PQ MP Pascal Bérubé in turn implores the Liberals to “do the right thing”, by recognizing his party, as well as Québec solidaire, as parliamentary groups. If the Legault government intends to do so, the formation of Dominique Anglade, which has 21 seats, refuses for the moment to confirm it.
Posted at 11:10 a.m.
“It’s a matter of justice. […] I want to tell M.me Anglade that we cannot accept that a party which has obtained fewer votes than us feels legitimate to represent more voters. We invite them to humility. Those who say no to us have fewer votes! “, hammered the re-elected MP for Matane-Matapédia, during a press conference held Friday at the Montreal office of the PQ.
He deplores that the Liberals first make a calculation of “visibility”, which they “do not want to divide within their caucus with the other parties”. “I rather invite them to be better,” said Mr. Bérubé. According to him, there is “urgency” to act as the swearing-in ceremony, scheduled for October, approaches.
With 21 seats, the Liberal Party in fact obtained slightly fewer votes by universal suffrage than the PQ (14.37% against 14.61%), which only has three seats: that of Pascal Bérubé, their leader Paul St -Pierre Plamondon elected in Camille-Laurin, and that of Joël Arseneau, in the Magdalen Islands. Québec solidaire, for its part, elected 11 deputies and collected 15.43% of the votes.
In concrete terms, the status of a parliamentary group would allow the PQ and Solidarity parties, which together total 14 MNAs, to obtain more budget – approximately one million additional dollars – and speaking time in the Blue Room. To be recognized as a parliamentary group, a party must have obtained 20% of the votes or elected 12 deputies. This status may, however, be granted to other political formations which do not fulfill these criteria if all the recognized parties accept it by consensus.
Anglade will not negotiate in public
In the post-election Liberal caucus in Yamachiche, Mauricie, Dominique Anglade refused on Wednesday to say whether she wanted to see QS and the PQ officially recognized as parliamentary groups. “If the government is not open to parliamentary reform, it will be very difficult,” she said of her possible support.
The next day, the outgoing Deputy Prime Minister, Geneviève Guilbault, had however invited Ms.me Anglade to show more “openness”. “I would invite M.me Anglade to participate in this momentum of mutual openness that we all have for each other, ”she said.
On Friday, the director of communications of Mme Anglade, Jeremy Ghio, indicated that the chef will “not make negotiations in the public square”.
“It’s healthy in a democracy for the opposition parties to have the means to do their job, especially when we consider the significant means of the government,” persisted Mr. Bérubé, judging that having 14 deputies would have the impact of “paralyzing” the National Assembly, by bogging it down in procedural games. The PQ member maintains that if the Liberals persist in “blocking” the recognition of parties, “there will be pressure”. “We are going to ask citizens to constantly call the deputies. There will be a mobilization,” he promised.
Asked again about the possibility of a merger between Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois, Pascal Bérubé was unequivocal. “It’s political fiction. There have already been attempts in the past, and you know the result. […] We said yes, they said no. We won’t get caught twice,” he said, now that the PQ “really wants to have its own parliamentary group.”
No oath to the king
MPs Bérubé and Arseneau also confirmed on Friday that they will not take the oath to King Charles III when they are sworn in as MPs, as Chief Paul St-Pierre Plamondon had already confirmed. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon says he wants to “confront” the rules in place, which require all MPs to take an oath to the British monarch. However, the law does not provide for any sanction for elected officials who do not do so. In 2018, the solidarity had pronounced it out of sight, before denouncing this “archaic” procedure.
With Vincent Larin