It is fashionable, when we talk about political financing, to quote René Lévesque. It is true that one of the most precious legacies of the former prime minister is the cleaning up of secret electoral funds and the establishment of popular financing of elections.
François Legault appeared in the press room of the National Assembly a few days ago, saying that he was going to “complete the work of René Lévesque” by putting an end to popular financing of his party and putting challenge the other parties to do so too.
But René Lévesque is not the one who wants it. Because in reality, what Mr. Legault is proposing would have exactly the opposite effect: he would find himself scuttling the very principle of popular financing.
It was well known that René Lévesque broke out in hives at the mere mention of hidden electoral funds, where the parties collected large sums of money, without anyone knowing who had donated and how much.
He founded the Parti Québécois by imposing strict conditions on financing. The party would have popular and democratic financing. Donations would only come from citizens and would be limited and public. The PQ promised that this would become the law when it took power.
Elected to this mandate in 1976, he made popular financing bill number 2 of his government. For the record, number 1 would become Bill 101, following a procedural maneuver that Mr. Lévesque had described as “not the find of the century”.
For the Parti Québécois, it was not just a question of money. The obligation for the political party to hold an annual fundraising campaign meant that the party would visit all its members, we would not only talk about cents, but also about politics.
The party belonged to its members, and their contributions, like their ideas, kept the party alive.
Added to popular financing was the idea that the party program would not be drafted on the sly by any political commission a few weeks before the elections. The program would be voted on by the members in congress, which was preceded by assemblies in each of the constituencies.
René Lévesque certainly regretted certain aspects of this internal democracy when his party took positions that he did not approve of, but he knew that this was the price to pay for having an open and healthy democratic party.
PHOTO JEAN-YVES LÉTOURNEAU, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
René Lévesque, in 1976
Almost half a century later, François Legault appeared before journalists after a poor parliamentary start to announce that he was now going to do without popular financing and that he was asking other parties to follow him.
However, by acting in this way, François Legault violated an unwritten but fundamental rule: one does not unilaterally change the laws and practices which govern the political game, such as party financing, without having obtained a consensus from the Assembly. national.
Accustomed to always having the last word in his party which does not really shine with debates of ideas, Prime Minister Legault thought he could do the same thing with the National Assembly. Big mistake.
First of all, we don’t change the rules of the democratic game just to get out of a bad week back in parliament. The improvisation was obvious and was a little too similar to his turnaround on the third link the day after the defeat in the Jean-Talon partial.
Even if it is true that you cannot buy a minister for $100, it is equally true that the CAQ ensured that the best way to meet a minister was to make a contribution of $100. Access to ministers was completely monetized.
When we see that half of the mayors and prefects of Quebec have had to contribute to the CAQ since 20211, we must conclude that we are facing a well-organized system. And unacceptable in a democracy.
But above all, what François Legault does by renouncing popular financing is to force the State – and it alone – to finance political parties, as if citizens had nothing to do with it. Funny concept of democracy and it really wasn’t that of René Lévesque.
Especially since relying solely on public funding has perverse effects which, as luck would have it, always favor the party in power, with funding being given based on the number of votes received. Parties that rely on donations from their members, like the PQ, would be at a great disadvantage. Not to mention the additional difficulties that this imposes on those who would like to found a new party.
But the saddest thing in all of this is to see that the Prime Minister thinks that after three somewhat difficult days for his party, he can decide on a whim and without consultation that he is going to change fundamental democratic rules. and which affect all political parties.
René Lévesque would never have tolerated that.