(Québec ) Le Parti québécois accuse François Legault d’avoir « abandonné sciemment, de façon calculée », la réforme du mode de scrutin pour « s’assurer d’une domination totale » lors des prochaines élections. Le député Pascal Bérubé y voit une « menace à la démocratie » et sonne l’alarme à six mois du scrutin.
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« On se retrouve aujourd’hui dans une situation, avec les derniers sondages, où on peut anticiper une crise démocratique importante au Québec, une distorsion, sans précédent, entre les intentions de vote réelles et la représentation à venir de la prochaine législature », a lancé mardi le député de Matane-Matapédia, aussi porte-parole de la réforme des institutions démocratiques pour le Parti québécois.
La CAQ, avec un peu plus de 40 % des voix, pourrait se retrouver avec une centaine de sièges sur 125, c’est une disproportion qui fait peur.
Pascal Bérubé, député Matane-Matapédia
Selon M. Bérubé, il « semble acquis » que le prochain gouvernement ira chercher moins de 50 % des voix. « Je veux leur dire [aux Québécois] that a few months before an election, here is what is looming: a major democratic deficit where a winning government, with around 40% of the vote, could have 100 seats […] and that raises many questions about the role of parliamentarians and about democracy,” he said.
The popularity of the CAQ government is not declining, according to the latest Léger poll, published in the media of Quebecor, while the Parti Québécois and the Liberal Party of Quebec are in decline. The projections of the Quebec125 site would give a single seat to the Parti Québécois the day after the October election, according to the current voting system, explained Mr. Bérubé to journalists.
“I could have chosen not to tell you about this, but it is worrying and it explains why [le gouvernement a] denied an electoral commitment, then they died laughing at that, ”admitted Mr. Bérubé, who will seek a new mandate next October.
The parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, said for his part on Tuesday that the “democratic system […] is sick”, which François Legault broke with his promise by taking power in 2018. “François Legault has already agreed with me on this. I looked him in the eye, he signed an agreement with us and he broke his word. He broke his promise,” he said.
The Legault government has renounced its electoral commitment to adopt a reform of the voting system. In September 2019, Minister Sonia LeBel presented Bill 39 to establish a new voting system, but the legislative text was not submitted for study by parliamentarians.
Mme LeBel believes for his part that the CAQ has fulfilled its promise and says mission accomplished. The Committee on Institutions today in Quebec City studied the aspect of the reform of democratic institutions. “I consider that we have fulfilled the commitment,” she said at the time. In his opinion, the mere tabling of the bill is enough to claim victory. François Legault had however promised in 2018 that he would modify the voting system before the general election of 2022, and that he would not make a Justin Trudeau of himself. But the CAQ finally made the choice to “turn the page” because of the pandemic, said Mme LeBel.
In opposition, Minister Simon-Jolin Barrette was very critical of the Liberal Party, which is also against reforming the voting system. He accused the PLQ of placing its interests before those of Quebec. “We want to implement a mixed proportional voting system so that every voice counts, that every Quebecer has his or her voice,” he said. Another minister of the Legault government, the member for Chambly Jean-François Roberge, was also an ardent supporter of this reform. “In the last elections [de 2014]the Liberal Party of Quebec elected 70 deputies and obtained 56% of the seats in the National Assembly, obtaining only 42% of the votes cast,” he lamented.
In parliamentary committee, the CAQ MP Donald Martel for his part affirmed that the abandonment of the bill gave him “the opportunity to reflect”. When we look at what happened in the United States, in France, in Israel, he said, are we really sure that the reform is better than the current situation? Either way, he added, the pushback did not elicit any calls from irate citizens to his constituency office.