Smiling, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, suggested Thursday to the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, to “get used to” explaining his positions dating from the time when he criticized the sovereignist option.
“Maybe he’s a little soupy? I don’t know, I’m asking the question. I notice that he sometimes has exaggerated, knee-jerk reactions. It happens. This has already happened to me,” said Mr. Drainville.
Magnanimously, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, offered caramels to the leader of the PQ. “I think it’s never good to get angry, I learned that over time. I can offer him some caramels. It’s less good for the figure, but it’s good for the mind,” he stressed.
On X, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon took note of the criticisms of his opponents. “I am finally unmasked,” he wrote, posting a photo of himself drinking from a bowl of soup filled with… milk.
After calling me “radical”, “extremist”, “conservative” and even “violent”, my opponents today called me “milk soup”. I am finally unmasked.
Enjoy your food! pic.twitter.com/N4LtF0Tey9
— Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (@PaulPlamondon) April 18, 2024
On Wednesday, the leader of the PQ left the study of credits before having expired the time granted to him to question the Prime Minister, François Legault. The latter had undertaken to read past quotes from Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, dating from a time when he did not support the sovereignist option.
“My question is clear. I’m just asking for something other than quotes from 2014 [en guise de réponse] », Launched the PQ leader. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon was trying to find out if Mr. Legault could join the “Yes” camp in the event of a third referendum on the independence of Quebec. He then criticized the Prime Minister for “distorting the accountability exercise” that is the study of appropriations.
“I will stop there because the exercise consists, on the part of the Prime Minister, of reading random quotes, so I am sorry, but I consider that the answers are not linked to my questions and do not allow me not to give the population the facts. […] That will conclude my speech,” he said.
“I know that this shocks the leader of the PQ, but he has already said that he had discomfort with nationalism, that the decline of French did not exist, that law 101 in CEGEP was not a good idea, etc., etc. So look, what credibility does he have today? », continued Mr. Legault, while his opposite number left the Salon bleu.
French MPs to meet
“He needs to get used to it,” Minister Drainville, himself a PQ convert to the nationalism of the Coalition Avenir Québec, advised him on Thursday. “When you do politics, you leave traces. You have to get used to having to explain statements or your past positions, it’s part of the game or the world of politics. »
The Minister of Education, who admits to having a “quite hot-headed” character, once left the Blue Room in a hurry, exasperated by the questions from Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy. “Me, I try as much as possible – I don’t always succeed – but I try to remain philosophical,” he told journalists, not without escaping a laugh.
For his part, Liberal MP André Fortin said he judged that Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon had “failed in his role as controller of government action” by not using all of the twelve minutes granted to him to discuss with the Prime Minister. “There is a housing crisis, there is a crisis in agriculture, there is a labor shortage crisis, […] endless difficulties of access to health. I do not understand why the leader of the Parti Québécois does not take advantage of the very precious time allocated to him to do his job of monitoring government action,” he said.
The PQ’s director of strategic planning, Louis Lyonnais, recalled that the PQ caucus only has four deputies. “We try to be as present as possible at all the credit studies,” he said. These study periods extend over two weeks and require many hours of work. If Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon left the study of credits, it is because he had to “go to a meeting with six French deputies after having completed his questions,” said Mr. Lyonnais.
PQ MP Pascal Bérubé said he shared his leader’s impressions. “I understand it so much to think that it is a waste of time when the Prime Minister does not respond. It is his last resort for the Prime Minister to read past statements from Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. I humbly suggest to you that I could do the same with François Legault, so much so that I question the sincerity he had when he was in the Parti Québécois,” he declared.