The independence of Quebec will not be accompanied by financial sacrifices, according to Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. “This is not the most likely scenario,” he said on Sunday, at the end of a week which saw him table his version of the “year one budget”.
In his closing speech to the PQ national council in Saint-Hyacinthe, the elected official from Camille-Laurin wanted to respond to Prime Minister François Legault, who had affirmed this week that independence, although viable, would require “sacrifices” Quebecers.
“The fears of federalists are, strictly speaking, hypothetical and theoretical,” proclaimed Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon in front of a convinced crowd on Sunday. According to him, the sacrifices of remaining in the Canadian federation are much more numerous. In particular, that of “bequeathing to our children the decline, the status of a Quebec which is slowly sliding towards insignificance”.
“It’s another fear operation, this story of sacrifices,” said Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon during a press briefing, a few minutes after his speech. “Fear has always been the basic argument of the federalist movement. »
Upheavals
In 2005, future Prime Minister Pauline Marois said that the transition to a Quebec country would generate five years of economic turbulence. In his speech on Sunday, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon initially seemed to agree.
“It seems to me that the sacrifices of being a minority experiencing linguistic and cultural decline and whose political and economic interests are not well considered in Canada, when we compare that to the sacrifices of a year-long transition or two… Asking the question is answering it,” he said in his speech.
“That’s not my argument. I take up François Legault’s argument,” Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon justified himself to journalists in the following minutes. “Even if we had to accept it, it’s a horse and a rabbit” between the sovereignist and federalist option.
In presenting its year one budget last Monday, PSPP agreed that there would be job losses associated with sovereignty, given the elimination of duplication in certain federal departments. The attrition measures he proposed in this regard do not represent a sacrifice either, according to him.
“I still point out that we are in a context of labor shortage and that nothing prevents the government from supporting these workers towards equivalent jobs,” he said.
PSPP believes that it will be “pleasure” for Quebecers to work “voluntarily” for independence. “There will be excitement. You can call it work, but I don’t see it as a sacrifice. It will happen spontaneously because it will be pride that replaces fear,” he said on Sunday.
“I do it when I make my Christmas tree,” he added as a joke.
Parent Commission 2.0
In the morning, Parti Québécois activists unanimously adopted a proposal to hold a new Parent Commission on education. However, they were divided on another proposal aimed at gradually defunding private schools which refuse to “contract”.
This was narrowly defeated, after MP Pascal Bérubé invited the members present to do so.