The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) will send a letter to the next President of the National Assembly, Nathalie Roy, on Tuesday — the day of the return to Parliament, Nathalie Roy, urging her to grant her party a minimum presence in Parliament, failing to be able to enjoy a seat. He denounces a “historic” electoral distortion.
Éric Duhaime will make three requests in his letter. “We want to continue to hold press briefings at the National Assembly, to have access to an office so that groups of citizens can come and meet party representatives, and we want to have access to closed sessions to benefit from same briefings as everyone else,” he said, in an interview with The duty.
Sunday afternoon, the Conservative leader made his letter public as he held a rally in Beauce.
“We agreed that the best way to achieve our goals was to ask the President of the National Assembly directly,” he said. As such, Mr.me Roy would indeed have powers that would allow him to respond to his requests.
Mr. Duhaime qualifies the role that Mr.me Roy will occupy “guardian of democracy”. However, it must restore, he underlines, “a little bit the current distortion which is totally unacceptable”. On 3rd October last the Conservative Party won 530,786 votes, which corresponds to 12.91% of the vote, but it did not win a majority in any of the 125 constituencies, finding itself without a seat in the National Assembly.
Thus, at a time when the opposition parties are taking stock of their agreement – signed on Friday – allocating their budget and the number of questions they will be able to ask in the chamber, Mr. Duhaime regrets that his party remains in the shadow.
However, he emphasizes “an openness on the part of all political parties” to welcome his requests. Recall that, a few days before the vote, the PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, had affirmed that Mr. Duhaime deserved “to be heard” in the National Assembly.
Reform of the voting system?
“Historically, since I have been in office, the Conservative Party has not held a position on a reform of the voting system,” said Mr. Duhaime. But given the extent of the “distortion”, he says his party will decide at its next congress.
The Conservative leader therefore does not rule out working with the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire, in the coming months, to demand a reform of the one-vote voting system. “The ruling party and the official opposition [le Parti libéral] benefit from the current system, he says. It will take time to resolve the issue. »
In addition to urging Nathalie Roy to grant the PCQ a minimal presence at “the people’s house”, as he calls it, Mr. Duhaime affirms that he “will return to the charge” on Tuesday so that “the government in do more on inflation”. It remains to be seen how he will be equipped to do so. For now, he says he’s ready for anything: “I’ll do it outside if necessary. I’m going to buy myself a winter coat, boots, a tuque and mittens! »