Negotiations for the recognition of parliamentary groups in the Blue Room turn sour for the Parti Québécois (PQ), which is offended to be allocated “less than half” of its demands, against “100%” for the other parties of ‘opposition.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s team takes the negotiations to the public square. According to data sent to the media by the PQ, the caucus made up of three MPs would only obtain at this time 7% of the budgets allocated to the opposition parties, or $495,000. It’s too little, says a PQ source well versed in the negotiations. “At $800,000, we would be happy. »
By comparison, under the current formula, the official opposition would receive $4.4 million a year, and Québec solidaire (QS), nearly $2 million.
The negotiations have not stopped, but the offer currently on the table would also grant 5 questions to the PQ parliamentarians for each cycle of 100 questions in the Blue Room, against 25 for the Solidarity and 70 for the Liberals.
“The other parties get 100% of their financial and other demands. QS even gets its whip”, protested a source at the PQ, who also fears that his formation does not have access to the discussions of the Office of the National Assembly. This determines the internal functioning and organization of work during a session. In the last legislature, the four recognized parliamentary groups sat there.
Benefits anyway?
With three MNAs, the PQ caucus does not automatically have access to the advantages of a parliamentary group: such as a research budget and substantial speaking time, first and foremost.
Tuesday, at the entrance of the caucus of elected members of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), the parliamentary leader of the government, Simon Jolin-Barrette, had however assured that the PQ team would be entrusted with “the tools” necessary for its work. ‘opposition. “For us, it is clear that the leader of the Parti Québécois will be able to ask questions of the Prime Minister in the chamber and have the same speaking time as the other leaders of the opposition,” he said.
On Thursday, the minister’s office reiterated that “negotiations are still ongoing.”
The interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), Marc Tanguay, for his part said he was “a little disappointed, even very disappointed that it came out [en] audience “. “The rule that we gave ourselves, there, at the time, the four leaders, [c’est] : we are not going to negotiate in the public square. There, I hear that Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, he does not seem happy with what is being discussed. The agreement is not signed, discussions must continue,” he said.
On Thursday, the CAQ, the PLQ and QS in turn said they wanted to conclude discussions with the PQ. “At Québec solidaire, we will continue to respect the confidentiality of the negotiations, in particular because they are not over,” however declared the solidarity parliamentary leader, Alexandre Leduc.
“We said it from the start, we are allies for the PQ. We have already been three deputies without recognition and without means, it was difficult, ”he added. At the time—in 2014—QS was operating on a budget of less than $260,000.