The Liberals must observe with envy the preliminaries of the race for the position of female spokesperson for Québec solidaire, which Manon Massé has decided to give up.
While the PLQ is struggling to generate candidates to succeed Dominique Anglade, QS activists will have the opportunity to choose – a choice that will undoubtedly be heartbreaking – between three quality candidates at the convention next November. Ruba Ghazal, Émilise Lessard-Therrien and, last in line, Christine Labrie, have all shown that they have what it takes.
Regardless of who is elected, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois will remain the parliamentary leader of QS and its leader in the eyes of the population. During the next election campaign, it is he who will be the figurehead and who will participate in the televised debates.
Beyond the personality of the future spokesperson, activists will have to make a strategic choice. The results of the October 3 election were disappointing for QS, which seems to have reached a ceiling, which the latest Léger poll tends to confirm.
Despite winning the by-election in Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, it has been supplanted by the PQ in voting intentions in recent months, even though it enjoys much greater visibility in the National Assembly. During the last session, the Solidarity MNAs were able to ask the government 151 questions, while their PQ colleagues were entitled to only 31.
Christine Labrie can be proud of having won in Sherbrooke over a star candidate of the CAQ, who bet on the former mayor of Longueuil and former Bloc Québécois MP, Caroline St-Hilaire. Formidable campaignMme Labrie had already defeated the Minister of Families in the Couillard government, Luc Fortin, in the 2018 elections.
Two deputies lined up behind her from the outset: Guillaume Cliche-Rivard (Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne) and Etienne Grandmont (Taschereau). Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, parliamentary leader Alexandre Leduc and whip Alejandra Zaga Mendez will have to remain neutral. Four deputies have not yet chosen their side.
Mme Labrie appears as the classic solidarity, who wants to be the bearer of the “social contract” of QS, the voice of “people who do not feel listened to, feel sidelined”. Since entering the National Assembly, she has defended them tooth and nail, but this speech, as generous as it is, has also demonstrated the limits of its effectiveness on the electoral level.
Ruba Ghazal inherited a secure constituency, which can be considered the birthplace of QS, when Amir Khadir decided against running in Mercier in 2018. It earned him two easy wins, with majorities over 10,000 voice.
Describing herself as “a child of Bill 101”, she perfectly embodies the growing diversity of Quebec society, particularly Montreal. It is a model of integration into the French-speaking majority, whose struggle and quest for independence it has espoused.
“In the party, we talk about these issues, but it’s as if it wasn’t heard enough by Quebecers. I want to put that forward, I want people to hear about independence, about our project to get there, ”she said.
The intentions of M.me Ghazal are certainly commendable, but she may have herself given the explanation for the misunderstanding she deplores when she apostrophized the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet. If QS is allergic to the “Quebec nation”, with its roots and its history, it should come as no surprise that the current goes badly.
It doesn’t seem to go over much better with the regions. For QS activists, the most painful moment of election night on October 3 was the announcement of the defeat of Émilise Lessard-Therrien in Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue, after her fierce fight for the Horne foundry to stop operating. poison his constituents.
Last February, the delegates to the National Council paid him a strong tribute. “Émilise was our regional reflex, we shouldn’t lose it,” said Ruba Ghazal, who probably did not expect to find her on her way. Mme Lessard-Therrien plays the card thoroughly: the regions, that’s it. And the possible expansion of QS inevitably goes through it.
At the national council, the militants from the regions had not hidden their frustration with the internal culture which discredited them and made it possible to devote the bulk of the resources in the metropolis. Giving them a voice in the chapter would do the greatest good.
Some would not be angry that the base has its spokesperson at the top. In all parties, it is good to periodically remind the parliamentary wing that the positions adopted by the militants must not be forgotten as soon as the congress is over.