Paul St-Pierre Plamondon arrives “in control” at his second convention as leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ).
The partisan event, which will take place Saturday in Sherbrooke, promises to be short-lived. The MNA for the riding of Camille-Laurin will make an “announcement” on the year one budget, take his first vote of confidence as leader of the sovereigntist party and make a speech. Then everyone home.
The context is “very different” from the last PQ orientation convention, held in Trois-Rivières in December 2021, noted Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon in the hours preceding the partisan rally. “My first convention as leader was in the context of a pandemic and a feeling of instability – both at the societal level and at the level of the Parti Québécois. Because at the time, we predicted a lot of dark things for our party, ”he said on the other end of the line.
“We were testing the machine, we had infinitely fewer resources. We had the general election coming up fast. There were plenty of question marks, adds a close adviser to the chief contacted by The duty. While there, you feel much more in control. »
According to a Léger-The duty whose results were published last week, the PQ of “PSPP” ranks second in terms of voting intentions in Quebec, at 18%. Moreover, 50% of Quebecers have a “fairly good opinion” of the PQ leader. His “appreciation score”, calculated by the polling firm, has climbed four points since December. In comparison, the co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, sees this indicator stagnate. Prime Minister François Legault loses five points.
Vote of confidence
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon will still have to submit to a vote of confidence, as provided for in the statutes of the PQ. In an interview with The Canadian Press on his return from his “diplomatic” trip to Europe this week, he said he was “serene”. “I see an exciting workspace ahead of us. […] It’s the same serenity,” he said to the Duty Friday.
Bernard Landry is the last PQ leader to have left the party after a vote of confidence. In 2005, he received 76.2% of support, a result that “leaves[ait] too great a concern, ”he said when leaving his place.
Four leaders later, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon began to rise among the experienced leaders of the PQ. This month he will cross the milestone of 900 days at the head of the sovereignist formation. This is already more than his two predecessors, Pierre-Karl Péladeau and Jean-François Lisée.
In interview with The duty, the outgoing chairman of the PQ’s political commission, Alexis Gagné-Lebrun, is delighted that the party has come out of the “arid lands” represented by the period from 2018 to 2022. “We have the impression of having gone through that . Today, the party is healthy militancy. The election showed the potential, the world saw what we had to offer,” he says.
The activist salutes both the work of Chief St-Pierre Plamondon and his insistence on “prioritizing independence”. According to him, this will contribute to renewed support for the sovereignist project.
White Book
Already, according to the Léger poll published last week, the cause seems to be experiencing a surge in popularity. In total, 38% of Quebecers still support the Yes option, an increase of six percentage points compared to the last sounding commissioned by The duty about it, in 2018.
The PQ also wants to take advantage of this trend to write a new “white paper on independence”. The national executive council will make the proposal in good and due form during the convention on Saturday.
In the event that the activists approve of the idea, the preparation of this document will be entrusted to the political committee, which will have the task of addressing various themes, such as “criticism of the Canadian regime”, “the economy of Quebec independent” and “the question of the integration of federal civil servants.
At their last convention, in 2021, the delegates of the PQ had supported a proposal aimed at “presenting a clear definition of sovereign Quebec”, filled with details on the currency, the army and the borders.
Then, in the midst of the election campaign, the PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, said in an interview with The duty that he would immediately table a new “year one budget”, an exercise inspired by the portrait of the finances of a sovereign Quebec drawn up in 2005 by François Legault – then a member of the official opposition. This renewed document has still not seen the light of day.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon promises “an announcement” on the year’s budget on a Saturday. The “white paper” is a completely different exercise, inspired by the document Scotland’s Futurefiled in 2013 by the Scottish government of Alex Salmond.
Pauline Marois is the last PQ leader to have raised the idea of a white paper on sovereignty. In 2014, she made it an election promise. His defeat in the election had put a final nail in the coffin of this initiative.