I had a lot of fun reading the reports of the general council of the PLQ in Victoriaville.
Since their rout in the elections last October, the Liberals have stagnated at the bottom of a political black hole with around 14% of voting intentions, including only 6% among Francophones.
Even if great nationalists have succeeded one another at its head for 20 years – men of the caliber of Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard – the French-speaking majority turns a deaf ear to its calls for help, as pathetic as they are wacky.
Former journalist André Pratte, who leads a committee to revive the PLQ, dismissed out of hand the analysis of an activist who deplored that the party had become “a provincial branch” of the Liberal Party of Canada. With a tongue-in-cheek humor that we did not know him, the former senator appointed by Justin Trudeau replied “Me, personally, I find that the evidence is not there at all”. She is really nice!
- Listen to Normand Lester’s chronicle via QUB-radio :
The nationalists of the PLQ
A Quebec nationalist “passionaria”, Michelle Setlakwe, the deputy for “Mount-Royal”, a nationalist fortified castle if there ever was one, risked an all-out appeal: “I am a bilingual person. I want us to defend the interests of Quebec within a Canada.” Wow! We really didn’t expect that.
“Being a nationalist in the PLQ is like being a PQ in D’Arcy-McGee,” said another Liberal. But what is he doing in this party essentially dedicated to defending and promoting the interests and privileges of the English-speaking minority and related groups? For me, to call oneself a nationalist and to be an activist in the PLQ is stupidity or hypocrisy. Moreover, these few dissenting voices were quickly drowned out by a chorus of ardent federalists who sang a passionate ode to the defense of Canadian national unity. A Liberal even called on Quebec to cede health management to the federal government.
As activist Pierre Bouillon said from the bottom of his heart: “We are proud to be Canadians, we have to say it every day, we are a party that is resolutely Canadian”. The reality is that the PLQ is a “proudly and unconditionally Canadian” party. And that’s all.
The winning combination of the PLQ
I revel in the current disarray of the liberals whose federalist orthodoxy gave birth – by rejection – to the PQ, the ADQ and the CAQ. This divided French-speaking vote allowed them in the past to take power by associating with their Anglo-ethnic base – where a mafia clique swarms – a collection of Francophone businessmen, opportunists and schemers.
Despite the liberal turpitudes detailed in the public hearings and in the reports of the Charbonneau, Bastarache and Gomery commissions, the English of Quebec and assimilated groups continued to vote massively for Liberal “full patch” candidates, members in good standing of the gang of lascars denounced by the judges. The reality is that from Westmount to Saint-Léonard, from Hampstead to Pointe-Claire, we are ready to elect the first red man who comes along, provided he is a pure and hard federalist.
The PLQ is so vomited by the French-speaking majority that the star candidates they recruit are demanding non-French-speaking ridings for fear of being beaten. Remember, this was already the case with Trudeau senior in “Mout-Royal”.
Money, Anglophones and Allophones. It is the Triple-A combination that allows the Liberal Party of Quebec to exist. The trick is not to displease its clientele and its sponsors while throwing smoke and mirrors at the French-speaking majority. It hasn’t been working very well for some time.
This fundamental fact of the massive and unconditional support of non-francophones for the PLQ will not change. The Liberals just have to be patient: wait for immigration and demographics to do their work.