The polls suggest he may become the next premier of the province when Quebecers go to the polls in October, but can François Legault woo anglos?

He paid a visit to Leslie Roberts at the CJAD 800 studios on Tuesday morning to make his case — and began by answering the question of whether he was still a separatist.

"No," the former longtime member of the Parti Québécois told Leslie Roberts. "For me, the sovereignty of Quebec was a means. What I wanted since I was young is to have a richer Quebec, to have a Quebec that succeeds internationally, and I thought that at the time if we had 100 per cent of the tools, it would be better. But I realized a few years ago, that it's not necessary.

"I want to be clear. I'm a nationalist. For me, it's Quebec first. For me, it's more important [to create jobs in Montreal rather than in Toronto]. It's Quebec first, but within Canada."

Legault made it clear that he will not hold a referendum during a CAQ mandate.

Economy, health major priorities

Legault says increasing the province's wealth is his main priority, suggesting it's wrong for the province to get billions of dollars in handouts from the other provinces, as it has for decades.

Improving the province's education system and bringing Quebec's high school graduation rate up where Ontario's is is also on his agenda, and so is improving the province's health care system.

Legault, a former PQ health minister, says there needs to be a new pay agreement with Quebec's family doctors, to allow them to see their patients more often than they do now.

"Right now, if you go and see in different hospitals and emergency rooms, you see that 40 per cent have minor problems. These people, they must not be in hospitals, they must be in clinics...with their family doctors."

He says current health minister Gaetan Barrette — a man once touted as a possible CAQ health minister during the 2012 election campaign — tried to change too much at once.

Changes to Bill 101? Not likely

Legault also suggests that while he's all for bringing in more anglophones, and other minorities, into Quebec's civil service, he doesn't appear keen to bring changes to Bill 101.

"French will always be vulnerable in Quebec because of the situation in North America," he said. "That why we have Bill 101. Bill 101 to force people into French schools is something pretty tough, but it's necessary. Same thing in our stores — if it's bilingual everywhere, I think it's a question of years...French will not be present in Quebec anymore."

He says the French language is what makes Montreal and Quebec unique in North America, and that most anglophones are okay with that.

He also suggests that while he's not surprised by the anglophone community's reaction to the recent 'Bonjour-Hi' motion — which Legault and the CAQ voted for — when he was asked whether anglos were too sensitive on 'Bonjour-Hi', he said, "maybe...but I think we've reached over the last 20 years a kind of balance. Everybody has to make some compromises. We can't find problems where there are no problems."

Legault was first elected the National Assembly as a Péquiste in 1998, and stayed on until he announced he was quitting politics in 2009. He dropped out of sight for a couple of years before re-emerging as the co-founder of a political movement called the Coalition Pour L'Avenir du Quebec. It became a political party in 2011, which later subsumed Mario Dumont's old party, the ADQ.

His party now has 21 members in the National Assembly, but none on the island of Montreal.