Despite the shortcomings of its current voting system, Quebec is currently on its way to democracy. Those who wanted more avenues to be opened up and more voices to be heard politically will be delighted at the idea that this election will involve five parties, with firmly entrenched positions if not always well fleshed out. And that is without taking into account the record number in the ranks of female candidates and Aboriginals.
Posted yesterday at 12:00 p.m.
With independence making a big comeback in the electoral strategy of the Parti Québécois, the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), which is promoting its nationalist vocation, and the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ), which is positioning itself as the only truly federalist, one might think that the so-called national question is reliving its heyday.
I don’t think that’s really the case, because even if national issues are still part of the collective unconscious of the Quebec population, they have neither the relevance, nor the intensity, nor the mobilizing force that they once had.
In this article, I will content myself with highlighting the fundamental positions of the five political parties that are fighting each other, even if it means going into detail and looking closely behind the scenes later on.
Let’s look first at the Conservative Party of Quebec. This one strikes the imagination with its slogan “Libres chez nous”, which is reminiscent of Jean Lesage’s “Maîtres chez nous”. Nevertheless, it is indeed individual freedom rather than constitutional autonomy or even collective well-being that this slogan refers to.
Freedom, in itself, is a whole social project, which the Conservative Party would do better to detail as soon as possible at the risk that its leitmotif remains only a hollow theme. Be that as it may, its slogan is in fact based on the hope that some harbor that Quebec, now liberated from red tape, outdated ways of doing things from intrusive regulations and an overly cumbersome state organization, will once again become more creative. In my opinion, this need to reform the Quebec state is a bit dated. The latter is not, nowadays, so weighed down by paperwork and rules of law that it has to be questioned in this way. Moreover, the social organization of Quebec is, it seems to me, far from being rendered obsolete.
As for Québec solidaire, its refocusing on the political spectrum has been rather successful. His image has softened, while still appealing to youth, among others. For years, the spokespersons and parliamentary leaders of Québec solidaire have acquired great credibility in the eyes of the public. The party’s emphasis on tax reform, citizen ecological mobility and access to property is a promising spearhead for this election campaign. We can already be sure that the less fortunate people will find their account, but what will it be for the middle class?
For its part, the CAQ can rightly boast of having managed the pandemic responsibly and prudently managed the economy in recent years, but its governance has been rather conventional, uncreative, uninnovative, apart from its spectacular audacity on issues related to identity.
In some cases, the CAQ’s record is not up to par. For example, in terms of the environment, Bill 66 concerning the acceleration of certain infrastructure projects is proving to be a failure and has its share of negative consequences, particularly with regard to the protection of the territory. In terms of energy, the CAQ says it seeks the social acceptability of its projects, but this is not always there and, in any case, it cannot be the only criterion applied by the government to decide on the good -based on its initiatives. The same remark also applies to road and mining projects.
The PQ is right to return to its independence origins and seek to offer an alternative to Canadian federalism. For years, this party has been reminding us, not without reason, that this same federalism cannot be an end in itself and that the affirmation of Quebec, in its deep identity, is a legitimate objective, both within than outside of Canada. However, the leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who says these days to be inspired by Gandhi, will need the coalman’s faith to go up the slope that stands in front of him on the electoral level.
Finally, the PLQ, which invites Quebecers to vote for the truth (real issues and real solutions), returns with a position that is reminiscent of that of 2014 (together, we take care of real business). To comply with its slogan, the PLQ will have to convince the population that identity, language and secularism are only false debates, which seems to me to be a risky bet. Still, the progressive and progressive turn of this party, in terms of the environment in particular, can bear some fruit, and that the leader Dominique Anglade certainly benefits from being better known.
Alea jacta is (the die is cast) ! Once again, Quebecers have an appointment with their future, if not their destiny.
* Benoît Pelletier is a lawyer, doctor of law and professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa