How hopeless politics is when partisanship eclipses the interests of citizens.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The elections are a week old and already a party is engaged in partisan blackmail.
The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) opposes the recognition of Quebec solidaire (QS) and the Parti Quebecois (PQ) as parliamentary groups in the National Assembly. The status of parliamentary group comes with more budget (to hire political staff and researchers to assist elected officials) and speaking time in the chamber. Without such recognition, QS and the PQ will not be able to effectively play their role as parliamentary opposition.
The PLQ links its support for the recognition of QS and the PQ to a broader parliamentary reform, which would take at least several months. Translation: the PLQ wants to put a spoke in the wheels of the two other opposition parties in order to benefit from greater visibility in the National Assembly.
This petty little blackmail is unworthy of a great political formation. Especially since our electoral system has just produced its greatest distortions in 50 years.
Like our voting system, the regulations of the National Assembly, designed in another era, are not adapted to our five-party political reality.
According to the regulations, a party is recognized as a parliamentary group in the National Assembly if it obtains 12 seats or 20% of the votes. Among the three opposition parties, only the PLQ automatically qualifies as a parliamentary group, with all the advantages that this confers. Solidarity and PQ MNAs would sit as independents, with a reduced operating budget and speaking time.
Fortunately, the parties can agree among themselves to recognize more parties and give them additional resources. But that takes the unanimity of the four parties represented in the National Assembly. The Coalition avenir Québec agrees to recognize QS and the PQ. The PLQ is not. Such a scenario serves Liberal partisan interests, but not democracy.
Over the years, several exceptions to the rules have been made to grant parliamentary group status to the Action Démocratique du Québec in 2008 (7 MNAs, 16% of the votes), as well as to the PQ (10 MNAs, 17% of the votes) and QS (10 deputies, 16% of the votes) in 2018.
The CAQ does not accept to recognize QS and the PQ only by magnanimity. In theory, an independent MP can give his opinion on each motion (several motions are presented per session) and sit on each parliamentary committee.
Two or three independent deputies, it is managed well. But 14 independent deputies would complicate and delay the pace of work in the National Assembly (as the parliamentary group commits on behalf of all its deputies, it facilitates exchanges and simplifies procedural debates).
We strongly believe that we must reform our voting system. We also believe that after years of discussions, we must (finally) give birth to a parliamentary reform.
But that does not change the fact that the parties must agree immediately to operate the National Assembly according to a formula faithful to the verdict of the voters. This implies recognizing QS and the PQ as parliamentary groups, or at the very least granting them a special status that will allow them to carry out their parliamentary work properly. It is essential to grant them a research and operating budget that is more representative of their popular support.
According to the agreement between the parties concluded after the 2018 elections, a party of 10 deputies recognized as a parliamentary group obtains a budget of 1.8 million/year, which allows it to hire 25 political employees. Without recognition, he obtains a budget of $270,000/year, the salary of four employees.
The PLQ, which received fewer votes than QS and the PQ, would become the only opposition party with the resources of a parliamentary group in the National Assembly? This is not serious…
Negotiations between the two parties will begin in ten days, after the formation of the next Council of Ministers. It is to be hoped that the Liberals, the fourth party in the percentage of votes, will come back to earth by then.
And the Conservative Party of Quebec, which obtained 13% of the votes without electing a deputy? He asks to be able to make press briefings at the National Assembly. There is a very simple solution: do them in the Press Gallery, like many other organizations that request them.