The parliamentary session opened on Tuesday to the sound of slogans from three demonstrations in front of the National Assembly demanding the reform of the voting system, the abolition of the oath to the king and the promotion of education as the “priority of priorities” of the government. .
The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) may have elected 90 of the 125 deputies, but several groups of protesters – as well as certain elected PQ and solidarity members – gathered on Parliament Hill on this cold day at the end of November.
Near the Fontaine de Tourny, in front of the Hôtel du Parlement, a first demonstration to reform the voting system crossed paths with that which then took place to abolish the oath to King Charles III.
In a short speech at the second event, Parti Québécois (PQ) leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the two protests were about the same topic. “In both cases, it is a system that we did not choose and which does not represent us in our values, he said, after being greeted by the applause of the crowd. Our values being those of a healthy democracy. »
The two other PQ MPs, Joël Arseneau and Pascal Bérubé, were present alongside Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon. All three refused to take the oath to the British crown. However, it is a requirement to sit in the National Assembly, failing which elected officials can be expelled from the Blue Room.
For a reform of the voting system
A little earlier, demonstrators held up signs reading “Each vote counts” while listening to the speech of Maël Ferland-Paquette, spokesperson for Citizen Mobilization for a reform of the ballot.
It is not the government of François Legault that will “change” the electoral system, according to him. “We don’t bite the hand that feeds us and division feeds the CAQ. »
The day after the last election, Mr. Legault said he did not want to reopen the debate on the voting method. His party had however promised such a reform during the 2018 elections. During the electoral campaign, the Prime Minister affirmed that the subject only interested “a few intellectuals”.
Met near the loudspeakers where the songs of Jean Leloup resonate, the demonstrator James Rouillon proudly brandishes a sign which reads “François Legault liar !!! Signed: a non-intellectual who wants things to change”.
Mr. Legault’s remarks about the reform of the voting system are “a contempt for all those who are not intellectuals and who have the right to have their opinion”, maintains Mr. Rouillon, who came from Longueuil to protest. If he does not share the ideas of the leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), Éric Duhaime, he considers “unthinkable” and “ridiculous” that a party having collected 12.91% of the votes has no seats in the ‘National Assembly.
On October 3, the CAQ won 90 of the 125 ridings in Quebec with only 41% of the popular vote. The official opposition, the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ), won 14.4% of universal suffrage and 21 seats. They will be 19 from the 1er december. With 15.4% of the popular vote, Québec solidaire elected 11 deputies, while the Parti Québécois (PQ) finds itself with 3 elected members and 14.6% of universal suffrage.
Earlier, about twenty members of the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) welcomed the deputies who entered the National Assembly with a kiosk distributing coffee and a “lesson plan”. The latter is entitled “Making education a national priority”.
This priority should not only be that of the new Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, maintains Mélanie Hubert, President of the FAE. “We met Mr. Drainville yesterday [lundi] and he told us that he did not believe it possible by himself alone during a single mandate to succeed in settling the fate of education as a whole. It’s a matter of involving everyone a bit. »
Further details will follow.