In politics, public correspondence between politicians is nothing new. After the 1995 referendum, let us recall, among other things, the scathing letters from Stéphane Dion to Lucien Bouchard.
Then Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs under Jean Chrétien, Mr. Dion accused the popular Premier of Quebec of sowing confusion on the sovereignist project.
In turn, François Legault voluntarily circulated the letter he had sent to his federal counterpart Justin Trudeau imploring him to act in the thorny issue of Roxham Road.
The strategy is not original, but often, as for Mr. Legault, it turns out to be no less effective.
The primary objective of the letter is to occupy media space while embarrassing an adversary by a means more durable than a press briefing. As we know, the words fly away, but the writings remain. Especially if the letter makes the headlines…
Monday, one more thing for Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. In a letter addressed to François Legault, the leader of the Parti Québécois asks him to establish a new special commission on the future of Quebec. Nothing less.
The challenge of existing
Observing a worrying political marginalization of Quebec within the federation, PSPP urges Premier Legault to draw inspiration from his predecessor Robert Bourassa.
In the wake of the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, Mr. Bourassa created the Bélanger-Campeau Commission on the future of Quebec. Of course, the PQ leader knows that Mr. Legault will do nothing about it. The rapid refusal reported by his spokesperson confirmed this without surprise.
PSPP is well aware that the CAQ leader, having left the PQ to found a post-sovereign party, has no intention of opening the Pandora’s box of Quebec’s constitutional status.
Just as PSPP knows that his letter will in no way scratch the Teflon of Mr. Legault within his electorate.
His letter aims rather to hammer home his message that facing the federal government, Mr. Legault has no “plan B”. Above all, it is part of the need for the PQ leader to exist politically despite a caucus of barely three deputies.
Challenge met
Since the October 3 election, this has been its main challenge. Blow after blow, from a well-conducted electoral campaign to the saga of the oath to the king, PSPP and his team skillfully take it up.
So much so that at the end of the year, according to a Léger/The newspaper, for the first time in five years, the PQ had risen to 2nd place in terms of voting intentions among Francophones. Far, however, behind the CAQ.
The PQ leader is also currently on a “European tour” where he grants interviews and gives lectures, including one at the University of Oxford.
In Scotland, he met former sovereigntist Prime Minister Alex Salmond. A visit that seems to have gone much better than that of Pauline Marois in 2013. Then Prime Minister, her vis-à-vis at the time, the same Alex Salmond, had refused to make a public appearance with her.
In short, PSPP and its caucus continue to show that they intend to find all possible means to try to hold on until the 2026 elections.