Québec solidaire wants to become the alternative solution to the Caquist government during the general elections of 2022. And to do this, the party with the orange banner will have to dress even more green, indicates its new president, Alejandra Zaga Mendez.
The duty discussed with the new representative of the party, who will take office during the congress of Quebec solidaire, next weekend. According to her, the growth of the political formation, born fifteen years ago, has only just begun.
“Québec solidaire is, at the moment, the option in terms of the environment and the fight against inequalities,” she said in a telephone interview.
On the theme “To us tomorrow”, the solidarity activists will gather at the end of the week in Montreal for the usual congress of members. “We are already in the pre-election planning”, notes Mme Zaga Mendez. In recent months, it is the writing of the platform for 2022 that has mobilized the party.
The president of QS maintains that “the question of the environment […] is central ”. It is by positioning themselves on “the stake of our century” that the parties will be able to play their game in October of next year, she underlines.
On the sidelines of COP26, the climate appeared in bold on the radar of François Legault’s government. After making several climate announcements before and in Glasgow, the Prime Minister admitted in early November to have “moved” on environmental issues.
This weekend, in general council, the Coalition d’avenir Québec (CAQ) voted for a multitude of climate positions. Among these, the development of the interregional public transport network, the creation of canoe routes and “sustainable forest management”.
The fact remains that Québec solidaire is the only party to put the environment at the top of its concerns, says Alejandra Zaga Mendez. “What we are going to present in the next elections is the most ambitious platform in terms of the environment,” she assures us. Its content will be confirmed or not at the end of the week during the three days of the congress.
Asked about the possibility that the Decolonial Antiracist Collective might upset the partisan event, Mme Zaga Mendez indicates that the small group – which had accused the party’s co-spokespersons of systemic racism this year – has fallen into line. “Everything is going well internally,” she says.
Replacement option
Second opposition group since the Parti Québécois rose to nine members in 2019, QS dreams bigger. “We want to be a vision that is the opposite of François Legault. We embody this replacement option, ”said the new president.
“In the municipal wave, there are several elected officials who campaigned on the environment,” she added. With the climate at the center of its platform, QS wants to make “gains” next year. The riding of Marie-Victorin, left vacant last week, is also in the party’s sights: co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois confirmed last week that a candidate will run there.
The solidarity candidate in 2018, Carl Lévesque, having been elected to the municipal elections, QS must find a new standard-bearer. “We have a good militant base in Marie-Victorin, and the results of the last election are witness to it,” reiterated Alejandra Zaga Mendez, who has been involved with the training since 2009.
In recent weeks, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and Manon Massé have increased their visits to the field. The first went to Verdun for an election-flavored outing at the end of October. The second was in Rimouski the following week.
“We are moving towards places where we have strong bases,” observed Alejandra Zaga Mendez, who hopes to “spread oil” across Quebec within a year.
By targeting Marie-Victorin and Rimouski, is QS hunting in PQ territory? Not at all, said Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois during a press briefing in parliament last week. “On election night, we have[vait] has made as many gains in Liberal ridings as in PQ ridings, ”he recalled.
The left-wing party now wishes to dissociate itself from its sovereignist cousin. Its new president also rules out the option of a merger. “In 2018, we received a very clear mandate from our members, who said no. This is not the situation at all. We are going forward. And the reality is that Québec solidaire relies on more parliamentarians than the Parti Québécois. “