Nostalgia for past glory is a very bad safe haven when a party has to rebuild itself.
Posted yesterday at 12:00 p.m.
To project itself into the future, the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) needs to draw lessons from the past by looking at the present with humility and lucidity. The observation could not be clearer: the PLQ is at odds with the Francophone electorate and the collective aspirations of Quebecers of French-Canadian ancestry.
During the 150e anniversary of Canadian Confederation, the PLQ celebrated itself as the only provincial party still alive since 1867. activist were already clearly visible. The iceberg has hit two elections rather than one and the time for introspection has now come. Waiting for the QAC’s power to wear down won’t be enough.
To regain a foothold among the Francophone electorate, the PLQ would benefit from drawing inspiration from its nationalist history.
Shelved since the trauma of 1995, this narrative arc, which takes root before Confederation, provides benchmarks that the party badly needs to rebuild itself in this new post-referendum era.
Liberal nationalist history before Confederation, it was first Louis-Joseph Papineau who rallied Irish (green), French-Canadians (white) and English (red) under a tricolor to replace the arbitrary monarchy by a democratic principle. It was Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine who opposed the English unilingualism of the Act of Union by delivering his first speech in French against the constitutional order in place. It was the Rouges of Antoine-Aimé Dorion who were excluded from the constitutional conferences and who opposed the adoption of the 1867 Constitution without prior popular consultation, fearing the centralization of powers in Ottawa.
The nationalist history of the PLQ after the adoption of the Constitution of 1867, it was Honoré Mercier who invented provincial autonomy by recalling that the federation was created by the provinces and not the reverse. It was George-Émile Lapalme who laid the foundations of a provincial political party independent of the interference of its federal big brother and who created the Ministry of Culture as well as the Office québécois de la langue française. It was Jean Lesage who occupied provincial jurisdictions to the maximum, who nationalized electricity and who developed the voice of Quebec internationally. It was Robert Bourassa who made French the sole official language of Quebec and who promoted the cultural sovereignty of his people.
The nationalist history of the PLQ after the patriation of the Constitution of 1982, it is Claude Ryan who, after having promoted a renewed federalism, opposes the unilateral patriation of the Constitution. It was Robert Bourassa who tried to reintegrate the federation with honor and enthusiasm, who obtained an independent seat at the International Organization of La Francophonie, who repatriated powers in immigration and who used the derogatory clause to forge a new linguistic compromise after an unfavorable judgment on Bill 101.
The nationalist history of the PLQ is full of episodes where Quebec Liberals had to anchor themselves firmly in the collective aspirations of the French-speaking majority without losing sight of their liberal ideal.
These are times that have been a source of internal tensions necessary to remain a broad coalition of Francophones, Anglophones and Quebecers from diverse backgrounds.
Yes, the PLQ is also the party of fundamental rights and freedoms and Canadian unity. Well, everyone knows that! Is the PLQ now only the party of fundamental rights and freedoms and Canadian unity? This is the question that many are asking.
What meaning will the party give to the “Q” of the PLQ? This is what will determine if the more than 150 years of history of the PLQ still have a bright future…