(Montreal) Liberal leader Dominique Anglade says she is ready to work with the government and the other political parties, but does not confirm that she will support an agreement to allow Québec solidaire (QS) and the Parti québécois (PQ) to be recognized as parliamentary groups in the National Assembly.
Posted at 4:58 p.m.
At the end of Monday’s elections, only the Liberal Party (PLQ) fulfilled the essential conditions to be recognized as an opposition group.
According to the rules of the National Assembly, a party must elect 12 deputies or obtain 20% of the popular vote to be recognized as an official parliamentary group. However, neither QS nor the PQ fulfilled either of these two criteria. They will therefore be deprived of this recognition, unless a consensus emerges between all the parties.
In a press scrum on Tuesday, Mme Anglade stressed that she would gladly take part in discussions in the National Assembly on this subject, but she did not clearly indicate whether she would be in favor of such an agreement.
“The system we have is not a perfect system; we all recognize that. It will be part of the discussions that there will certainly be in the coming weeks, but the reality is that we are the official opposition, ”said the Liberal leader.
“Throughout the campaign, people were wondering who will be the official opposition: we are the official opposition, clearly. We have 21 members who will want to speak as the official opposition and we will do this work. »
Mme Anglade assured that his party will want to play its opposition role by being extremely open and with the objective of bringing Quebecers together.
Regarding his collaboration with the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) government, Ms.me Anglade once again affirmed that she would be ready to meet and work with François Legault, in particular on the question of the economy, on the condition that the head of the CAQ agrees to recognize the problems affecting this sector.
“We have serious issues in relation to the labor shortage, which is hitting sectors such as health and education hard, so these are important sectors that we will want to look at,” said she reiterated.
Liberals open to changing the voting system
The PLQ managed to keep its place as the official opposition in the National Assembly during Monday’s elections, but it nevertheless saw its number of deputies drop from 27 to 21.
His deputation will still be larger than that of QS (11) and the PQ (3) in the Blue Room, even if these two parties obtained more votes during the ballot. The PLQ received the lowest percentage of the popular vote in its history, at 14.4%, while QS obtained 15.4% of the favors and the PQ was chosen by 14.6% of voters. The CAQ finished far ahead, with 41% of support.
Asked whether she would support a possible reform of the voting system – in order to put in place a system that would ensure better representativeness of the popular vote in the National Assembly –, Ms.me Anglade showed openness.
“The day it will be in my electoral platform, it will be a commitment that I will keep,” she decided on Tuesday.
The chances of the voting system changing by the next election are slim, however, since Mr. Legault reiterated on Tuesday that he has pledged not to reopen this debate and that he has no intention of doing so. .
A revival within the party
Following the election, Mr.me Anglade chose to meet voters in her riding of Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne to thank them for giving her a third term as MNA.
Her re-election was questioned during the campaign, in particular due to the rise of QS, but she finally won with 36.2% of support.
In the afternoon, Mr.me Anglade held her press conference in front of the Lionel-Groulx metro station, where she met some supporters who congratulated her on her victory. A few people approached to take pictures, while others reminded him of the importance of standing up to the CAQ.
Despite the lackluster results of his party – which received around 410,000 fewer votes than in 2018 – Mme Anglade believes that the arrival of new faces will allow his party to rebuild anew and will breathe new life into his formation.
“I can’t wait for people to discover the MPs who join our team. Because when we talk about a revival in the Liberal Party, we are talking about them. »