(Carleton-sur-Mer, Saint-Fabien) The Parti Québécois did not hold any major militant rallies during its tour of Gaspésie, one of its last strongholds. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon denies not attracting crowds. He says he chose to stop in “smaller towns” assuming that the events would be more modest.
Posted at 5:37 p.m.
They were about sixty militants, according to the count of The Press, gathered in a large hall of the Grande-Rivière youth center to come and hear the PQ leader passing through the region, Tuesday evening. “It warms my heart so much to see you in such large numbers,” said outgoing Gaspé MP Méganne Perry Melançon moved.
It was the only militant event on the program of the tour in Gaspésie, which began in practice on Tuesday morning with an announcement in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, in the riding of Gaspé. Wednesday, the day ends in Quebec, after a stop in Saint-Fabien in Rimouski.
PHOTO PATRICE LAROCHE, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
PQ MP Méganne Perry Melançon
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon did not indulge in any walkabout during his time on PQ land. The chef did visit a naval design company in New Port, along with his candidate in Bonaventure, Alexis Deschênes and Méganne Perry Mélançon, but stayed there for less than half an hour.
“We maximized the time we had, we couldn’t fit more activities into the schedule we had,” he said on Tuesday in Saint-Fabien.
Why not bet on a show of force in a region where PQ forces are still strong? “Having a night where we’re in a smaller town to pick up with big cities […] it is a choice that we make and that we assume completely, ”explained in the morning the PQ leader on the sidelines of an announcement, in Carleton-sur-Mer (Bonaventure).
“There were 80 [personnes] and we were in Grande-Rivière, which is not a big centre. So when we make that choice, and we also made that choice in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, we are running a campaign that is attentive to the specific needs of smaller towns. […] It’s been very well received, I think,” he added.
The entourage of Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon subsequently made it clear that the Grande-Rivière event was “a meeting with activists” as indicated on the schedule and not an activist rally.
In Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon promised to appoint himself minister responsible for Gaspésie – Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine if he becomes prime minister. A clear signal of his great seduction in the region where René Lévesque was born and where PQ roots run deep.
Again, no official stops in popular places.
Teeing off in Rimouski
The kickoff of this tour in the East was given in the coveted Rimouski left vacant by Harold LeBel, elected under the PQ banner and who finished his mandate as an independent. It is his former political attaché who crosses swords to keep the county in the bosom of the PQ, Samuel Ouellet.
At Tavern 666, on Saint-Germain, the outgoing MP for Matane-Matapédia, Pascal Bérubé, warmed up the activists – at least 160 – who had come to support rookie Ouellet. Mr. Bérubé went there with a heartfelt tribute to the place of his leader, who also drew a few tears from him.
The atmosphere was good and the activists energetic: the Parti Québécois caravan landed on familiar ground. The PQ organization has not made it possible to find this energy in Gaspésie.
Paul St-Pierre-Plamondon is not worried about it: “All the same, an 80 people in a city of 3000, 4000 people, it’s excellent”, he justified by referring to the event of Grande -River. “This is the type of campaign we want to lead. That is to say, sometimes we are in large centers, there are crowds of 200, 300 people and sometimes we choose villages, smaller towns. »
Since the start of the campaign, the rallies in Sainte-Julie and Saint-Jérôme have attracted at least 200 people.
No defensive campaign
The entire Gaspé Peninsula, including the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, as well as the riding of Rimouski were painted blue in 2018. It is one of the last bastions of the Parti Québécois and the efforts to preserve it are considerable. Pascal Bérubé, a tenor of the formation, has been campaigning alongside the team of candidates for several weeks already.
Moreover, no event has been organized in Matane-Matapédia where Pascal Bérubé has reigned supreme since 2007. A Léger poll commissioned by the PQ in May revealed that 92% of his fellow citizens were satisfied with his work. According to the Qc125 projection site, the Coalition avenir Québec is heating up the Parti Québécois everywhere in the East, except in Matane-Matapédia.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who will therefore have made stops in Gaspé, Bonaventure and Rimouski (twice in three days) denies leading a defensive campaign in the East. He recalled Wednesday that a few days ago, he was in the Outaouais, a region far from being traditionally won over to the Parti Québécois.
He does not rule out returning to Gaspésie by the end of the campaign. He must also go to the North Shore where the two outgoing PQ MPs, Martin Ouellet (René-Lévesque) and Lorraine Richard (Duplessis), are not in the running.