(Quebec) François Legault can’t stand Justin Trudeau anymore. He calls on the Parti Québécois to “be courageous” and put pressure on the Bloc Québécois to bring down the Liberal minority government. The PQ sees this as a “desperate attempt” and accuses him of sticking to Pierre Poilievre.
The Prime Minister no longer has confidence in Justin Trudeau to solve immigration problems and is turning the heat on the Parti Québécois so that it pushes the Bloc Québécois to participate in bringing down the government. François Legault went even further in the House: “what we need in Ottawa is an economic government,” he said.
The Conservative Party is well ahead in voting intentions in the country. According to the electoral projection site, Canada338, Pierre Poilievre would win a majority with 219 seats.
“I think that today we really need to talk about the federal government, because the sister party of the Parti Québécois, the Bloc Québécois, is preparing to support Mr. Trudeau,” said Mr. Legault.
“Just this week, the leader of the Parti Québécois said: ‘I’m going to ask Quebecers to vote for the Bloc. Mr. Trudeau should take action to reduce the number of immigrants.’ But what is he doing today? He’s sitting on his hands and he doesn’t have the courage, the leader of the PQ, to tell Yves-François Blanchet: ‘Don’t support Justin Trudeau,'” he added in the Salon bleu.
The Prime Minister had set the stage a few minutes before question period by making a strong statement against the Parti Québécois and the Bloc Québécois.
“I am asking Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, the leader of the Parti Québécois, to have courage today and to ask his comrade in the Bloc Québécois to back down, to not support the Trudeau government next week, and to defend the interests of Quebecers and the Quebec nation,” he added in front of journalists, without taking questions.
To ensure its survival, the Trudeau government must have the support of the Bloc Québécois or the New Democratic Party. Its future has been uncertain since the NDP tore up the agreement with the Liberals.
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, sees it as “a desperate attempt” by the Prime Minister who has lost his “credibility” on the immigration file, and states that the CAQ is now taking the side of Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon
In 2021, François Legault gave his support to Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives. Despite criticism, Mr. Legault said at the time that he did not regret his intervention in the federal elections.
“If François Legault wants to do that, let him do it. I will side with those who are loyal to Quebec. Because the Alberta Conservatives will not campaign based on Quebec’s interests,” reacted Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon during a press briefing.
In April, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon launched an attack against Justin Trudeau. “In all Canadian provinces, francophones have been assimilated. Statistics Canada […] tells us that French is declining and this corresponds to the lack of collaboration from the federal government in culture, immigration and official languages. This is intentional and Justin Trudeau is continuing the work of his father Pierre Elliott Trudeau,” he said.
There is no rush to defeat his government, he believes, because a Poilievre government would act in exactly the same way.
On the X network, the leader of the Bloc Québécois quickly closed the door on changing his position. “It remains no. I am neither Conservative, nor Liberal… nor CAQ. I am leader of the Bloc Québécois. I serve Quebecers, not the Liberals, according to my own judgment. The Conservatives’ motion does not at all address Justin Trudeau’s failure on immigration,” wrote Mr. Blanchet.
Lack of courage
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon did not respond to the call from the Prime Minister, who chose to answer questions from MP Pascal Paradis. Which is quite rare. As he left the Salon Bleu, Mr. Legault did not miss the opportunity to add another layer: “What a lack of courage from the leader of the PQ, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who did not get up to ask me a question because he knew that what happened with his sister party was embarrassing,” he said.
The Legault government wanted to force the elected members of the Parti Québécois to speak out publicly on Thursday by tabling a motion according to which “Quebec members of parliament sitting in the House of Commons should only give their confidence to a federal government if the latter respects Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction.”
The new Minister of Immigration, Jean-François Roberge, who is also the Minister responsible for Canadian Relations, stated that the Bloc Québécois’ decision “is premature” and that he should instead try to obtain “guarantees” for Quebec.
“What we really want to do is remind people that all Quebec elected officials who sit in Ottawa cannot renew and keep in power a government that does not respect Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction,” said Mr. Roberge. The Quebec Liberal Party ultimately did not agree to the motion.
With Tommy Chouinard, The Press