“I exist, me too”, launched in 1989 a disappointed Jacques Parizeau, alone in a press conference room deserted by journalists tired of hearing the generalities that the leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ) had become accustomed to. to inflict them on Friday afternoons in the hopes of slipping into the weekend newscasts. The cameras had nevertheless captured images that he would no doubt have preferred not to see at the Téléjournal.
With around thirty deputies, the PQ of the time must nevertheless make the one of today envy. In front of the activists gathered at the congress held at the end of last week, the new president of the national executive, Jocelyn Caron, felt the need to repeat that “this is not a dying party”, and Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (PSPP) has done its best to convince activists that it is, on the contrary, very much alive, whatever the polls say.
At a time when partisan commitment has lost much of its appeal, it is true that the PQ still has a large number of members, who continue to fund it generously. The problem is, it doesn’t seem to resonate with the population anymore, so it feels like it’s being artificially kept alive. A sort of living dead.
However, it must be recognized that he did not try to disguise himself, as the PLQ did by presenting itself as a social democratic party under the leadership of a former president of the CAQ. It is to his credit to fully embrace his independence convictions.
PSPP declared that it was necessary to “break the omerta” surrounding independence, which would have been removed from public debate for being out of date, while it is undoubtedly the most revolutionary project that has ever been proposed to Quebecers .
In reality, it is perhaps less the idea of independence than the argument of the PQ that has ended up boring. Most Quebeckers tend to agree with René Lévesque, according to which federalism was perhaps “hay spit”, but that Canada was not the “gulag” after all.
However, the PQ discourse remains essentially based on resentment with Ottawa and English Canada. What we especially learned from the speech of PSPP in Trois-Rivières is that the Trudeau government is responsible for a “chaos” at the border resulting in people being shot in the streets of Montreal.
Prime Minister Legault strongly criticized Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois for not worrying about Ottawa’s encroachments on Quebec’s fields of jurisdiction. It is clear that any government, no matter which party it comes from, must ensure that they are respected. GND is not, however, wrong to say that “these ritualized quarrels with Ottawa sell copies, but it is illusory to think that they will lead to a renewed independence”.
The separatists would obviously be foolish not to take advantage of opportunities such as the rejection of the Meech Lake Accord or any incident that could anger Quebecers, but systematically blaming everything that is wrong with Ottawa will not convince the young woman. generation to reconnect with independence. She should not see in it the settlement of two and a half centuries of quarrels, to which she feels a stranger, but the promise of a better future.
We may have been surprised that ten months before the general elections, the leader of the PQ makes no allusion to it, but it is not easy for a party leader to harangue his troops at the approach of the battle without give a glimpse of victory, if not promise it. Just to say that it is about saving the furniture and staying alive hoping for better days in the indefinite future is not very motivating.
The PQ at least spared the ridicule of presenting its leader as “the future premier of Quebec”. The PLQ did not have the same restraint, while the chances of Dominique Anglade are not much better.
If PSPP has not spoken about the election, it may also be that he is still wondering what he is actually going to campaign on. Either way, the PQ has set the course for independence for the umpteenth time, but the elections of October 3, 2022 will not be a referendum. No one will be interested in the currency of a sovereign Quebec or its army. The opponent will not be Justin Trudeau, but François Legault.
At the end of the week, the CAQ was clearly in the sights of PSPP. As the separatists who migrated to QS are practically irrecoverable, the PQ can only hope to repatriate those who have turned to the CAQ. Will those who simply wanted to drive out the Liberals go home or will they find it more advantageous for Quebec to make small progress with the Legault government than to preach in the desert?