Neither one nor two. Members of Justin Trudeau’s team on Tuesday mocked the portrait of the finances of a sovereign Quebec drawn up by the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, at the start of the week.
The 1995 referendum on Quebec independence left in its wake “family members who no longer speak to each other, friends who no longer speak to each other,” indicated the Minister of Transport, Pablo Rodriguez, in a press scrum on Parliament Hill. “This is also my case,” he added, specifying that he had lost sight of “friends” from the YES camp whom he “likes” during the last referendum meeting.
“Come back to [19]95, those who are old enough to come back — in any case, I am —: acrimosity [SIC] debates, the divisions that it created, the occasional slip-ups too… Do we really want to get back into this as a society? » wondered aloud the political lieutenant of Quebec within the Trudeau government.
In any case, according to him, reviving the debate on the future of Quebec within Canada is neither necessary nor desirable. “Quebec is strong economically and socially. We are proud as a people, as a nation. So I don’t see why we would dive back into that,” Mr. Rodriguez repeated. Quebec’s successes are not unrelated to the “strong representation” of Quebecers within the federal Parliament, thanks to “35 Liberal deputies, people from other parties as well, who [les] represent,” he also pleaded. “We have a system that works. »
The “separation of Quebec” from Canada is “the last thing people want to talk about right now,” argued the Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, before recalling the decision of the Marois government — the last independence government in the orders from the Quebec state (2012-2014) — to explore the oil potential of Anticosti Island.
The former ecological activist also took the separatists from the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire who claim that an independent Quebec could intensify the fight against climate change on the wrong foot. “We consume 360,000 barrels [de pétrole] per day. What would that change in a sovereign Quebec? he asked before heading off to a Cabinet meeting.
Minister François-Philippe Champagne, for his part, said “not [avoir] so much time to look at fanciful budgets” like that of the year one of an independent Quebec unveiled by Paul St-Pierre Plamondon on Monday. “Look at the state of the world today. […] People expect us to focus on affordability, on housing… As far as I’m concerned, I have other things to think about,” he said, busy pulling down grocery bills.
From the “chicane”
In Quebec, the new PQ MP Pascal Paradis retorted that the independence project of his political party had “nothing to do with chicanery”. “The independence of Quebec is a promising project, it is a constructive project. It’s a project that is for Quebecers and not against,” he said during a press briefing in parliament.
He reiterated, like his leader, that Quebec would negotiate in good faith with Canada as part of a process of gaining independence. “We have clearly made the assumption of good neighborliness and the integration of sovereign Quebec into a globalized economy,” maintained the elected representative of Jean-Talon.
With François Carabin