Paul St-Pierre Plamondon doesn’t want to be bothered by the “anonymous childishness” of the elected representatives of the Avenir Québec coalition. “They are frustrated,” believes his deputy Pascal Bérubé.
In the National Council, at the end of a week in which he presented his new budget for the first year, Mr St-Pierre Plamondon responded to the CAQ MPs’ comments about him, reported on Saturday in Le Devoir. “Let’s stay focused,” the PQ leader said on Saturday on the sidelines of his party’s militant rally in Saint-Hyacinthe. “If I start commenting on all the tomatoes being thrown at me in the coming months, I won’t be able to stay focused. »
On our pages this morning, under the cover of anonymity, five CAQ MPs criticize the behavior of Mr St-Pierre Plamondon. “I see his behavior every day, for me he is a spoiled baby. When he doesn’t like it, he sulks,” one of them said. “Discussion about sovereignty in this context [de la guerre en Ukraine et en Israël] It’s irrelevant, it’s not the time,” said another.
“What should I do with this childishness? It is anonymous childishness,” replied Mr St-Pierre Plamondon on Saturday. His colleague Pascal Bérubé, who has been a member of the National Assembly since 2007, ventured a brief analysis.
“We read that, then we said to ourselves: Well, they are frustrated,” he emphasized in the press crowd.
” Something happens “
Since October 2, the Parti Québécois has counted on a fourth MP, Pascal Paradis, who handily won Jean-Talon’s riding in Quebec. Greeted by a sea of Quebec flags and empowered activists on Saturday, the newly elected official claimed in his speech that “something is happening” in the PQ.
“We are the party that will make Quebec a country. Last point! “, he said. A few minutes earlier, in a press briefing, he had suggested that the results in Jean-Talon sent “interesting signals” for the future.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is calling on his colleagues and PQ members to show “humility” given the positive results of the last month. “When things were tougher for the Parti Québécois in the polls, I still found it extraordinary that the activists stayed focused, focused on our goals, without chaos ensuing,” he said.
“Conversely, we must not allow ourselves to be distracted from our actual goals when things are going very well,” he continued.
Marois enthusiastically
Former Prime Minister Pauline Marois, present in her party’s National Council, reiterated on Saturday the optimism she had shown the day before in an interview with Le Devoir. In a press briefing moments before she was warmly greeted by PQ activists, she called on her successor St-Pierre Plamondon to “continue to be open, honest and truthful.”
Ms Marois praised the PQ’s work in producing an annual budget that “learned from the past”.
In 2005, Ms. Marois said Quebec would go through a five-year period of unrest after sovereignty. On the contrary, Mr St-Pierre Plamondon’s research, carried out 18 years later, concluded that independence would be achieved “essentially at no cost”.
“Quebec’s economy is in much better shape than it was fifteen years ago. […] Quebec is stronger than ever,” emphasized Ms. Marois, who also spoke on the issue of the Quebec currency.
“Paul suggests choosing one […] This would save us a lot of debate and tension with the Bank of Canada. So it is a path that deserves to be thoroughly investigated and it seems interesting to me,” she said.
Asked about this new support, Mr St-Pierre Plamondon reiterated on Saturday that the election will be made in 2025, when the PQ will present a “Blue Book” with several details on its country project.
“In the case of the monetary policy of an independent Quebec, there is still a lot of work to be done and a long way to go before we reach a final answer. I don’t want to shy away from it either. I told you what I was thinking,” he recalled. “But once it’s said, you can expect a lot of experts to speak out. »
The PQ’s next step on its path to independence: a document on Quebec’s immigration policy. Will it include an annual intake threshold? “I don’t have an answer to that because we’re not far enough along,” said Mr St-Pierre Plamondon.