(Montreal) Paul St-Pierre Plamondon wants to go from appreciation success to electoral success and sent a message to those who liked his campaign: “Judge us on merit” and “vote” for the Parti Québécois.
Updated yesterday at 11:10pm.
Charles Lecavalier The Press
“Fate is calling us. There are many of you. There are always more of us,” he told a crowd of nearly 700 activists gathered at Montreal’s Paradoxe theater.
“The last few days have been special. We have never had so much encouragement, so much tailwind as in the last five days. People have a lot of sympathy and interest,” he explained. He now has two days to convert this interest into concrete voices.
In his speech, he highlighted the backstory of his campaign: independence and the French language. “Never in Quebec’s history has there been such a marked and rapid decline in French as in the last four years,” he said. Therefore, the Parti Québécois must be strongly represented in the National Assembly, he argued.
For Camille-Laurin, the whole symbolism is to say that if important decisions about the future of French will be made in Montreal over the next few years, if Montreal is truly a separate part of Quebec, and that the national destiny of Quebecers goes through Montreal like all other regions, very good, the leader of the Parti Québécois will present himself in Montreal and win.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, President of the Parti Québécois
“Judge us on merits for the good of democracy, for the future of our democracy,” said the PQ leader.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon reiterates that the PQ continues to increase in voting intentions and could form the official opposition.
The revelation of countrysays Marois
Former Prime Minister Pauline Marois warmed the room by welcoming Mr St-Pierre Plamondon, the “revelation of this campaign”. “With consistency and clarity, he refused to give up, he fought defeatism day after day by presenting a bold social project,” she said.
She made a “solemn appeal” to the men and women of her generation to reconnect with the Parti Québécois. “With the PQ, we’ve enabled Quebec to make exceptional progress in every area,” she said. But we must keep the “door” open for the youngest. “We have to roll up our sleeves and convince every Quebecer by Monday night,” Ms Marois told the crowd.
Earlier in the day, Mr St-Pierre Plamondon launched a blitz to rally undecided voters. Passing through Trois-Rivières for the first time since the campaign began, he relaunched Operation Convincre, conceived by Jacques Parizeau, as Jean-François Lisée had done before him in 2018. He hammered that message into the rides of Joliette, Pointe-aux-Trembles and the one he’s a contestant on, Camille-Laurin, on his visits.
“If you liked the PQ campaign […] talk to someone who might not vote, talk to someone who is undecided,” he told his activists. He said the PQ, which bottomed in the polls in August, is still rising in voting intentions.
Gaspé, Sept-Iles and Jonquière
This Sunday, on the eve of the election, he will fly to Gaspé, Sept-Îles and Jonquière, three PQ castles he hopes to keep. He also had to defend during the day his decision to allow two ex-candidates – in Rousseau and L’Assomption – to continue campaigning despite anti-Muslim statements published in 2015 and 2016.
“They asked me to be judged on the whole, and not just on 2015 releases, I accepted that request. Leadership is about making difficult decisions, respecting and listening to everyone involved and trying to consider all aspects,” he said.
He will return the amounts paid by the election officer “for charitable purposes”. And “if we’re really in the exact case, where [il y a] two oppositions with the same number of seats and that we have to rely on the general vote to try to decide between them, it’s easy, we will say to the assembly: don’t take into account the votes of these two districts,” he added added .