The activists of Québec solidaire (QS) undoubtedly imagined celebrating the majority of their party other than against the backdrop of an existential crisis. The surprise departure of Émilise Lessard-Therrien gives them neither the luxury of doubt nor the luxury of time. As their national council opens in Saguenay, bursting the abscess before it turns into septicemia is a necessity.
True, the party line is easier to follow when ideas are subordinated to a handful of immutable principles and the rest relegated to the margins. A party of collective enthusiasm, Québec solidaire subscribes to lively debates and the clash of multiple positions. This is both its strength and its Achilles heel. The frenetic epistolary debates in which different camps have engaged in recent days will have shaken its base and cooled the ardor of Quebecers, resulting in a decline in voting intentions for QS.
The fact remains that by naming what is wrong, by asking for assurances and by proposing pathways to allow QS to refocus on its fundamentals, these letters have the merit of clearly characterizing the wound. Thinking outside the box is an art that solidarity workers are skilled at. There is good to be found in all the missives published, as much from Catherine Dorion and Alexa Conradi as from Françoise David and Amir Khadir or Pierre Mouterde. As long as there is the openness to do so.
A skillful tribune and formidable strategist, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois presented his arguments with the imperious assurance of one who understood that the situation was serious and who took note of it. His eagerness to see his party “choose [ses] battles” allows him to slip under the carpet subjects which will continue to annoy if they are not emptied now: first and foremost, this painful two-headed leadership which has gone wrong. The reasons for Émilise Lessard-Therrien’s departure are numerous, some are circumstantial, others personal. The fact remains that the co-spokesperson himself has to examine his conscience about his leadership.
QS also has some necessary feminist introspection work to do. The temptation to deny or put this part into dormancy under the pretext that it is likely to sow discord or slow down the march towards power can only strike a blow to the very heart of its primary mission. Not only is the feminist approach in the DNA of QS, but the party was built in part on what drives feminist movements. This has often succeeded for him, moreover.
But here it is, if “ideas exist by and for man”, man “also exists by and for ideas”, and “we can only use them well if we also know how to use them”. teaches sociologist and philosopher Edgar Morin. This is a bit of the dilemma QS finds itself in: how can the party serve its ideas in its laborious quest for power without distorting them or denying itself?
The question is philosophical, but the answers are, for some at least, eminently pragmatic. In a world that flirts with an uninhibited right, a similarly moody voice from the left is vital to ensure a salutary democratic pendulum effect. If QS were to implode as a result of this existential crisis, it would come at the cost of the erosion of an essential voice.
Because it is in the friction of ideas that light often emerges in the National Assembly, even if we neglect the dark side, not to say thankless, which falls to the oppositions. And yet! Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois’s responses to Prime Minister Legault are often those that sting the fairest and the hardest. With the liberal Marwah Rizqy, Ruba Ghazal has considerably contributed to advancing the issue of sexual violence in schools. Vincent Marissal shone in the debate on health reform. No later than Wednesday, the Legault government promised to strengthen the protection of wetlands, after the tabling of a motion to this effect… from Alejandra Zaga Mendez.
MP Andrés Fontecilla has done a masterful job in housing. We were able to appreciate the vigor of her efforts with the tabling this week by the Minister responsible for Housing of Bill 65, dedicated to helping Quebecers get through the housing crisis “in a more humane way”. France-Élaine Duranceau did not deny the solidarity origins of this legislative text, which not only broadens the scope of the “Françoise David law” – in itself a substantial solidarity legacy – but telescopes it by acting on the evictions of the all tenants for a period of three years or until the vacancy rate passes the 3% mark.
However, while he is tearing himself apart, QS is not preparing for tomorrow, any more than he is working to perfect the present for which his deputies were elected. This national council will tell us if it has acquired, from its 18 years, the collective wisdom necessary to get out of this crisis, firstly, but also from a logic which has kept it on the periphery until now.