It’s Groundhog Day. Two days before the vote, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon wanted to draw inspiration from Jacques Parizeau when he launched the “convince” operation. But he also took up the idea of his predecessor Jean-François Lisée, who had launched such an operation in 2018… two days before the vote.
The leader of the Parti Québécois appeared in front of the media with a smile on his face on Saturday to launch his last campaign sprint 48 hours before the vote. ” In 1995, [l’ex-premier ministre péquiste] Jacques Parizeau had launched the “convince” operation, which aimed for each person to give themselves the objective of convincing an undecided person. Just undecided. In 2022, I am launching exactly the same thing, a new convincing operation, ”announced “PSPP” from Trois-Rivières.
“We have one weekend left to get there,” he continued.
In front of his activists a few minutes later, he went further. “Jacques Parizeau had done that! “, he raised.
However, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon forgets to mention his predecessor. In 2018, the PQ leader at the time, Jean-François Lisée, also called for the vote to be released two days before the results. The objective of this operation, also called “convincing”: to create a “surprise”. The parallels between the two outputs are numerous.
“Every voter you know who has already decided to vote PQ has the task of finding two or three other people and convincing them to vote PQ,” said Mr. Lisée on September 29, 2018. “It takes three people who are undecided or who were thinking of going somewhere else and you bring them back. »
A few days later, the PQ suffered one of the most important electoral thaws in its history. The sovereignist formation then lost twenty seats – including Rosemont, the constituency of its leader – and obtained less than 20% of the vote. On the sidelines of his convention last December, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon had indicated that he wanted to “decide” with 2018 in terms of “independence, [du] French and [de] the environment “.
“Strong and constructive opposition”
This time, it’s time for trust. In the middle of the final sprint, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon continues to assert that the PQ is “rising”. “Let’s convince as many people as possible to give Quebec a democracy that is healthy, then an official opposition that is both strong and constructive, respectful,” he argued in front of a handful of supporters.
The PQ leader cares little about the events of the day before, which had seen two PQ candidates excluded from the team for remarks on Islam. “Leadership is about making tough decisions, but respecting and listening to everyone involved. […] This is the decision I made, “he replied to the co-spokesperson of Quebec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who had accused him Friday of lacking “leadership”.
“Other parties are throwing mud, making accusations at the end of the race,” added PSPP in reference to Québec solidaire. The PQ leader calls on the separatist voters of the orange banner party to reconsider their position. “There are separatists all over Quebec who voted in all kinds of ways in 2018, I tell them: your house is the Parti Québécois. The door is wide open, then we are waiting for you, ”he said.