No one should have been surprised to learn that the leader of the PQ, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, will not stand in the by-election in Marie-Victorin. It’s hard to blame him for not wanting to go to the slaughterhouse.
He accused the Prime Minister of “playing politics with the date of the by-election”. As if this were unusual! Either way, the outcome will undoubtedly be the same no matter when it takes place. The notion of “fortified castle” no longer applies to the PQ, whether it is Marie-Victorin or any other constituency he won in 2018.
Admittedly, the message sent to the one who will defend the PQ colors is hardly encouraging. If the leader doesn’t think he can win, who can? Taking a beating a few months before the general election would have been much worse, however.
It is true that René Lévesque had suffered defeat in 1970 and 1973, before making his return to the National Assembly in 1976, but the “founding father” already enjoyed immense popularity. The current leader’s lack of notoriety obviously doesn’t help, but the PQ’s problem runs much deeper.
It has become a cliché – or an excuse – for a PQ leader to say that he is taking back the “pilgrim’s staff”, but it is arguably more necessary than ever. It is no longer enough to justify the usefulness of the PQ in the eyes of the population, but the very idea that gave birth to it.
Prime Minister Legault has declared that it remains “important”, but his determination to eradicate the PQ sometimes gives the impression that this former “pure and hard” wants to silence his bad conscience.
Robert Bourassa used to say that the sovereignist option constituted an “insurance policy” for Quebec and he did not hesitate to use this card in his negotiations with his provincial counterparts.
It is clear that independence is no longer seen as a threat by English Canada, but Mr. Legault would perhaps have an interest in not permanently eliminating the party which has always embodied it. You never know what the future holds.
We cannot say that he has made much progress in his autonomist program over the past three years. Despite its periodic mood swings, the Trudeau government does not feel the slightest embarrassment in encroaching on Quebec’s fields of jurisdiction. As the saying goes: “Barking dog does not bite.” “
Even if Bill 96 is very timid, Mr. Legault no doubt sincerely hopes that French will regain the momentum given to it by Bill 101. However, it is clear that the decline of recent years has coincided with that of sovereignty. Newcomers and even those who have been here longer have understood that Quebec is part of a country where English is king and that it is not about to change.
Anyway, PSPP will have to run somewhere in the general election. He explained that he had no anchoring in Marie-Victorin, but no one was fooled by this false excuse. On this account, Mr. Legault should never have appeared in L’Assomption or Philippe Couillard in Roberval.
The leader of the PQ was born in Trois-Rivières, but has long been a Montrealer who studied at André-Grasset and McGill. There would have been nothing incongruous in what he presented in Marie-Victorin. It is already closer to Montreal than to Prévost, where he was a candidate in the last general election.
Watching the leader of a party with such a glorious past desperately seek a constituency where he would have a small chance of being elected is painful to see, but today is the sad lot of the PQ.
None of the 2018 elected officials who still sit under the PQ banner have yet officially announced that they will not seek a new term, even if speculation is rife. In reality, the question is rather to know who will want to take the risk of representing themselves.
PSSP has said, however, that he has already chosen his constituency. As it stands, the one that seems the most favorable is Rimouski, where Harold Lebel had won over the Caquist candidate with a majority of 6,037 votes.
Mr. Lebel faces a charge of sexual assault. Even if he is acquitted, the damage caused to his reputation excludes any further candidacy. Its internal polls lead the CAQ to believe that it will win without much difficulty in Rimouski. At least the leader of the PQ will not appear before the electorate with two defeats in as many attempts. We wish him good luck.