Émilise Lessard-Therrien’s “regional reflex” is a golden opportunity for Québec solidaire (QS) to become the party “of the ballot box and the ranks”, believe local actors interviewed by The duty. However, they issue a warning: outside of major centers, “orange taxes” will never pass.
Émilise Lessard-Therrien has big ambitions for the party she has represented since Sunday as co-spokesperson. The former member for Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue hopes that her accession to the head of the left-wing party will make it possible to extend the tentacles of solidarity beyond the Old Capital and the Quebec metropolis. “It’s clearer than ever: Quebec Solidaire is the party of Quebec in its entirety,” she thundered on Sunday, in a victory speech delivered in front of a few hundred delegates in Gatineau.
In polls, the picture is not as clear. The latest survey from the Léger firm gave 15% of voting intentions to Québec solidaire, far behind the Coalition Avenir Québec (30%) and the Parti Québécois (26%). A survey published more recently by the firm Pallas Data saw the PQ surpass the CAQ, without the needle moving for QS (16%). Behind the desks of the Salon bleu, only one elected representative represents a constituency outside Montreal and Quebec: the member for Sherbrooke, Christine Labrie.
To get the party out of stagnation, Émilise Lessard-Therrien wishes to rally a new electorate: that of the regions and “rurality”. Mme Labrie, who ran against her in the race for co-spokesperson, also gave her his blessing on Sunday. “As a regional supporter, I needed my party to make this decision, to have a co-spokesperson who is not from Montreal for the first time in its history,” she said. .
As a regional supporter, I needed my party to make this decision, to have a co-spokesperson who is not from Montreal for the first time in its history.
A priori, the accession of “ELT” to the leadership of a national political party is “good news” for people in the regions, underlines the prefect of the MRC of Témiscamingue, Claire Bolduc, in an interview with The duty. “We can never have too many voices to talk about the regions,” she said. So, I think it’s a good thing. To remind us of our importance, our place. »
“Having a person who, every time decisions are made, brings a rural side, I think that can just be beneficial,” adds the prefect of the MRC of Abitibi-Ouest, Jaclin Bégin.
Former PQ MP François Gendron, who represented the Abitibi-Ouest constituency for almost 42 years, in no way doubts the “vision for the regions” of Mr.me Lessard-Therrien. “She wants to develop what they don’t know, and she recognizes that, if there is a party that has no basis in regional development, it is Québec solidaire,” he says. at the other end of the wire.
The challenge, he says, lies in QS’s ability to cross the bridges on the island of Montreal. Despite the presence of its new co-spokesperson, the party has quite a hill to climb, according to him. “All their concerns are not of this order. Their membership base is Montreal,” he says.
The “orange tax” gap
In 2022, 34 of the 47 constituencies where QS lost at least 1 percentage point of the vote were called “rural”. The party has above all failed to convince the regions in 2022 because of its fiscal and environmental proposals, say the MRC prefects surveyed this week by The duty. The latter point to two specific commitments: the 15% surcharge on the purchase of more polluting vehicles and the tax on large fortunes.
“Energy-guzzling vehicles, yes, it’s true: we can imagine that there are people who don’t need them. But there are people, especially in the regions, who need it,” notes the prefect of the MRC of La Mitis, in Bas-Saint-Laurent, Bruno Paradis. “To see an additional tax for people who need it for their work, well, they certainly took it badly. »
Marcel Groleau does not hide his admiration for Émilise Lessard-Therrien. This year, during a national solidarity council, the former president of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) produced a short video to salute her work as an MP in front of party activists. “I have a lot of respect for her,” he says in an interview with The duty.
QS did not attract the same respect from the agricultural community in 2022. In the first week of the election campaign, the party proposed that taxpayers with net assets of more than $1 million pay an additional tax at least 0.1%. In the case of an inheritance, the joint tax model provided that each dollar of net assets above one million would be taxed at 35%.
Given the value of land and agricultural equipment, several independent farms would have been affected, notes Mr. Groleau. “The next generation of farmers is quickly reaching that million,” he analyzes more than a year later. Coupled with the surtax on gasoline cars, the controversial proposal “hurt” rural people, according to him. The subsequent addition of an exemption for farmers did nothing.
During a debate organized in the offices of the Duty during the race for co-spokesperson, in November, Émilise Lessard-Therrien agreed that better consultation of the regions would have allowed Québec solidaire to avoid the pitfalls of what François Legault nicknamed “orange taxes”.
Now that she has received the support of the solidarity delegates, Marcel Groleau gives her some advice. “If a party wants to attract a regional clientele, people, in their daily lives, must not offend them directly,” he analyzes.
“Because we support major projects,” continues this resident of Thetford Mines. The environmental project, everyone understands that we must adhere to it. But taxing cars in the region when we don’t have public transport doesn’t work. […] You’re done, you’re dead. »
The co-spokesperson of Mme Lessard-Therrien, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, has already confirmed that Québec solidaire’s tax proposals will be re-evaluated between now and the 2026 election. Last weekend, solidarity delegates proposed exempting gasoline vehicles from a proposal to remove the QST on repair costs and used goods. The decision to reject the amendment was praised by “GND” for its “pragmatism”.
Precisely, “people are pragmatic in the region,” notes Claire Bolduc. We saw in the last elections that the Québec Solidaire program could, in some respects, scare us. In this context [Mme Lessard-Therrien] will have to make the bridge between what the regions say, what it says and how that translates into the party’s positions. »
Even if he ran in Estrie in 2022, like Christine Labrie, the mayor of the small municipality of Sainte-Camille, Philippe Pagé, supported Émilise Lessard-Therrien in the race for solidarity co-spokesperson. For this former QS candidate in Richmond, no candidate represented rurality better than the former elected official from Témiscamingue.
On the other end of the phone, Mr. Pagé makes a clear observation: “Our brand needs to evolve. We have common values, farmers and Quebec solidarity. We have common values with rural people, who work together, who have mutual aid and solidarity. »
“But why does a product fail to reach its market? It’s either marketing, or a question of spokesperson, or a question of message…” he adds. “Then, by refining it with a spokesperson who comes from there, I think we have the opportunity to put our speech in regional style. »
Since its founding in 2006, QS has prided itself on being the party “of the ballot boxes and the streets”. By seizing solidarity leadership, Émilise Lessard-Therrien intends to add two words: “the ranks”.