QS is trying by all means to restart itself. I would be surprised if he succeeded.
QS is a purely urban party. All of its values, all of its reflexes, its entire culture screams of its urbanity. I know of no precedent in our history for a party of this kind to have established itself sustainably in the suburbs, regions and rural areas.QS is particularly popular among young people and has little support among older voters. However, Quebec is an aging society. What is even more worrying for him is that PQ is recovering among young people.QS describes itself as sovereigntist, but its members and voters are mainly federalists, hence the amusing contortions on the subject. The more the rise of the PQ brings the national question to the center of our public conversation, the harder it will be for the QS to say one thing and do the opposite.QS tries to present itself as a responsible left-wing party capable of moderation, but to measure its radicalism it is enough to examine its program and its positions. Even on the role of the state, the role of the private sector and taxation, some of his positions seem to come straight from the 1970s. But we are in 2023. Wherever they have been tried, these measures have failed.We can be radical, but at least on issues that affect people in their daily lives. For how many people is it an absolute priority to fight against “the patriarchy” by, for example, banning every man from standing in by-elections? This decision, which sabotages all efforts to appear sensible and is a great example of the art of standing on both feet, angers many people who rejoice at the brilliant progress made by women in all areas of society.Our electoral method requires us to be able to concentrate enough votes in numerous constituencies to gain power. Because QS is only very strong in a handful of them, there will only ever be a small number of proxies.QS is not the first socialist party to try to become a major player in Quebec. Marcel Pépin, former president of the CSN, founded the Socialist Movement in the early 1980s. A bitter failure. The Quebecers’ way of life and mentality are more similar to those of Americans than to those of Europeans. We are capitalists with a social conscience. In the 2022 general election, 85% of Quebecers voted for center or right-wing parties.René Lévesque founded the PQ in 1968. He took power eight years later.
François Legault founded the CAQ in 2011. It took power seven years later.
QS was founded in 2006. Seventeen years later, the peak reached 15%. If he had to leave for good, it probably would have already happened.
It will always just be a protest party.
