It will soon be a year since Quebecers were called to the polls and elected a government with a strong majority. But how did you feel the day after this election? Did you have the impression, when you learned the results, that democratic principles and the most basic mathematical logic had not been respected? However, it is in compliance with the rules currently in force that four parties having collectively collected 57% of the votes only accumulated 28% of the seats. The fact that we still have a voting system that so blatantly distorts the electoral will of the population is in itself an unacceptable situation, but it is unfortunately not the only problem that undermines our democracy.
Let’s start with the political culture in which we are immersed. Parties frequently prioritize the pursuit of power at the expense of the interests of the population. This has the effect that several electoral commitments are designed specifically to seek votes instead of being part of a global and coherent, long-term vision of a social project. A corollary of this electoral mode of operation is that certain important promises are broken shortly after the election. This was the case with the reform of the voting system four times: by the Parti Québécois in 1984 and in 2003, by the Liberal Party of Quebec in 2011 as well as by the Coalition Avenir Québec in 2022.
Another issue is the dogmatic approach of certain parties who base their political offer on an ideology instead of relying on the opinion of experts and on evidence. This adds to the climate of partisanship and confrontation that too often reigns in the National Assembly. Question period regularly reflects the stubbornness, lack of collaboration and animosity between the parties.
The fact that we have become accustomed to this political culture should not desensitize us to the urgency of intervening to change it. Our elected officials manage a budget of more than 140 billion dollars. Their decisions have impacts not only on all aspects of social organization, but also on the entire lives of citizens. At the same time, the world is changing at full speed. Quebec cannot afford to lag behind if we wish to be able to effectively tackle the most important challenges of our time. The climate crisis, the gradual privatization of our health care system and the devaluation of our public education system require immediate action.
We are citizens who have been involved for a long time and we are disappointed by what we see. We are convinced that a paradigm shift is necessary in the way we approach politics. We are aware that it may seem ambitious or even naive for people who have never been in politics to think they can achieve this, but we have the feeling that we cannot stand idly by. We therefore chose to try the experiment by beginning the process of creating a new party: Quebec Innovative.
For several months now, we have been talking with former elected officials, experts and other committed people. With their help, we are working to put in place a complete electoral program affecting all the main axes and all the missions of the State. During this process, we base our approach on five main values: pragmatism, integrity, initiative, openness and service to democracy. Everything we propose must pass the test of these five values.
The work accomplished so far already allows us to draw at least one conclusion: Quebecers have good ideas to remedy several problems we face. It is in implementation that the greatest difficulties lie. By bringing together experts and citizens and approaching politics from a different angle, with a constructive approach, we believe it is possible to achieve the changes that Quebec needs.
To succeed in accomplishing this ambitious project, we will need a lot of support from civil society. If you share our goals and values, we invite you to join us in building this new vehicle for change together.