The last few weeks have not been easy for Québec solidaire (QS). The departure of our co-spokesperson Émilise Lessard-Therrien and the circumstances that led to it are sad and regrettable. We sincerely hope that she gets back on her feet and returns to us in good health. His voice is essential to the success of our party.
We also hope that Québec solidaire will continue to make the necessary efforts to eliminate structural obstacles to women’s participation. We are convinced that the current national coordination committee, led by our president, Roxane Milot, supported by the party’s general director, Myriam Fortin, and including our two spokespersons, is up to the situation. These people have our full trust.
We have seen certain questions come to light within our party, relating to how to achieve our social project. However, without denying the importance of this tension, we note that the seriousness of the situation has been somewhat exaggerated. Several observers of the political contest have presented these debates as radically new or completely polarized. We disagree.
These debates are not new; not only do they precede the arrival of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois as male spokesperson, but we find them in several other left-wing parties around the world, and have been doing so for decades. Since 2018, these questions have generated more and more resonance as Québec solidaire had to manage its growth. However, the different visions expressed are not incompatible. We all have different sensitivities, but we know that it is together, gathered, that we can best express them.
An essential and unprecedented political force in our history, Québec solidaire is the most important instrument that the Quebec left has created to achieve its project of social transformation and national and popular emancipation.
We believe not only that Québec solidaire can take power, but that it must form the government. This is a necessary condition for putting forward our unifying and innovative social project, and breaking with the cycles of dispossession, deconstruction and division put in place by traditional parties.
To accomplish this goal, we have undertaken a modernization of the party to ensure that our instrument is suited to the scale of the task. There is no question of diluting what Québec solidaire is. It’s more about focusing on the essentials and emergencies; to channel our strengths and energies into building new social majorities in order to take power. This is what being a “party of government” requires, with our feet firmly planted in the mobilizations and concerns of the people of Quebec, so that our collective aspirations become reality.
This modernization is not the work of one person. It is a process in keeping with the democratic traditions of Québec solidaire, with decisions taken by delegates from constituency associations, mandates entrusted to various executive authorities with the accountability associated with them, and following broad consultations with across the regions of Quebec.
For example, the Saguenay Declaration is the result of a major tour, carried out in collaboration with local associations. The final result of this modernization remains to be determined, but one thing is certain, it will be the product of the participatory democracy of Québec solidaire. We bet that we will be able to avoid the false dilemma which consists of choosing between marginality on the one hand and the betrayal of our ideals and social liberalism on the other. Our imagination is more powerful than that: together we will determine how to take the next step.
Those in solidarity will never be like the others, even in power. We are fiery, bold, incisive and ambitious, always angry and hopeful. It is in these characteristics that the key to our victory and the reflection of our authenticity are found.
Forming the government in no way means renouncing the solidarity anchoring in social movements. This anchoring is as necessary as electoral victory to implement our project. This has notably been deployed since 2018 through numerous grassroots mobilization efforts, for environmental struggles, in actions on housing and against far west mining claims, as well as by the constant presence of members of the parliamentary wing in citizen struggles: in the streets, on the picket lines, with those who are reduced to silence.
The state of the world and of Quebec is serious. Successive Liberal, PQ and CAQ governments and their allies in Ottawa have ignored the climate crisis, dismantled public services and attacked the fundamental rights of Quebecers. On too many issues, they have pushed Quebec backwards. More than ever, we need Quebec solidarity to respond to the multiple crises afflicting Quebec.
We, members of Québec solidaire, have taken the resolution in a national body to prepare for the election of the first solidarity government. Every day, our elected officials and dozens of volunteers work hard to get there and hold us accountable at the same time. These people deserve our trust and support. It is together that we will achieve victory.
Together, let’s build the Quebec of tomorrow. Let’s give ourselves a united government.
*Co-signed this letter: Monique Moisan, founding member of Québec solidaire and former national training manager (2012-2014); Ghislain Pelletier, founding member of Québec solidaire, former member of the national coordination committee and former member of the Mercier coordination committee; Katy Borges, coordinator of the Montreal regional association of Québec solidaire; Simon Mongeau-Descôteaux, solidarity activist in Sherbrooke, responsible for scoring in Sherbrooke (2022) and member of the Sherbrooke coordination committee since 2023; Martin Godon, head of the Marie-Victorin coordination committee; Stéphane Morin, proud grassroots activist in Gouin; Annie Pouliot, founding member, Québec solidaire Montmorency; Chantal Plamondon, activist in Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques; Vincent Courteau-Hébert, solidarity activist in Gouin and member of the 2022 campaign communications team; Joëlle Naud, activist for Québec solidaire, responsible for volunteers for Laurier-Dorion (2018) and responsible for D-Day for Verdun (2022); Anne B-Godbout, candidate in Terrebonne (2018) and LaFontaine (2022); Chloé Domingue-Bouchard, solidarity activist in Gouin and former member of the political commission, education manager (2020-2022); Philippe Lapointe, solidarity activist in Gouin and former member of the political commission, labor manager (2020-2022); Stéphane Thellen, former candidate (2008) and member of the coordination committee in Huntingdon; Philippe Jetten-Vigeant, ex-candidate in Iberville (2018 and 2022); Mario Jodoin, member of the thematic commission on the economy, taxation and the fight against poverty for 15 years; Pierre-Paul St-Onge, secretary general from 2013 to 2016, candidate in 2012, 2014 and 2018; Kévin St-Jean, activist in Portneuf and former candidate in Les Plaines (2018); Pierre Alarie, founding member, activist in Anjou–Louis-Riel and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve; Anne-Marie David, responsible for liaison with associations from 2016 to 2020, former coordinator of QS Montérégie and currently co-coordinator of QS Verchères; Léonie Thibault Rousseau, co-coordinator of QS Verchères, baccalaureate student in environmental geography; Jordan Raymond, solidarity activist in Johnson; Julie Dionne, responsible for elections at the national coordinating committee; Barbara Gagnon, communications manager in Sherbrooke; Steve McKay, solidarity activist in Saint-François; Marie-France Hétu, solidarity activist in Sherbrooke; Chantal Dubuc, solidarity activist in Johnson; Siham Zouali, solidarity activist in Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques; Simon Richer, volunteer in the Gouin partial (2017), responsible for communications on the Laurier-Dorion coordination committee (2017-2018), responsible for reception for Laurier-Dorion (2018), volunteer for Verdun (2022); Sophie Brochu, solidarity activist; David Touchette, candidate in LaFontaine (2018) and candidate in Westmount–Saint-Louis (2022); Pierre Gauthier, male spokesperson for QS Verdun; Lauréline Manassero, activist since 2014 and female spokesperson for QS Marie-Victorin; Amélie-Hélène Rheault, activist since 2006, former member of QS Estrie, member of the QS Saint-François coordination committee; Marie Bélanger, co-founder of QS Verchères and activist since the founding of QS; Catherine Ladouceur, solidarity activist in Saint-François; Claude Lefrançois, candidate in Laporte in the 2018 and 2022 elections; Gilles Sabourin, coordinator of the Laporte association; Pierre-Luc Lavertu, candidate in Saint-Jean in 2022; Christian Montmarquette, founding member and activist of Québec solidaire since its origins; Jean-Léon Rondeau, solidarity activist in Laporte; Blanche Paradis, founding member of QS, former head of the national women’s commission and former member of the national coordination committee of Québec solidaire; Myriam Leduc, member of the campaign steering committees in Gouin in 2017 and Laurier-Dorion in 2018, campaign co-director in Verdun in 2022 and solidarity activist in Mercier; Manon Blanchard, co-spokesperson for QS Taillon, founding member and candidate in Taillon; Pierre Parker, coordinator of QS Verdun; Luc Harbour, official representative of QS Sherbrooke; Anne Blouin, communications manager for the QS Verdun association; Maïté Girard-English, solidarity activist in Pontiac; Nadine Beaudoin, co-organizer of the founding congress and general coordinator of the party 2006-2023, director of general elections from 2008 to 2022; Gaétan Châteauneuf, co-organizer of the founding congress of Québec solidaire, former spokesperson for the QS Bourget association (Camille-Laurin), candidate in Bourget (Camille-Laurin) in 2014, secretary general from 2016 to 2020 in national coordination committee, interim official representative of the QS Bertrand association; Ginette Langlois, activist on the QS Montérégie coordination committee; Mike Owen Sebagenzi, co-coordinator of the Youth Activist Network, activist in Hull, candidate in Pontiac in 2022; Maxime Larue, responsible for mobilization at the national coordination committee (2019-2023); William Lemieux, campaign volunteer in Blainville (2022), communications manager for the Blainville coordination committee (2023); Joëlle St-Arnault, QS Laporte volunteer manager; Jacques Tanguay, official representative of QS Laporte; Danielle Champagne, solidarity activist in Laporte; Pascal Lavoie, solidarity activist in Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques; Nora Robichaud, solidarity activist in Maurice-Richard; Bernard Gauvin, former coordinator of QS Maurice-Richard; Philippe Badenas, solidarity activist in Maurice-Richard; Thomas Poulin, activist since 2012, former member of the Gouin coordination committee, Spokesperson for the Gaspé coordination committee; Geneviève Fortier-Moreau, member of the Verdun coordination committee and ex-candidate in 2012-2013-2014 in Viau; Brian Harvey, solidarity activist in Abitibi-Ouest; Suzanne Brais, solidarity activist in Abitibi-Ouest; Émile Bellerose-Simard, candidate in Masson in 2022; Véronique Painchaud, solidarity activist in Berthier; Isabelle Gonthier, solidarity activist in Mercier, formerly attached to Amir Khadir’s office and employed in electoral campaigns from 2007 to 2022; Jérémie Vachon, solidarity activist; Julien St-Pierre, solidarity activist in Richmond; Mathieu Sabourin, solidarity activist; Michael Ottereyes, indigenous activist, former candidate in Roberval; Nika Deslauriers, activist since 2006, political attaché to Amir Khadir from 2011 to 2017 and president of Québec solidaire from 2017 to 2021; Jean-Bernard Rose, activist in Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques; Véronique Tessier, solidarity member in Taschereau; Jordan Larochelle, member of the coordination committee in Hull.