It’s next Monday that we will find out if it is a member from Québec solidaire or from the Liberal Party of Quebec who will represent the voters of Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne. A defeat for the PLQ would obviously be a disaster for the old party. But the very real prospect that this liberal castle, of which almost a third of the population speaks most often English at home, could escape the liberals is in itself damning for them. Their victory, which promises to be close if it happens, would not settle anything for them.
The latest Leger survey published in The duty gives an idea of the depth of the abyss in which the PLQ is plunged. Thus, in Quebec as a whole, the political party garners 14% of support, as in the last general election, and only 4% of voting intentions among Francophones. Whether in the greater Quebec City region or in the rest of Quebec outside the Quebec City and Montreal regions, the PLQ, with 6% and 5% of voting intentions respectively, appears to be a marginal third party.
Even Éric Duhaime’s Conservative Party, which the poll abuses by giving it only 9% of voting intentions, does better than the PLQ among Francophones, in fact, twice as well, with 8% of support.
After the nationalist turn initiated by Dominique Anglade and abandoned in order to save the day – that is to say the vote of the irreducible Liberals essentially non-francophones—the PLQ is ripe for in-depth reflection on its orientations. Some would like us to wait for the leadership race and the election of the next leader, others believe that work should begin now. Liberal minister in the cabinet of Jean Charest, Benoît Pelletier launched certain ideas. The former editor of The Press and former Liberal senator André Pratte has already started to get involved.
Now a member in good standing of the PLQ, André Pratte has been mandated to lead a think tank on the future and identity of the party, according to columnist Jonathan Trudeau of 98.5 FM, without the caucus being concerned. otherwise informed.
In various columns he has published recently, André Pratte shows that he already has clear ideas, even well-defined, on what the party should embody. Liberals must stop “flagellating themselves”; rather, they should recognize themselves in the balance sheets of the Charest and Couillard governments. No need to look further than the party constitution to find the principles on which to rebuild the political formation: “the primacy of the person, individual freedoms”. Hence the importance that there remains no doubt about the opposition of the party to the “abusive” use of the derogation provision in law 96 on French as a common language and, it goes without saying, in law 21 on the secularism. Moreover, the PLQ is the only party that combines the “firm defense of the interests of the province” and “an unshakable faith in the advantages of the Canadian project for Quebec”.
Benoît Pelletier also believes that the PLQ must reconnect with its foundations, but they are not the same. The former minister criticizes certain Liberals for no longer understanding what federalism is from a Quebec perspective. Adherence to federalism, especially when it is distorted to make Canada an increasingly unitary state, cannot be unconditional. Like Robert Bourassa, it is the defense of the interests of the people of Quebec that must come first. As for the derogation provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, they are a means for Quebec to affirm its distinct character in the face of the uniform vision of judges appointed by Ottawa. According to him, the PLQ should support the idea of Paul St-Pierre Plamondon to hold a commission on the future of Quebec, an avenue rejected by both François Legault and the interim leader of the PLQ, Marc Tanguay.
There is every reason to believe that it is the vision of the former senator that has the best chance of prevailing in a party and with elected officials who, by force of circumstance, are less and less representative of Quebec. in its entirety. Nothing would prevent André Pratte, moreover, from running for the leadership of the PLQ to defend this vision. In a column in December, he denounced the ageism suffered by Pierre Moreau, 64, when his name circulated for the chieftaincy. Thus, “there has never been a correlation between age and the quality of leadership,” says the 65-year-old former senator. The same argument could be used to highlight his candidacy.
However, his vision does not appear to be different from that of Philippe Couillard who had trouble “connecting” with Quebecers. The problem with André Pratte’s new ideas is that they are not that new. The government’s defense of “federal” judges as well as the faith of the federalist coalman as it displays it have not made the recent fortune of the PLQ.