Let’s hope that the opposition parties in the National Assembly will adopt a New Year’s resolution to become real electoral alternatives to the CAQ. Whether or not we fight on the buses to fix the distortions in our electoral system, one reality remains: to make a difference, you have to aspire to power.
Our four opposition parties are currently on a leash in their electoral niche and have little to offer to threaten a CAQ that reigns supreme. Yelping at question period to talk to its electoral base is nothing to be afraid of for a government that, poll after poll, is still sitting on a comfortable lead.
This situation is dangerous for our democracy. It blunts the counter-power of the sentries responsible for monitoring the government. The Ethics Commissioner may carry out all the investigations he can on Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon, but there is a risk that impunity will set in if the Prime Minister can pass on the sponge without fear of being replaced.
The media can amplify the messages of a civil society teeming with organizations ready to speak out against injustice. But all this risks being just background noise if Mr. Legault does not have a serious competitor for the post of aspiring prime minister.
Our society is individualistic. It promotes à la carte social involvement to ensure consistency between our choices and our values. So we are reaping what we sowed: a fragmented political landscape that serves diversity of choice well.
Is the state the solution to all problems? QS is for you!
Is the state the source of all the problems? PCQ is for you!
Is Canada a guardianship castrating the potential of the Quebec nation? QP is for you!
Is Canada a safeguard against the excesses of the Quebec nation? The PLQ is for you!
Both on the left-right axis and on the federalist-sovereignist axis, there is plenty to eat and drink for the margins. Meanwhile, Quebecers remain a people of consensus neither on the left nor on the right, neither federalist nor sovereignist.
The margins are well served. Power remains at the center.
The great march towards the center of the oppositions will be difficult. They will have to agree to displease a base that sustains them. The PQ has its convinced separatists, the PLQ has its Anglophones from West Island, the PCQ has its antisystems and QS has its decolonial Marxist background. If they yearn for more, the opponents must trade the desire to be right for the desire to win. They have to make these sometimes counter-intuitive compromises towards the center.
We can demand a lot from the different party leaders for the new year, but you, what have you done recently to bring about an electoral alternative that resembles you? If citizen involvement in political parties remains an activity of the marginalized, it should come as no surprise that our political parties remain ideologically on the margins. In 2023, will you resolve to get involved in active politics? Whatever your political allegiance, I wish us well!