According to some beliefs, just before dying, one sees as in a film the important moments of one’s life. In the film of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), we would see that he was a nationalist and a reformer. That it was he who made French the official language of Quebec and nationalized electricity. Among other things, because there was a time when it was also the party of the economy.
Gathered this weekend in Victoriaville, the Liberals looked just as depressed as the day after the last provincial election. This manifests in several ways. For example, they are unable to decide even on the date of the choice of their new chief and are always so embarrassed to say that they could be, at least a little, nationalists.
In fact, liberals are struggling to reconnect not with their history, but with what was their tradition. In the not so distant past, the PLQ could claim a federalism that wanted to be different and a desire to preserve the French language. We wonder if this is still the case.
It is still not normal that one of the main measures for the protection of French in recent years has come from Ottawa rather than from the PLQ, that is to subject corporations under federal jurisdiction such as Air Canada or Canadian National to Law 101.
It is true that the years in power of the PLQ since 2003 have not been very good for what remained of its nationalist soul. Since the 1995 referendum, we have felt that defending federalism has become more urgent than defending Quebec’s interests.
But the days when it was enough for Jean Charest to say the word “referendum” to win a majority government are over. Except that some liberals seem to be bored.
Again at the end of the week, the interim leader, Marc Tanguay, could not help but return to Jacques Parizeau’s speech on the evening of the referendum, nearly 30 years ago. Especially since Quebeckers have twice said no to sovereignty and have never indicated since that time that they wanted another referendum in the near future.
However, all should not be so dark for the party that forms the official opposition in Quebec – and therefore the one that should normally be the government in waiting.
The Legault government, eight months after a triumphant re-election, already seems out of breath. In any case, he finds himself, at least temporarily, in a bad patch and he has to back down on key promises such as the third link or the immigration thresholds. And we know that third terms don’t happen often…
Québec solidaire increasingly occupies a place in public opinion that resembles that of the New Democratic Party at the federal level. Her constituents are happy to hear a leftist voice in parliament, but they don’t really believe she will take power anytime soon.
As for the Parti Québécois (PQ), it would be well advised not to boast too much with a rise of four points in the polls, which is about the margin of error. The PQ still suffered the worst defeat in its history last year and it has never had so few deputies in the National Assembly.
Normally, the Liberal Party should already be in preparation mode for the electoral platform for the next election.
Starting with building consensus within the party itself. Which is always a difficult exercise for the PLQ when it comes to language or identity.
As we saw at the end of the week, not only are consensuses still just as difficult to achieve, but – doubtless in order not to take unnecessary risks – we did not even want to take the risk of putting to the vote any resolution it would be.
It will be interesting to see the report of the recovery committee, co-chaired by former senator André Pratte and deputy Madwa-Nika Cadet. Not only did the committee give itself a rather modest mandate – to bring disappointed Liberals back home – but it is also certain that the new leader will not be bound by its conclusions.
There remains the question of leadership. Which is, for now, a matter of timing: the debate between those who want a quick convention, so the new leader has time to rebuild the party, and those who want to wait for the leader to come to the election. with the aura of novelty.
The only problem is that the names currently circulating do not seem to trigger passions. The Tanguays, Fortins, Derrajis and Beauchemins did not win over immediately.
But, at least, we don’t risk ending up like last time with a shortage of candidates and a coronation – even if it was facilitated by the pandemic. In the panoply of difficulties facing the QLP, this is very small consolation.