Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has the rare gift of opening Pandora’s boxes as if he were collecting them. He did this by fighting for his sovereignist option rather than hiding it under the rug.
He did it by turning his back on cockfighting. His balanced “tone” earned him the respect of many voters, PQ or not. Result: declared dead, in a few weeks the PQ almost doubled its support.
With 14.6% of the vote and 3 votes out of 125, the PQ is still set on ventilator. Hence their leader’s next challenge: to lead his party from survival to a more visible existence in the Quebec arena.
Since he does not yet know whether his party will be recognized as a faction in the National Assembly, the task promises to be difficult.
This existential challenge is reminiscent of a legendary phrase by Jacques Parizeau. In 1989, the then leader of the opposition, seeing at his press conference that no journalist was present, exclaimed: “I exist, so do I! »
Above all, Mr. Parizeau conveyed the extreme difficulties that opposition parties have in “existing” in the media. With a mini caucus of three, the PSPP has to row all the harder to attract a modicum of attention.
Multiple goals at the same time
However, the PQ leader seems to know how to do it. So he opens another Pandora’s box. As he had announced, he intends to offer His Majesty King Charles III. refuse to take the oath in order to be seated.
Whatever happens – the most important thing for the PQ is that at the end of the day their leader and caucus can sit together – suddenly the PSPP achieves several goals. First, the discussion he provokes allows him to occupy the stage while he debates an important symbol in Quebec politics.
It’s “perhaps not the most pressing debate,” he conceded last week, but it’s important to many Quebecers.
Second, the Secretary General of the National Assembly was forced to make a decision. In his response to the PSPP, he raises the possibility that a “law” in the same direction could be taken by elected officials.
Third, the PQ leader who takes the lead seeks cooperation with the other party leaders. Now that Pandora’s box is open, no one will be able to escape.
He specifically asked Prime Minister François Legault to “submit a motion stating that failure to take the oath to the king should not prevent a democratically elected MP from sitting” as soon as work resumes.
Free choice
In short, the PQ leader wants to ensure that not only do elected officials take an oath to the people of Quebec, but that one day they will have a free choice whether or not to take an oath to the king.
PSPP has also managed to bring out supporting artists. In a video, some, including Sébastien Ricard and Pascale Bussières, urge elected officials to stop taking oaths to the monarchy.
It goes without saying that this episode of the “goal oath” will not solve any of Quebec’s great emergencies. It won’t revitalize the healthcare system, but it proves that symbols matter in politics, too.
The episode also validates the PSPP’s ability to lead its party both constructively and strategically. If he perseveres, he will allow him not only to survive, but to exist.
