The leaders of the five main political parties in Quebec will take part in a major electoral debate on Thursday evening. But they are far from representing all of the parties competing in the October 3 election. More than twenty parties evolve in the shadow of these formations. They defend various ideas and, like the big parties, receive public money according to the number of voters who support them in the polling booth. The duty handed them a pole.
“I find that the lack of coverage of the Green Party does not contribute to Quebec democracy”, immediately launches the person who has led the “eco-socialist” formation since 2013, Alex Tyrrell. His party, which is fielding 73 candidates this year, garnered 67,870 votes in 2018, more than the Conservative Party of Quebec at the time.
If swept to power, the Green Party of Quebec would make public transit free, create a network of high-speed trains between major cities in the province — like it exists in several European countries — and nationalize the recycling industry, among others.
The party, however, faces competition in its vein from Climat Québec, the formation launched in 2021 by the former leader of the Bloc Québécois Martine Ouellet. The program of the green and independence party aims to reduce Quebec’s greenhouse gas emissions, in the industrial sector as well as in the commercial and residential sectors.
“The campaign is going very well. We are growing at the moment, ”says Mme Ouellet, who is delighted to have recruited 54 candidates from different regions of the province.
“We do it out of passion”
At the head of the Direct Democracy party, which was created last May, Jean-Charles Cléroux aims for nothing less than to reform our democratic “system”. Thus, if his formation (which is proposing 28 candidates this year) one day takes the lead in Quebec, the bills would be adopted directly by the population, and not by the elected members of the National Assembly.
“It’s the politics of tomorrow,” says Mr. Cléroux, who believes that “it’s only a matter of time” before his party takes off and attracts more interest from voters.
Other parties in place for several years continue to roll their bump despite the low number of votes collected. This is particularly the case with the Marxist-Leninist Party of Quebec, loyal to the position since 1989, and the Autonomist Team, a right-wing party founded in 2012, one of whose primary objectives is to reduce the State debt. , in particular by making it “less interventionist”. The party led since 2016 by Stéphane Pouleur won 1,138 votes in 2018.
“We do it out of passion, out of conviction,” says Mr. Pouleur, whose training attracted 10 candidates this year. “We have to persevere until we are known and get more media coverage,” adds the agronomist.
Some formations also have ideas of grandeur that are surprising. This is particularly the case with Party 51, whose leader since 2016, Hans Mercier, has proposed the annexation of Quebec to the United States. “I wanted to leave something other than debt to the citizens of Quebec. I wanted a project that was unifying,” notes Mr. Mercier in an interview.
The Culinary Party of Quebec proposes to set up a “gastronocracy”, that is a society where decisions would be guided by gastronomy. “I firmly believe that gastronomy can solve contemporary problems such as the environment, poverty […] and then eating is happiness”, indicates the leader of the party, himself a cook, Jean-Louis Thémistocle Randriantiana. “It’s a bit humorous” as a proposal, he says before bursting out laughing.
The Null Party, which presents nine candidates, has more limited ambitions. The formation led since 2009 by Renaud Blais essentially wants to embody a protest vote so that “popular dissatisfaction can be taken into account in a meaningful way in the electoral results”, as mentioned on its website. The formation collected 3659 votes in 2018.
Courting English speakers
This campaign is also marked by the arrival of two new political parties that court the vote of linguistic minorities. The Canadian Party of Quebec, authorized last June, recruited 20 candidates determined to seduce members of the English-speaking community opposed in particular to the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, French (PL 96).
I firmly believe that gastronomy can solve contemporary problems such as the environment, poverty […] and then eating is happiness
In the same vein, the former candidate for mayor of Montreal Balarama Holness is running as leader of the Bloc Montreal, which has 13 candidates courting the ridings of the metropolis, Laval and Vaudreuil-Dorion. “The team is motivated, and we are determined to win seats, especially in the West Island”, currently dominated by the Quebec Liberal Party, he said in an interview.
In addition to defending linguistic minorities, Mr. Holness proposes granting “more powers” and financial resources to Quebec’s metropolis. “Montréal is an exceptional metropolis, but we lack autonomy and funding,” he adds.
Political financing
The parties, however marginal they may be, receive an annual financial allocation proportional to the number of votes they received in the last ballot. Last year, for example, the Green Party of Quebec received $171,605 in public money; the Null Party, $9251.
Some parties are also entitled to financial assistance even if they do not present any candidates this year. The Bloc Pot raised $11,774 last year; the New Democratic Party of Quebec, $57,807.
“Pressure groups like us should all have a political party,” notes Bloc Pot leader Daniel Blackburn, who says his party’s decision not to field any candidate this year is part of a strategy to to “focus on funding”. The money raised by the training, he explains, will be used, among other things, to finance legal proceedings and lobbying with the aim of relaxing the regulation of cannabis in Quebec. “We have a fight to fight,” he concludes.