On the eve of its pre-electoral convention, the Parti Québécois (PQ) wishes to “decide” with its positions in the last election. In interview with The duty, the leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is committed to refocusing on an independence at the antithesis of the “communitarianism” advocated by Justin Trudeau.
The lawyer by training will attend his first convention as chief on Saturday, in Trois-Rivières. It is an opportunity to “propose another future” than that promised by the Coalition Avenir Quebec, but also that advocated by his own party in the 2018 election, when it lost twenty seats.
“It is a much sharper approach on independence, French and the environment,” he raises when asked about the differences between the PQ of Jean-François Lisée and his.
Basically, the position of René Lévesque’s party is far from changing. The national project that the members will adopt this weekend will reiterate that “the Parti Québécois wants to achieve the independence of Quebec”, and this, in a first term. “There is no ambiguity,” says Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon.
But the leader also wants to place the party more than ever in opposition to the federalism of the government of Justin Trudeau.
“The other political parties talk about health, talk about the environment, as if the federal government did not exist and did not put the pitfalls that it places in our way by preventing us from self-determination,” he said in an interview.
“Irreconcilable” conceptions
At the end of the week, the members of the PQ will vote to reject the “multiculturalist integration model that is imposed on us”. They will debate proposals aimed at “exempting Quebec from the application of segregationism and Canadian multiculturalism” and “rejecting the Canadian post-national project”.
“Our conceptions of society are irreconcilable,” says St-Pierre Plamondon. The Trudeau government advocates communitarianism and the classification of individuals by their differences. We advocate uniting Quebecers beyond their differences. “
“We are worried about the division that we see everywhere,” he adds.
The division, the leader of the PQ, sees it quietly emerging between Quebec and its metropolis. He wishes at all costs to prevent Montreal, once dotted with PQ ridings, “mentally separating from Quebec and its destiny”.
“We can’t let this happen. Montreal is a priority, ”he says about ten months before the 2022 election.
“Obviously,” said Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, we will have to make gains on the island. Like almost everywhere across the electoral territory. “Of course we want to progress. Then we don’t set ourselves any limits. If I had to set limits for myself when I was at 5% in the leadership race… ”he recalls.
The Parti Québécois relies on strong candidates, reports PSPP. The PQ leader points to Pierre Nantel, who wants to win the riding of Marie-Victorin. He also appoints Stéphane Handfield, the immigration lawyer, who will be in the nomination contest in Masson.
But within his caucus, can he count on everyone for the 2022 election? If he lost the PQ member Sylvain Roy last spring, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon says he is confident. “We agreed that I would ask them the question on their return, in 2022. But the signs are encouraging,” he says.
A greener PQ?
The most recent polls place the PQ and Quebec solidaire (QS) neck and neck in voting intentions. A Leger probe published this week even put them at 13%.
However, the PQ is the “only real party” of sovereignty, repeats its leader. “At its convention, Quebec solidaire put independence at the end of its program and barely spoke about it,” he notes two weeks after the pre-election rally of the second opposition party.
If QS has made the environment a priority in congress; the PQ wants to promote more than ever a green and independent Quebec project.
The party’s national executive council has already decided to propose an increase in its climate targets, which members will discuss this weekend. He also tabled two pages of amendments to combat the climate emergency. “The climate crisis, through its effects on the environment, calls for a new economic model”, we can read in the party’s proposal book.
About 450 activists will gather at the PQ convention on Saturday, some by videoconference, some in person. Despite his party’s difficulties keeping its deputies, the PQ leader ensures that the training is in full health. At the last count, he maintains, the total of membership cards was between 30,000 and 40,000. “It’s solid,” he says at the end of the line, less than 24 hours before his first meeting as chief with his members.