(Saguenay) The debates were heated, but the Québec solidaire delegates adopted the Saguenay declaration and agreed to “update” and prune the party’s program of its “overly specific political commitments.” These were two milestones in the “pragmatic” shift desired by Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and the management of QS.
“We debated at the end of the week with vigor, it’s true, but with wisdom. We found ways of passage together,” said the co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, in a speech on Sunday.
“After 18 years, we had to get out of our comfort zone, we had to listen, not just to the convinced, but to the convincing,” he added.
Mr. Nadeau-Dubois hopes to send a “strong message to the regions of Quebec”: that Québec solidaire is in favor of decentralization, that the party wants to protect the quality of life of workers in polluting industries threatened by the energy transition, and that he stands in solidarity with agricultural producers “in struggle throughout Quebec”.
PHOTO TOM CORE, THE DAILY DAY
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois
Acting co-spokeswoman Christine Labrie added that it was now up to members to find the best solutions to offer Quebecers during the 2026 election campaign.
But the demands of Mr. Nadeau-Dubois, in a context where the party was in crisis following the resignation of Émilise Lessard-Therrien, caused a shock wave, and the debates which took place during the National Council , Saturday and Sunday, had already started in the previous weeks in open letters published in several daily newspapers.
In one of them, around forty ex-candidates and former employees and former MP Catherine Dorion took up their pen to express their fear that the political party would become “a extinguisher rather than a catalyst for hope “.
It was long-time activist André Frappier, one of the signatories of this missive, who led the charge. Twice, he attempted through procedures to postpone the overhaul of the program and the Saguenay declaration. On Saturday, the former interim co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire backed down. “We are going to work together,” he said into the microphone, before being warmly applauded.
PHOTO TOM CORE, THE DAILY DAY
The vote was very close, but the Saguenay declaration was finally adopted on Sunday.
On Sunday, his second proposal was defeated. The way forward: instead of being “modernized”, the program will be “updated”. The timetable remains: this pruning must result in a simplified electoral platform ready for 2026.
Debate on the UPA
The change in the party’s position towards the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) was at the center of the debates on Sunday. The members decided to maintain the historic position of solidarity, namely to oppose the union monopoly, but the party will recognize the role of the UPA in “the protection of producers of different scales” and “support that a variety voices are expressed there.
In fact, the debate is put on hold: the activists will decide, when the program is updated, whether the historical position will be modified, preserved or quite simply set aside.
PHOTO TOM CORE, THE DAILY DAY
Interventions of a maximum duration of two minutes were granted to members wishing to express their views on the proposed amendments.
To convince the activists, MP Alejandra Zaga Mendez carried the ball and summarized the issue this way on the microphone during this National Council: agriculture is in crisis, a “social movement is underway”, and this social movement is represented by the UPA. “At this moment, more than ever, we must recognize this union,” said M.me Zaga Mendez. This monopoly is a force that acts as a “bulwark” to protect Quebec’s food sovereignty.
Activists, however, strongly opposed it. According to one of them, “the UPA is an accelerator of agricultural destruction, they represent fuck all “.
A former co-owner of a farm, who had to sell last year, came to the defense of the UPA. ” Farmers rush their life. They want to close because they are not capable. People are mobilized and we must listen to them. I always have the impression that farmers are being infantilized. It bothers me deeply. »
Like any union, the UPA is a democratic space for thousands of people rooted in all regions of Quebec.
A former co-owner of a farm
Contentious amendments defeated
Tax junk food? Promote plant production? Nationalize the housing or battery sector, prohibit subsidies to multinationals like Northvolt: the amendments which distorted the Saguenay declaration or which were more contentious were defeated.
One example among others: the place that the forestry industry must take. The party program plans to “place the large forestry industry under public control [participation majoritaire de l’État] considering, if necessary, complete nationalization.”
The Saguenay Declaration presents it more as a partner, and specifies the importance of “quality jobs linked to the exploitation of natural resources”. “The industry isn’t just the big guys, it’s the small general contractors who do planting and reforestation,” noted an activist from Charlevoix.