That’s it. Once again, on the eve of Good Friday, we are burying the Parti Québécois (PQ)! He’s not dead, so he won’t be resurrected on Easter.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
Several commentators leave me speechless, but not surprised, in their analysis of the by-election in Marie-Victorin. For them, the PQ is dead or dying, it no longer has its place, offers nothing and its leader has no quality, just that!
I find them a bit intellectually lazy to always release the same record. The PQ has seen better days and its road is difficult, of course, but there is a way for it.
I’m not telling you that the PQ will take power in the next election, but it represents independence, a noble, legitimate and necessary option which, if not triumphant, deserves to be represented. If secularism were to be defeated by the Supreme Court, the PQ would be very useful.
The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) benefited from a very favorable context. Two years of a pandemic to be governed by decrees and press conferences – sometimes propaganda exercises – to announce… the next press conference. A government that had little accountability and opposition that had little visibility. Add to that the fact that Mr. Legault “gave” checks for $500 just before the vote. The oppositions are only just beginning to get the public’s attention, but pandemic fatigue has voters wanting to bury anything COVID-19 related. We can understand it. The CAQ will be accountable by the next election and Mr. Legault should start to take criticism a little less high.
The commentariat blames Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the PQ, for having delivered a courageous and optimistic speech. I wouldn’t want a leader who closes the books with 30% of the vote and demotivates his troops. He is a good communicator who deserves to be known.
The media gives little light to the PQ, and an unfavorable light. That it is maintained in such a context is a great success. The PQ had a good candidate in Pierre Nantel and dedicated militants, who are not there out of opportunism, but out of idealism. They fight for a free, resolutely French and secular Quebec.
Québec solidaire (QS), which receives extensive media coverage, and often complacent coverage, has suffered a significant setback. The Prime Minister is pushing QS to Parliament because he knows QS can never even come close to power. The CAQ and QS have the same strategy: ignore the PQ, in the hope that he becomes incapable of harming them. A little humility, Mr. Nadeau-Dubois.
The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) has lost half of its support. He is left with only Anglophones and Allophones, who keep him alive. Dominique Anglade has started to be more timid in defense of the French. She made her act of contrition, back to normal. Obviously, the PQ is declared the big loser of the partial, and not QS and the PLQ.
The Conservative Party will probably be more competitive in the next election than I would have thought. Its leader is well known in Quebec and its candidate in Marie-Victorin was the best known on the ballot. It often pays off, because getting known is very difficult in politics.
I salute all the candidates, other than that of the CAQ, who were campaigning with a headwind. The proper exercise of democracy needs vigorous debate, and it starts with parties and candidates who dare to challenge a government at the top in the polls.