“I’m not worried about what’s going to happen at the end of the week. I am worried about what will happen next,” confided a supportive MP on Saturday morning. A crisis like the one Québec solidaire went through inevitably leaves after-effects.
At the end of the national council held in Jonquière, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois (GND) declared that there was no winner or loser. In reality, the 200 signatories of an open letter published in The dutywho feared that the Saguenay Declaration would serve as a “starting point” for a new QS program and who called for a less restrictive timetable to have time to think about it, lost all along.
We can always quibble about the difference between “modernization” and “updating”, that the Larousse present as synonyms, but the majority clearly approved the “pragmatic” approach of GND, which had transformed the exercise into a vote of confidence in its leadership.
There were no resounding declarations or slammed doors. Everyone returned home peacefully. The parliamentary leader of QS said he felt more serenity after this difficult passage. Many were undoubtedly relieved, but there was especially sadness among those who no longer recognized their party.
Internal bleeding, invisible to the naked eye, is more dangerous than a bloody wound, which can be cauterized. Québec solidaire is not threatened with collapse in the foreseeable future. Revising the program will require some tact, but the hardest part is done. Rather than tearing up their membership cards, those who left disappointed could decide to take a break and hope that things will prove them right. However, the strength of activism is vital in such an ideological party.
The Parti Québécois experienced this kind of anemia, and almost died from it, when the activists had the feeling that sovereignty had been thrown into oblivion. It had to suffer the worst defeat in its history before returning to its raison d’être and regaining a level of enthusiasm that we had not seen for almost 30 years.
GND won its bet at the end of the week, but it now has the burden of proof. If he survived the disappointing result of 2022, even those who voted for him will not forgive him another poor performance in 2026. And the repolarization which is taking shape with the rise of the PQ will not make his task easier. Any setback – or simply the absence of progress – will be interpreted as a disavowal of its “refocusing”.
The Saguenay Declaration was intended to be an extended hand to the regions, but we instead had the impression that QS went to wash its dirty laundry in Jonquière. It will take more to cancel out the disastrous effect produced by the resignation of Émilise Lessard-Therrien, the girl from Abitibi-Témiscamingue who felt she was considered negligible by the “little clique” that revolves around GND.
Those who elected her to the position of female spokesperson saw in her the ideal messenger of QS in the region, but also a counterweight to the parliamentary wing, which many criticize for not being sufficiently attentive to the base. activist.
At the end of the week, the member for Mercier, Ruba Ghazal, that Mme Lessard-Therrien, defeated by just three votes at last November’s convention, has virtually confirmed that she will run again; she has every chance of being elected without opposition. No one disputes its qualities, but this can only strengthen the image of a party controlled by a group of deputies and apparatchiks mainly from Montreal.
Those in solidarity can argue about many subjects, but they are indissolubly united in a common hatred of the PQ. By accusing Paul St-Pierre Plamondon of “transforming this beautiful and great project that is the independence of Quebec into a referendum against immigration”, GND was sure to start the weekend on the right foot.
It would be vain to hope for a resumption of discussions on a possible “convergence” of the sovereignist parties before knowing the result of the next elections and the balance of power that each will have. Those who wish it will, however, be happy to learn that the first initiative of the new “network” of young activists whose creation QS has announced is the creation of a “transpartisan” podcast on independence.
There are indeed convinced sovereignists in QS, including Ruba Ghazal, who has been leading the New Quebec campaign since the beginning of February, the objective of which is precisely to convince the young generation to embrace the independence project.
A proposal presented to the national council aimed to give it the means to carry out a real tour across Quebec. The president of the QS national coordinating committee — the famous politburo — indicated from the outset that the party’s resources were limited. “We may have other priorities,” said a delegate. The proposal was defeated by a ratio of two to one.