - Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois says she's tired of former leader Bernard Landry contradicting her in public.
Speaking to a handful of party members in Quebec City on Sunday, Marois called for order and discipline within the party ranks after recent public comments by the former premier and two of her trusted advisers over the thorny issue of education reform.
Landry and two party members believed to be close to Marois -- Joseph Facal and Jean-Francois Lisee -- lent their signatures to a proposal calling for a moratorium on the province's education reform.
"I'm fed up,'' Marois said of Landry's public comments.
But the message in her speech was directed at party members across the province.
"The only consequence is it is giving a poor and false image of our party and providing amusement for our adversaries,'' Marois said of the public comments. "Each time I listen to party militants, I hear them grinding their teeth. You're fed up? I'm fed up too.''
Marois initiated the education reform when she was education minister and continues to stand by the reform despite vocal opposition from across the province.
The reform encourages competency over knowledge and critics say students in Quebec school systems are falling behind in basics, such as science, language and mathematics.
Marois has had a number of issues within the party in recent weeks.
A left-wing faction within the party has called for the PQ leader to accelerate a move towards sovereignty by calling for a referendum should the party take power.
But Marois has said she is not interested in marching the party towards a referendum right now.
Also, some Parti Quebecois members of the legislature suggested the French Language Charter should be extended to cover daycare centres, meaning it would be more difficult for parents to send their children to a centre where English is the main language.
But Marois shot down the proposal, saying it wouldn't happen anytime soon.
Marois says the frequent and very public differences of opinion are doing the party no favours in attracting voter confidence leading up to the next provincial election.
Marois, who doesn't think her leadership is threatened, is frustrated with the "perpetual'' image of the PQ as a quarrelsome and confrontational group.
Dissent will always have a place within the party, Marois said, but it should be expressed in the proper forum and not in the media.
The sovereigntist party held general assemblies Sunday in Quebec City and Montreal.
