The national day controversy has highlighted the fratricidal war between Québec Solidaire and the Parti Québécois. But Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois might benefit from an agreement in the name of sovereignty, democracy or replacing the CAQ.

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“If we really believe [au mode scrutin] Relatively speaking, I don’t understand why the political parties are unable to reach electoral agreements,” estimates former MP Amir Khadir.

A bit like a truce or a non-aggression pact: “You don’t bother me here, I won’t bother you there.” This means that in certain counties neither party is pitting anyone against the other,” stresses the microbiologist, who is also a political columnist is at La Joute.

For the past week, the traditional Plains of Abraham show has been the subject of controversy. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s troops are refusing to participate due to the choice of artist and presenter Émile Bilodeau, who is associated with Québec Solidaire and has made harsh comments about the PQ.

Amir Khadir regrets the PQ’s reaction. Nevertheless, he is convinced that an electoral alliance between the two political parties is desirable.

“Quebec’s independence will be achieved with all, or it will never be achieved. There is everyone, there are all these newcomers and QS has already shown by supporting many people from different cultural backgrounds that the potential is there and if we join forces it is possible.”

The Péquisto solidarity agreement could also be made in a progressive perspective, since both are in the same boat on the issue of the real estate crisis or the privatization of the healthcare system. Or simply democratic, since there will be no reform of the electoral system.

And an electoral pact does not mean a political rapprochement, especially on identity issues such as secularism and immigration, the former MP emphasizes broadly in favor of solidarity activists.

But he knows there is restraint in his camp. A rapprochement attempt between the two parties in 2017 failed. Amir Khadir had approached Véronique Hivon to present his proposal to the PQ. “But there was a robbery in my group. The people of my party were not ready.”

Historian Éric Bédard recalls that the PQ was originally a coalition of dissidents from the Rally for National Independence (RIN), trade unionists, left-wing Catholics and former liberals.

In addition to the personality of René Lévesque, it was the real possibility of taking power and holding a referendum that kept the cement in place. “It has silenced the dissent.”

The professor portrays the sovereignist movement as a two-legged being that must coordinate in order to move forward. “But the two legs are not coordinated,” says Éric Bédard. Some accuse others of being racist and xenophobic, others accuse them of not being true separatists.

However, there are examples of successful electoral alliances in history, think of the alliance that preceded the birth of the Union Nationale. In France, communists and socialists have historically maintained their common identity, but hatched a common program to apply once in power.

“If such a joint program existed, it could be an extremely important political force. But that requires good will and political will.” And the more violent the attacks between political parties, the more traces they leave behind.

For his part, François Gendron, PQ MP for 42 years, considers an alliance between PQ and QS to be “completely impossible”. As proof, he takes the failed advance attempt in 2017.

“No, you can’t do that with QS,” he starts with conviction. The former minister questions the sovereign loyalty of many solidarists.

In addition, François Gendron supports the PSPP’s decision not to take part in the Saint-Jean spectacle due to the presence of Émile Bilodeau, who had already wished the PQ dead.

What they said:

“The reform of the electoral system will not take place. So why not try to think of ways to achieve proportional representation outside the ballot box? […] in terms of an electoral agreement, so as not to harm each other”

– Solidarity ex-MP Amir Khadir

“We agree on the goal, but we don’t agree on the way to get there. This is sad to see and plays into the hands of those who have always opposed sovereignty.”

– Historian and Professor Éric Bédard

“An election deal with Québec Solidaire is not an option”

– Former PQ MP François Gendron

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The factional struggle that Vladimir Putin ignited within his own ranks finally erupted at a crucial moment in his war against Ukraine. Wagner’s boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was born 61 years ago in Saint Petersburg, crossed his personal Rubicon this Friday in the spiral of his confrontation with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The businessman has rebelled against the Kremlin with a huge military column that has taken the capital of Russia’s Rostov-on-Don region and is reportedly heading for poorly defended Moscow. The city is shaking: With almost all troops concentrated ahead of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, the authorities have declared the state of an anti-terrorist operation in the Russian capital.

“Our response will be harsh, the rebels will be punished,” Putin promised in a message to the nation released Saturday morning. The Russian President has promised violence, although this time the enemy will find refuge not in a Ukrainian city, but in a Russian one. “Decisive measures are being taken to stabilize the situation in Rostov-on-Don. “It remains difficult,” said the President. “This is a slap in the back for our country and our people,” lamented the President.

In this image from a video released by the Prigozhin press service on Friday, May 5, 2023, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin stands in front of several bodies lying on the ground in an undisclosed location. The owner of Russia’s private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on Friday threatened to withdraw Wagner’s forces from the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut next week, accusing the Russian military command of depriving the group of ammunition. Photo: Prigozhin press service (AP).

Putin called for unity at the crucial moment of his invasion of Ukraine and accused the businessman of “exorbitant ambitions”. “Everything that weakens the country must be pushed aside,” Putin added. Moscow has canceled all events planned for the next few days. The Kremlin released a video on Thursday in which the president congratulated the youth day, while Prigozhin claimed to be leading a more than 50-kilometer military column towards the capital.

For its part, Kiev, which estimates that Moscow has about 400,000 Russian troops stationed in its country, welcomes this instability, which prevails within the borders of the invading country and may divert attention from Putin’s plans on Ukrainian territory. “Everything has just begun in Russia,” said this Saturday Mikhailo Podoliak, the chief adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, referred to the power-sharing that is rocking the neighboring country. Podoliak believes it is impossible for either side to get away scot-free.

Counterteroristic opera Prigozina (#Вагнер) in the area of ​​Rosії вже призвела до захоплення Ростова, nizki Federalnих трас, штабів Півdennogo окру I like it so much «#СВО». I have settled in the Russian capital and now I am affected by the Supreme Court clerk #ФСБNats_onalnogo… pic.twitter.com/cYnzl91pvC

— Mihaylo Podolyak (@Podolyak_M) June 24, 2023

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Podoliak understands that one of the two parties, the Kremlin or Prigozhin, must be defeated. “The division of elites is too obvious” and “someone has to lose,” Podoliak stressed on his Twitter profile in a message in which he also described the occupation of Rostov, military headquarters and some streets thanks to the “anti-terrorist operation”. emphasized the boss of Wagner. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not address the conflict between the head of the mercenary company and Moscow in his daily address on Friday evening. “We’re watching,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry account tweeted on Friday night, when the National Border Guard posted a packet of popcorn on Telegram with an expectant smiley face. Ukraine’s main allies against the Russian invasion have reported that they are monitoring the situation on the Russian border.

Quarrel with Shoigu

“We have arrived here [Rostov del Don]. We want them to hand us over to the Chief of Staff [Valeri Guerásimov] Ya Shoigu. “Although they do not appear, here we are, blockading the city of Rostov and going to Moscow,” Prigozhin threatened. The Russian prosecutor’s office has opened a case against the businessman for the crime of rebellion. According to Article 279 of the Russian Criminal Code, Wagner’s boss could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

The last myth of Putin, who created his aura as president around the social peace achieved after the fall of the USSR and the turbulent 1990s, collapsed with the Prigozhin coup. Three decades after the constitutional crisis that ended with the bombing of the White House, the seat of the Russian parliament, the businessman took to the streets with his tanks to demand the surrender of Shoigu, whom he said in a tweet broadcast this Thursday Embassy accused from his social networks that he had attacked his troops in the rear.

Prigozhin also asserted that his forces shot down a Russian helicopter. “They shot at us, and we shot them down,” the businessman said in a video released by his press service, in which he, surrounded by his personal guard, chatted with Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Evkurov. “You attack innocent civilians, you destroyed a bus with people on it,” Wagner’s owner said in front of the soldier’s blank gaze. Prigozhin’s mercenaries took over Rostov-on-Don’s military facilities, including the air base. The governor of the region, Vasili Golubiov, called on its citizens to “refrain from traveling to the city center and if possible not to leave the house”.

The UK believes that Russia faces its biggest internal challenge in years, that the army’s level of loyalty will be crucial to the development of the insurgency, and that Prigozhin’s goal is to almost certainly reach Moscow, as it did interpreted by the British Ministry of Defense in its daily report on the war. Known animosity between the businessman and the Kremlin has escalated into a “military confrontation,” and the passivity with which some Russian soldiers have accepted the mercenary uprising suggests they accepted it, the source adds. “In the next few hours, the loyalty of the Russian security forces, and especially the National Guard, will be crucial to the development of the crisis. “This represents the greatest challenge for the Russian state in recent times,” the report concludes.

Indeed, military support for Prigozhin will be crucial in this crisis. One of his great allies in the high command, General Sergei Surovikin, has asked Wagner to lower his arms. “I urge you to stop doing this. The enemy is just waiting for the internal political situation in our country to deteriorate. “You can’t play the enemy’s game in these difficult times,” the general said in a video to Wagner’s boss. Known as the Butcher of Syria, Surovikin had been Prigozhin’s player in the turbulent changes in military leadership over the past few months and, upon his dismissal as sole commander of the offensive, was appointed liaison between the Ministry of Defense and Wagner.

The confrontation between Shoigu and Prigozhin ended this week. After months of insults and veiled allegations that he left him unarmed in the Battle of Bakhmut, the businessman recorded a new video this Thursday in which he accused the minister of lying about the “successful” defense on the Zaporizhia front . “A huge amount of territory has been lost. “Three to four times more soldiers died than stated in the documents,” denounced Wagner’s boss.

Meanwhile, the war on Ukrainian territory continues. Two civilians died in Kiev in the early hours of Saturday morning after the capital and its environs were again attacked by Russian missiles.

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Spanish authorities announced on Thursday that they had rescued at least 350 migrants in five boats drifting off the Canary Islands in the past 24 hours, a day after a shipwreck that killed at least two people.

“During the night, the rescue services attended to 114 migrants who were traveling aboard two boats rescued by Spanish sea rescuers,” the rescue services of the Canary Islands, an archipelago located in the ocean, shared on Twitter with Northwest Africa Coast.

Those migrants were being cared for on the island of Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, where “a baby and his mother were taken to hospital for minor illnesses,” they added.

A third boat was rescued at dawn and its 54 passengers returned to Lanzarote, the same source said at the time.

Two other boats were rescued in the afternoon, a spokeswoman for the Spanish sea rescue service told AFP.

The first was sighted off the island of El Hierro, with 121 people on board, including six women and four children, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa. The second, a rubber dinghy about 13 kilometers from the island of Gran Canaria, with 61 people on board.

These new rescue operations come the day after a fatal shipwreck occurred about 160km off the coast of the island of Gran Canaria.

Spanish sea rescuers, who initially said they had recovered the body of a minor, told AFP they had found another body, that of a man.

Some 24 people rescued by Moroccan authorities on Wednesday have been taken to Morocco, said a spokeswoman for Spanish rescuers, who said she had no information on anyone missing after the shipwreck.

For its part, the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras, which bases its assessments primarily on the statements of migrants or their families, announced on Wednesday that a total of 39 people died in this shipwreck, “including four women and a baby”. She assures that the boat has been asking for rescue for “more than twelve hours”.

Departures of migrant boats to the Canary Islands, often from the shores of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, have multiplied in recent days due to good weather conditions.

Since the tightening of controls in the Mediterranean, the migratory route to the Canary Islands, which lie in the Atlantic off the coast of north-west Africa, has been particularly busy. Shipwrecks are common here and the crossing can be particularly dangerous due to the strong currents and the condition of the boats.

On Tuesday, the lifeless body of a pregnant woman was found on board another boat with around fifty migrants off the Canary Islands.

About fifty Moroccan migrants have also been missing off the coast of southern Morocco for more than ten days after trying to board a secret boat to Spain, a source close to us learned on Thursday. from one of the missing.

In a report published in late 2022, Caminando Fronteras claimed that more than 11,200 migrants have died or disappeared since 2018 trying to reach Spain, which is one of the main gateways for illegal immigration in Spain. Europe. That’s an average of six a day.