(Quebec) The Parti Québécois (PQ) agrees to the three demands made by the leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), Éric Duhaime, who is seeking access to the National Assembly for his political party.
In the last general election, the Conservative Party garnered the support of 530,786 voters and 12.91% of all valid ballots, according to Elections Quebec, but it did not elect any of its candidates.
Québec solidaire (QS) received the support of 15.43% of the votes and elected 11 candidates. The vote percentage of the PQ, which has three deputies, was 14.61%, while with 14.37% of the vote, the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) had 21 of its candidates elected.
Since the PCQ has no MPs, Éric Duhaime wrote a letter asking that his party be able to hold press conferences at the National Assembly, have access to an office and access to closed sessions.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Eric Duhaime
In his statement of support for these demands, the leader of the PQ, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, writes that if a party obtains 13% of the vote, it deserves to have at least a platform to be heard in the National Assembly. . He adds that the demands of the Conservative Party cost nothing in public funds.
In his opinion, the current voting system has caused an unprecedented distortion in the composition of the National Assembly and everything must be done to restore a certain democratic balance.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon regrets that political parties have recently shown little appetite for real democratic rebalancing. The PLQ, the CAQ and QS have only sought to reform the method of granting resources since it benefits them, according to him.
He asks the other leaders, Premier François Legault of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois of QS and Marc Tanguay of the PLQ, to support the demands of the Conservative Party.