(Quebec) PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will carry out a mission in Europe from Friday until March 4, in particular to discuss in the United Kingdom the abolition of the oath to the king of the deputies of the National Assembly.
He will therefore be absent for a good part of the electoral campaign for the complementary in Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, the ballot for which takes place on March 13, but will be back for a vote of confidence that he will have to undergo in a council of his party on March 11 in Sherbrooke.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon wants to “strengthen ties with our main international partners”, can we read in a press release, and he is convinced that this tour will be productive for “the image of our cause”, that is to say independence, internationally.
On February 24 and 25, he will be in Oxford, the city of the famous British university where he studied.
He announced that he would then speak about the abolition of the obligatory oath of the deputies of the National Assembly to the king.
Recall that the three deputies of the Parti Québécois (PQ) refused to take the compulsory oath after the October elections and the presidency therefore prohibited them from sitting, until the other parties adopt a law in December making the oath optional.
The leader of the sovereignist party will go from February 25 to 27 to Scotland, which is governed by an independence party, and he will also meet Catalan independence leaders, but without going through Spain.
Indeed, figures of this movement are exiled to Brussels in particular, where Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon intends to spend the 27 and 28.
Finally, from February 28 to March 4, he will stay in Paris, a capital that has always given a favorable welcome to the Parti Québécois and to the sovereignist governments it has formed over the decades.
The electoral campaign for the by-election in Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, in Montreal, is in full swing and it is customary for party leaders to campaign in support of their respective candidates.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon went to campaign with his candidate. Andréanne Fiola, at the start of the week, but she will probably have to manage alone or with her other colleagues until the last week of the campaign.
The PQ has indicated that MP Pascal Bérubé will take over and support the PQ candidate on the ground during the leader’s stay in Europe.
However, this riding is not fertile ground for the PQ. It has always been won by the Liberal Party. Quebec solidaire finished second in the October general election to Liberal leader Dominique Anglade, who resigned later in the fall, again freeing up the seat.
QS is betting on the same candidate as in October, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, while the PLQ is presenting Christopher Baenninger and the CAQ, Victor Pelletier.