The worrying violence targeting elected officials, all parties combined, has almost become a sad obligatory passage. The threats are increasing, as is their aggressiveness. PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon unfortunately did not escape this and is naturally upset. The dismay he displayed when invited to discuss it was not surprising.
But by wanting to erase this first reaction, imbued with emotion and the authenticity that nevertheless suits him, the PQ leader took the wrong path.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon thus joined the group fire of politicians waged against the press for some time, in his case reproaching the journalists for having lacked sensitivity towards him. He believes that he should never have been asked to comment on the threats that led to the arrest of a suspect. The media should never have broadcast the images of the PQ leader interrupting his response under the influence of emotion. The resumption of this same response, a few minutes later, should have been enough for them, insists Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon. But the journalists on the contrary lacked respect for his private life, ethics and humanity, he denounced on social networks.
The death threats targeting the PQ leader and her young family are unacceptable. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon has every right to want to collect them privately, with his loved ones. However, he chose to join a press conference last Friday on the overhaul of the electoral map. And to hold, following these 39 minutes of exchanges, a second press scrum. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon claims that the journalists present had been warned not to speak to him about these threats – which one of these journalists on site refutes.
The looping broadcast by certain media of images of the PQ leader, full of emotion, wiping the corner of his eye, was questionable. However, the charge against the entire press by an aspiring prime minister is equally so. It is not up to politicians to decide what questions will be asked of them, nor to determine which excerpts of their remarks will be retained.
Naturally shaken, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon could have refused to comment. Or simply not to appear in front of the cameras. But he would then have had to give up criticizing Prime Minister François Legault following his meeting with Justin Trudeau.
The PQ leader also errs by invoking respect for his private life. The Quebec media sphere does not expose the married life or state of health of elected officials. The growing aggressiveness of which the entire political class is the victim, at all levels of government, is however of another order and is part of a worrying social phenomenon that must not be silenced. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, whose predecessor Pauline Marois was the victim of an attack on the evening of her election, should recognize this.
More than 200 provincial elected officials, like him, received threatening remarks or direct threats last year. A drop of half compared to the 396 incidents reported to the Sûreté du Québec in 2021, but a figure which remains far too high. To ignore this intimidation would be to make the mistake of giving in to it and normalizing it.
In an age of doubt and disinformation, suggesting that a party leader (and aspiring prime minister, to boot) can influence his own media coverage — and to do so, collude with the mediasphere — only risks harm. ‘exacerbate this trust deficit. Barely 50% of the population still trusts journalists, 44% governments and 33% political leaders, according to the polling research institute Environics.
The media is certainly not above reproach. But the fashion seems to be in their admonition for certain politicians anxious to extricate themselves from the embarrassment by using such a diversion. The CAQ Minister of Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, wrote an open letter to defend the Northvolt project. The federal Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, regularly attacks scribes on social networks or in press briefings. A form of intimidation which does nothing to help citizen confidence and democracy.
The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, attracted ridicule by singing a complete piece by Cowboys Fringants. The mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, was filmed fainting from exhaustion. In both cases, the images circulated widely. In neither case did the elected official or his entourage feel the need to attack the media to counterattack.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon’s electoral momentum seems to be confirmed, according to Léger’s latest survey. Sooner or later, if he wants to wear the clothes of prime minister-in-waiting, the PQ leader will have to learn to deal with his entire public role.