An air of besieged fortress floated above the PQ family gathered in Longueuil on Wednesday evening to pay tribute to the founder of the Parti Québécois, René Lévesque, whose 100th birthday it was.
In front of the journalists, following a long series of speeches, the former Prime Minister Pauline Marois, did not seek to sugarcoat the pill as for the situation of the PQ, but she invoked the hope to more than a recovery.
“It is certain that currently the party is not in an easy situation, but […] when I see the young people who are choosing to become candidates for the Parti Québécois, it’s a party that still has a lot to offer and that has a life,” she said.
” It’s difficult “
“Yes, it’s difficult, but I still have hope, firstly because we have to keep our independence project alive. To report on it, to promote it, at the same time that we cannot deny that the Parti Québécois has an enormous legacy for Quebec. »
“The situation is not easy, but I think he must continue to maintain the flame and the hope and it is that of giving himself a country”, repeated the ex-chief who has also held the seat of Taillon, as did René Lévesque.
Previously, in front of the hundred activists gathered on the spot, she said she hoped “that this campaign will lead us to prove that, yes, our project is alive and well and it is carried by young men and women who are our hope and our future and that we can once again demonstrate that we are a major political party. »
A special celebration
The impression of a besieged fortress was reinforced by the fact that the party and its leader had chosen to meet separately in the former stronghold of René Lévesque and to shun the official event that was taking place at the same time in the metropolis.
“It was quite legitimate that there was an event in Taillon. This should not be seen as an opposition to another activity which concerned the René Lévesque year, ”defended Ms. Marois in front of the journalists afterwards. “It was a question of reuniting the PQ family and he still represented this riding for nine years. »
Speaking just before Ms. Marois, the leader of the party, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, affirmed that this decision was his: “I insisted a lot with the party so that we organize our evening of tribute to René Lévesque, because the observation on all that can be said about this complex man and whose legacy, the heritage is so great, is that it is difficult to underline in the public space that he was a separatist. »
The inexplicable contempt of “pequism”
Certain remarks in his speech also testified to the malaise that inhabits the political party: “Tonight, I wanted people to say that René Lévesque was a PQ member. It was close to my heart because the word péquiste, “péquisme”, is often used with inexplicable contempt in Quebec. Inexplicable because there are so many men and women like Ms. Marois who have done so many great things, ”he declared to his activists.
But the speeches were not necessarily defeatist. All the speakers, including the six PQ candidates from the Greater Longueuil ridings, celebrated their founder.
The Legacy of René Lévesque
Former Minister Marie Malavoy, also present, affirmed that “he embodied a project for Quebec, a project of dignity, pride, self-confidence. There is nothing since what René Lévesque gave us that has replaced that. There is not a single political party in Quebec that makes us believe in ourselves as René Lévesque did. »
Pauline Marois, for her part, said she believed that “her most important legacy was to have made us proud to be Quebecers, to tell us that we were capable, yes, that we were not not born for a small loaf, but that we were born for something bigger than that. »
However, reminded Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, independence “will never be the achievement of a single man. It is the work of generations and generations. »
Pauline Marois agreed, while acknowledging the impact of strong and charismatic leaders such as René Lévesque, Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard during the referendums of 1980 and 1995: “It does not necessarily take a person, a leader for this project continues to advance if it is a project that meets a real need and a real perspective for the development and progress of Quebec. It is the project of a people; it cannot be the project of one man because we need the support of these people to carry it out, but there are men who have been outstanding and who have valued it and brought it to light with a way more interesting than others,” she acknowledged in discussion with reporters.
A call to “go home”
Ms. Malavoy, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and Pauline Marois were obviously the undisputed stars of this evening, but the six candidates still had the opportunity to speak. One of them, Daniel Michelin, who will carry the PQ banner in Montarville, took the opportunity to send this message “to the separatists, progressives and ecologists who flirted everywhere during the last elections. There are many. The message I have is very simple: it’s time to go back home, ”he said to the applause of the audience.