Liberals believe they made a costly mistake in allowing Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois to be recognized in 2018, and they want to fight back this time. However, your negotiating position is “untenable” in the eyes of the other parties.
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“In hindsight, allowing third-party recognition in 2018 was a mistake,” says a Liberal source when asked about the PLQ’s intentions as it negotiates the space opposition parties can take in the National Assembly over the next few years.
“It allowed Quebec Solidaire to prevail and François Legault to ignore Dominique Anglade. It weakened us. We should have perhaps had a bad couple of weeks and then had more speaking time throughout the mandate,” says our source.
Earning faction rank gives a political party a decent operating budget and more speaking time in the plenary chamber. According to National Assembly regulations, a party must have 12 MPs or have obtained 20% of the votes to have this status, which, like this year, was not the case for QS or the PQ in the last legislature.
Different times, different manners
After the last election, an agreement was reached between the parties to correct the imbalances caused by our electoral system.
“We also had to find a way to get Parliament working,” recalls former Speaker of the House Sébastien Proulx, who at the time represented the PLQ at the negotiating table.
According to him, the presence of too many independent MNAs could hinder the proper functioning of the assembly.
Four years later, the Liberals have changed their minds: Dominique Anglade has already stressed that she will only give the green light to the recognition of the QS and PQ as official parties if François Legault advocates a reform of the electoral system.
Difference between votes cast and seats won
Does the current electoral system effectively represent the will of the people?
From October 3, 2022
Compare with the number of seats obtained
negotiation attitude
Since all parties must agree to such a regulatory change, a Liberal refusal could theoretically reduce the Solidaires’ and PQ’s funding to a trickle for the next four years if they each collect more than votes than the Liberals.
Even within the PLQ, some are surprised by Ms Anglade’s position.
“In my opinion, that’s just a negotiating position,” breathes another Liberal source.
For their part, opponents of the Liberals call this position “unsustainable” and “illogical” given past agreements and the prospect of delays in implementing the new legislature if negotiations drag on.
And the CAQ?
Not to mention that the Solidaires and the PQ are backed by the Avenir Québec Coalition, which sees an interest in splitting speaking time between several factions.
“Question Time is used to build stories over the course of a session, a CAQ source points out. Having all objections in this status divides the time each of the parties has to ask their questions and gives them less time to reach their conclusion.
But what do Liberals have to gain by claiming to oppose recognition by other opposition parties? “To be honest, it’s not clear. In social networks, it has become very difficult to exclude a group. Maybe they hope to limit the operating budgets of the other parties,” suggests a former Liberal.