Although he has wanted to remain independent since leaving the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), Youri Chassin has not ruled out “coming to an agreement on a piecemeal basis” with other political parties, particularly the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), with whom he has ideological affinities.
On Monday morning, leader Éric Duhaime said he was “open to discussing” ways to collaborate with the Saint-Jérôme MP.
“We will not have a formal collaboration agreement [avec le PCQ]but we will agree on a piecemeal basis,” said Youri Chassin in an interview with The Canadian Press on Monday.
However, he said he had not had any discussions with the Conservatives on the subject.
“I have friends in all parties. We can always discuss. Parliament has to function and there are plenty of people in the CAQ who will surely make suggestions to me too. So, it will be interesting. The goal is to find solutions so that Quebec does not remain on its current trajectory,” added Youri Chassin, recalling that he had kept his CAQ membership card.
Last week, the Saint-Jérôme MNA slammed the door on the CAQ to sit as an independent. In a letter, he accused François Legault’s party of having “applied the old recipe of throwing money at problems rather than trying to do things differently.”
According to him, the CAQ has lost its “energy” and “audacity” needed to “shake up the status quo” and get Quebec out of its “sclerotic and even worn-out model, where it is always the government that takes charge of everything.”
Mr. Chassin, however, indicated that he would not join the PCQ, because he was elected under the CAQ banner.
At a press briefing Monday morning in front of the National Assembly, Éric Duhaime said that he was “open to dialogue” on ways to collaborate with the member for Saint-Jérôme.
“When you want to send a petition to the National Assembly, it has to be submitted by a member of Parliament. We are the ones who could collect the signatures, but perhaps Mr. Chassin, in certain cases, would agree and he could submit it,” suggested the PCQ’s economic critic, Adrien Pouliot – who was present alongside Mr. Duhaime.
Duhaime calls on the “CAQu” to “get out of there as soon as possible”
Despite Youri Chassin’s refusal to sit under the Conservative banner, Éric Duhaime assures that discussions are progressing with “three or four” CAQ deputies to convince them to join his ranks.
At the same time, he called on “former ADQ members” and “fiscal conservatives” still within the CAQ to desert their political party.
“The time has come for the “CAQu” who are still within the CAQ to get out of there as soon as possible,” he said at a press briefing.
Since the 2022 election, Éric Duhaime has regularly spoken about his raiding within the CAQ ranks, but tangible results are still awaited. Asked why he had still not managed to convince an elected official to defect to his party, he replied “be patient.”
“There are more than two years left before the election and I am confident that these people, if they agree with our principles, will end up joining us,” said the Conservative leader.
When announcing his departure, Youri Chassin said there was dissatisfaction within the ranks of the CAQ. He said he was “applauded” by some of his colleagues when he expressed his discontent to the caucus.
Prime Minister François Legault then admitted that some of his MPs shared the concerns of the elected representative from Saint-Jérôme.