The Parti Québécois (PQ) has not even presented its renewed “first year budget” when its leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, is already starting to dream of an independent Quebec, equipped with an army and its own currency .
After avoiding outlining the outlines of a sovereign Quebec during the campaign and then relying on party members who will vote on the contents of a white paper in 2025, the PQ elected official moved further on the issue on Wednesday.
When Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon was asked in a press briefing about Quebec’s possible diplomatic relations the day after a victorious referendum, he even went so far as to support the creation of a Quebec currency. “From the start, I am in favor of there being a transition plan that leads to what is actually called a Quebec monetary policy,” he said.
“The problem with the offset and revenue from Alberta oil is that while there is an offset, there is inflation of the Canadian currency that is terribly damaging to our exports,” he explained. So, not having your own monetary policy…”
In 2014, PQ leader Pauline Marois reiterated during the election campaign that Quebec would retain the Canadian dollar and an open border with the rest of Canada following a sovereigntist referendum victory. Then, in 2020, the Parti Québécois National Youth Committee proposed the birth of a Quebec “Piastre.”
The Prime Minister of Quebec at the time of the 1995 referendum, Jacques Parizeau, always refused to abandon the Canadian dollar. But according to Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the economic context is no longer the same. “ [Ça] had nothing to do with it, he argued on Wednesday. We are in a globalized economy that is very standardized on an international scale. »
A Quebec army?
Since taking office, “PSPP” has always avoided commenting on these details. But just days before the release of an update on sovereign Quebec’s finances, he unpacked his bag. Should we have a Quebec army? a journalist asked him. “Yes. Well, subject to the parameters that will be defined within the Parti Québécois,” he said.
Details on this issue can be found in the first year budget that the PQ leader will present on Monday.
According to him, Quebec’s accession to NATO would be a given in any case. “Whenever Quebec can have an international representation and therefore a positive influence on the course of events, we will use it,” said Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, promising global diplomacy and embassies “of course.”
“If we look at the role of smaller states in global diplomacy. Let’s take Denmark […]“Take Norway, take Switzerland, Holland… Several smaller nations are playing the role of peace broker,” he said.
QS agrees
After confronting the PQ on the issue of independence earlier in the week, Québec Solidaire sided with the PSPP on Wednesday. “Usually a country has a currency. […] Normally a country has an army,” Solidarity MP Vincent Marissal said in a press scrum in the National Assembly.
Next Monday, the PQ will present its renewed portrait of the finances of an independent Quebec. The exercise was conducted in 1973 by Jacques Parizeau, who also used the opportunity to plan the creation of an army of 8,000 men at a cost of $165 million.
The current prime minister, François Legault, then in opposition to the Parti Québécois, then updated it in 2005. When the head of the CAQ government approached him before question time on Wednesday, he challenged his PQ opponent. “I can’t wait to see something [qu’il fait du] “$13 billion hole in equalization” that a separation of Quebec and Canada would cause, he said.
On the subject of the Canadian currency, Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon spoke of the “merits” of a common currency with Canada and even a “North American currency.” “There are segments over which we need to have sovereignty. Currency is not money,” he added.
With Alexandre Robillard