(Quebec) Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is putting his status as co-spokesperson on the line: activists will have to demonstrate that they have confidence in him for him to stay in office.
“There are two conditions that must be met for me to continue to be co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire. May I have confidence in the party, and may the party have confidence in me,” said Mr. Nadeau-Dubois in an interview with The Press24 hours before the start of the party’s National Council, which takes place in Saguenay until Sunday.
The first condition is “met”, he still has confidence in Québec solidaire. “What happened this week with the tabling of a modernization of the Françoise David law is a striking demonstration of this. We are more useful than ever, and already in opposition, we are capable of changing people’s lives. Imagine if we were in government,” he explains.
But the second condition is still not there, despite a vote of confidence that he won hands down in Gatineau in November.
Does the party trust me? This is a question that the members and activists of Québec solidaire must answer.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-spokesperson for QS
The party has been shaken by an internal crisis since the resignation of Émilise Lessard-Therrien from her position as co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire. Following this departure, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois suggested that QS take a “pragmatic” turn and review the responsibilities of the party leaders.
The first test: the National Council which takes place at the end of the week, where activists will decide on the Saguenay Declaration, a political proposal which results from a tour of the regions of the parliamentary wing of the party, as well as on the need to lighten the QS program.
Mr. Nadeau-Dubois, however, did not wish to indicate what the standard for measuring members’ support will be. “There is no specific vote planned for this. But I always listen to what people tell me, whether in debates or in the corridors,” he maintained.
The MP for Gouin invites “observers not to focus on one indicator in particular”. He expects the Saguenay Declaration to be “improved” by amendments. There will also be a debate on “how we improve our program”.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The interim co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Christine Labrie
Interim co-spokesperson, MP Christine Labrie, affirms for her part that there is no “vote for which it passes or breaks”. If the entire Saguenay Declaration was rejected, it “would be an important message,” she recognizes. “But I would be very surprised, because there are several suggestions for amendments to improve it,” she explained.
Just transition
The two co-spokespeople want to put forward the concept of just transition found in the Saguenay Declaration, the fruit of the regional tour that the party held after its 2022 electoral defeat.
The principle is not new: in 2018, Québec solidaire already promised “a transition fund for the requalification of the workforce in affected sectors […]for example for the petrochemical industry.
But with the Declaration, Mr. Nadeau-Dubois and Mr.me Labrie want to go further by putting forward “the principle of zero net job loss within each region”, and the establishment of “joint committees on transition in the workplace”.
“One of the things that we observed abundantly during the tour of the regions, when we talk about ecological transition, is that there are people worried about their jobs,” explained M.me Labrie.
The principle of zero net job loss in each region is to respond to this concern so that everyone finds their place in this transition.
Christine Labrie, interim co-spokesperson for QS
A united Quebec government would set up “regional development and transition councils” so that “in each community, stakeholders can sit down together and think about how to make the transition,” said the member for Sherbrooke.
“Culture war”
What QS wants to avoid: that the issue of the fight against climate change turns into a “cultural war”, as is the case in the United States, and that the ecological transition “be perceived by certain workers as a attack on their jobs, their community, even on their lifestyle,” added Mr. Nadeau-Dubois.
They target former US President Donald Trump and the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, who are “instrumentalizing” environmental policy to “divide workers”.
They see their proposal, where workers are part of the transition process, as an “antidote to this logic” and to allow Quebec to achieve its climate targets.