The Liberal leader’s good humor contrasted with the magnitude of the result on October 3. Clearly, all opposition parties were struggling to report a moral victory. The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ), meanwhile, had to face the facts: its survival is conditional on its ability to honor its nationalist heritage.
Posted yesterday at 9:00 a.m.
The findings of the 2022 general elections are multiple: the inability of the PLQ to seduce the regions, the inability to deliver a coherent message on the economy – which has long been its trademark – but above all, the inability to reconnect with the French-speaking electorate and the middle class.
Moreover, by seeking at all costs to free itself from its past, the party has denied the heritage to which Adélard Godbout, Jean Lesage, Claude Ryan and Robert Bourassa have contributed and which has made this party a force for change. within Quebec society.
Let’s face it, the result of this week’s election only allowed the Liberal troops to save the day by keeping anglophone and allophone strongholds on the island of Montreal.
However, when a party sees itself once again relegated to the position of official opposition, there is nothing to celebrate; it is not a moral victory, but a defeat. This testifies to the voters’ inability to consider the PLQ as the alternative to the Coalition avenir Québe (CAQ), to consider that the PLQ has an attractive and credible platform.
The dust will settle, the Liberal Party of Quebec will cross the desert again, a necessary step after so many years in power. On the other hand, changes must take place in order to regain its identity. To rest on the fact that we have already been the Natural Governing Party can no longer be used as an excuse to explain our inaction or our lack of initiative.
Introspection
Under these conditions, an enormous work of introspection is emerging on the horizon. The party must work to bring back to the fold the nationalist federalists who, sooner or later, will be disillusioned with the Coalition avenir Québec. It is a matter of time.
Next, the Liberals must challenge the families who now constitute the middle class: those parents who are struggling to make ends meet, suffocated by inflation, and for whom access to property has become almost impossible.
They must put in place a housing policy for seniors that must respect our ability to pay rather than forcing them into CHSLDs and, finally, beyond all these issues, carry out a fundamental reform of our education network. Despite the claims of the leader of the CAQ with regard to education, it proved to be the great neglect of the last election campaign. In the midst of a labor shortage, beyond appealing to immigration, education serves as a springboard for the workers of tomorrow.
All in all, staying in touch with the population must be in the Quebec Liberal Party’s line of sight. If he does not succeed in reconnecting with her, the party risks suffering even more, he who has nevertheless offered so much to Quebecers in the past.