The activists of Québec solidaire (QS) have spoken: to restore parity in its caucus of deputies, the party could “impose” that a woman be a candidate in an electoral district.
The idea is to present more women in “takenable” constituencies. A dozen local associations had submitted a proposal to this effect for the national solidarity council, which is taking place this weekend in Montreal. The QS co-spokespersons, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and Manon Massé, did not want to specify whether or not they supported this idea. The impacts for the party, where candidacies are usually voted on by local members, are potentially major.
After a thirty-minute debate during which arguments of internal democracy and feminism collided on Saturday, the proposal finally obtained majority support from the delegates. The national executive will therefore ensure that “means are developed and adopted in a body […] future to impose female candidates in specific constituencies with the aim of maximizing the possibility of obtaining a parity caucus”.
Non-parity since October
Currently, four of the left party’s eleven MPs are women, or 36% of the caucus. This is a long way from the perfect parity of the last mandate – five women, five men -, and the group could move further away from the parity zone if the lawyer Guillaume Cliche-Rivard wins the complementary ballot in Saint-Henri-Sainte -Anne next month.
In January, the former solidarity deputy Catherine Dorion said she was “saddened” by the non-parity of the caucus of her former party. When she left politics, she had supported the candidacy of activist Madeleine Cloutier in the race for the nomination of the riding of Taschereau. But it was the environmentalist Étienne Grandmont, supported in part by the national, who won.
Debates
Solidarity activists did everything but express a unanimous opinion on Saturday when called upon to debate parity. At the microphone, the Taschereau delegate, Rébecca Breton, made it clear that the objective was not to “force applications”, but to “impose gender”. She denounced the lack of women candidates in the constituencies where QS intended to make gains.
“In Quebec, the picture was quite striking during the elections: we had three men in the three most winnable ridings [Jean-Lesage, Jean-Talon et Taschereau] “, did she say. “Quebec solidaire, without women, it’s nothing. »
The delegate Béatrice Fillion, who militates in Mercier, said she feared the excesses of “imposing” candidacies. “It’s very tricky for me. Really because of the word “impose”. I am very concerned about internal democracy,” she said. The Notre-Dame-de-Grâce activist Didier Chelin also invited his colleagues to beat the proposal, which according to him reduces, weakens, the democratic power of local authorities.
“Who would we want to represent us, think about it, Michel Chartrand or Margaret Thatcher? Well, I would prefer Michel Chartrand, ”he said. An affirmation greeted by several grumbles in the room.
According to delegate Raphaël Simard, from Vanier-les-Rivières, “the sexist biases that we have prevent us from making decisions based solely on ideas”. “It is indeed quite strong as a measure, but let’s say it is necessary,” he said.
“We have to stop justifying the loss of parity on the freedom to vote of associations,” added Rébecca Breton.