(Montreal) Five young women will campaign under the PQ banner in view of the elections on October 3 in ridings that may be difficult to win.
Updated yesterday at 3:47 p.m.
PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon was quite proud on Friday to present these “feminine candidates, youth candidates”, which allow the Parti Québécois, according to him, to be “the party that unites the generations around a social project.
“The next generation of women is doing well within the political formation,” he said, noting that these candidates in their twenties and thirties had not had to decide on the future of Quebec during their lifetime.
Independence to save the environment
However, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon knows full well that it is the environment that is at the top of young people’s concerns. But this is, according to him, the best argument for independence.
“You cannot dissociate independence and the environment. […] Only Quebec’s independence will allow us to take back the $2 billion that we are sending in gifts and subsidies to Alberta at the moment for oil and put that into the transition to the green economy, into Quebec companies that allow us sustainable economy, a transition that is green and fair for workers. »
Despite everything, he says he is convinced that independence is starting to attract young people again, saying that he sees the emergence in universities “of circles, clubs, associations of separatists who have nothing to do with the Parti Québécois” .
“There is really a swing of the pendulum in the younger generations. I see it because we have volunteers aged 16, 18, 20 who join the Parti Québécois saying: what can I do? That’s what we get when we submit applications like those [de vendredi] who embody this movement. »
The April 11 test
To François Legault, who affirmed just last week that the by-election of April 11 in Marie-Victorin will be a test for the Parti Québécois since it is a PQ castle, he replies that on the contrary , “it is first of all a test for the government. This is the only opportunity Quebecers have to send a message to the government about its record on the housing crisis, child care spaces, the environment, French, relations with the federal government, economic nationalism . All these issues, for the first time, will be tested at the ballot box. »
Since the election of the CAQ, on 1er October 2018, there were only two by-elections, in December 2018 in Roberval to replace the resigning Liberal leader, Philippe Couillard, and in December 2019 to replace another resigning Liberal, Sébastien Proulx, in Jean-Talon. The Coalition avenir Québec had won both seats, with very significant advances.
Steep slopes for the candidates
Three of the candidates presented Friday, students, are aged 20 to 25, while the other two, primary school teachers, are aged 30 and 37. They will all face significant challenges.
Marie-Laurence Desgagné, president of the National Youth Committee of the Parti Québécois and a law graduate, will try to regain the riding of Chambly in Montérégie, held by the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, since 2014. In the last ballot, Mr. Roberge won 50.3% of the vote, PQ Christian Picard ranking second with 17.4% of the vote. This riding was previously represented by former PQ minister Bertrand St-Arnaud.
Mme Desgagné says he is getting into the race “mainly for the independence issue, that’s clear, but its corollary is also the language issue. Bill 101 at CEGEP is really one of my concerns.
She also said she was very concerned about the issue of CPEs. “Being 22, I attended among the first CPEs and if I had a child today, I would have to fight to be able to return to work, to have access to places in CPEs for my children. If this isn’t concretely a setback in relation to the rights my mother had, I don’t know what is. »
Soledad Orihuela Bouchard, student in science of education, will set out to conquer Laporte, a liberal castle on the South Shore of Montreal held by the liberals since 1981. In the 2018 elections, the Parti Québécois had ranked fourth.
Jeanne Craig Larouche, a sociology student, will seek to rob the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, of the riding of Groulx, in the Laurentians. Again, the PQ finished fourth in 2018.
Julie Daubois, one of the two teachers, will face none other than the Liberal leader, Dominique Anglade, in Saint-Henri-Saint-Anne, in the southwest of Montreal. This riding has been liberal since its creation in 1994 and even then, the Parti Québécois ranked fourth in the 2018 election.
The other teacher, Catherine Dansereau Redhead, will try to reverse the historic trend in the Laval riding of Fabre, where the Parti Québécois took third place in 2018. This seat has belonged to the Liberals since the departure of PQ member Joseph Facal in 2003.