Following the result of the French presidential election, where left-wing parties failed to qualify for the second round, a conversation about uniting the left began. It’s a similar conversation that left-wing parties in Quebec should have if they want to prevent the impending defeat.
In France, after the presidential election, legislative elections take place to elect 577 deputies to the National Assembly. This election is similar to the election of deputies to our National Assembly. To ensure that the forces of the left do not split the votes, and guarantee a defeat, La France insoumise, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the ecologists have therefore started a discussion on a potential union during these next elections. These parties, which spent much of the presidential campaign attacking and insulting each other, have developed a common platform by focusing on their similarities rather than their differences. In all, the conversation about this union lasted a little over a week, and the electoral alliance that emerged ranged from anti-capitalist radical left parties to social democratic parties.
This type of electoral alliance with a shared platform at its heart could be possible between the two left-wing parties in Quebec. The differences between the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire are very great, but no more so than the difference between the parties that form the new popular union in France. There are many topics that will be discussed, such as secularism, the functioning of the health and education system and of course sovereignty. But I think it is possible to put these differences aside for a temporary electoral alliance. At this time, without union between these parties, they are destined to elect only about ten deputies against a hundred from the Coalition avenir Québec. Together, they only have about 25% of the votes, but that would allow them to be the first opposition force and to present themselves as a potential government. What neither the Parti Québécois nor Québec solidaire can do at this time. This will also allow their priorities to be highlighted in the media. In France, since this union, we no longer speak of immigration, but of retirement age and minimum wage.
A union of the left in Quebec will not be easy, it will not be a union out of love, but out of necessity. Quebec cannot afford to endure four more years of CAQ government, we need a Quebec union.
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