by : Labib Farajallah - Montreal
Few days ago, Mrs. Dominique Anglade announced her resignation as party leader as well as her electoral seat. This announcement was expected, albeit quickly in its timing, after she expressed her intention to continue as PLQ leader, at least in the media. Certainly, this result was very likely after the painful defeat that the party suffered following the results of the provincial elections that took place on the third of October, where the number of deputies of the party shrank from 27 to 23 deputies, and the percentage of popular support for it declined from 31% to 14%, and the party's leader popular support for her performance stood at only 6%.
These results were the worst in the history of this political party spanning for more than a century and a half, which ruled the province for consecutive decades , formed many governments and was at the center of major political stations in the province starting from the management and development of the economy to the quiet revolution that spear headed the separation between the Church and the State where a special ministry of education was established and the nationalization of electricity companies in addition to other reforms which put the province on the road towards modernization, secularization and development starting in 1960s.
What happened and why did the PLQ get to where it is? How it can get out of this popular and political impasse?
The resignation of the PLQ leader will open the door wide for a campaign to elect a new leadership. Approaching this issue begins by providing answers to the above questions through reviewing the positions and policies of the party and its leadership during its recent history.
I hasten to say that the current circumstances of the PLQ are the results of policies of- no position and indecision-, of ignoring emerging political situations, burying and postponing decisions on fundamental matters which has led to accumulations since at least the year 2007 and in turn resulted in this disastrous outcome that the party is currently experiencing.
There is no doubt that Mrs. Anglade, notwithstanding her experience as Deputy Premier under Mr. Couillard and thereafter as leader of the party and of the official opposition following the 2018 elections bears her share in reaching this situation. The failure to recognize current political changes that have occurred in the province through the emergence of new parties with new agendas ; and through the surfacing of pressing issues that dominated the political discourse especially on immigration, language and secularization in addition to the insistence on a strategy that constituted a departure from the party's historical approach to building the economy on one hand, and addressing the reality of Quebec society with its French majority on the other were in part responsible for this loss. Moreover, the exclusion of all those who expressed different opinions and of experienced activists and later candidates - including some former deputies - in the election campaign and the insistence on the economy given the current political state of affairs in the province was a significant mistake knowing that Mr. Couillard lost the elections in 2018 at a time when the province's economy was known for its prosperity with a financial surplus of more than four billion dollars.
However, the years when Mr. Jean Charest was Premier from 2003-2012 played a very remarkable role in shaping the future of the PLQ where hanging on to power took precedence over the future of the PLQ and of the province.
After the extremely dangerous developments that Quebec experienced in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the ensuing racist attacks against Muslims and immigrants, and under the pressures of the heated debate about the future of coexistence between the different ethnic, cultural and religious components of the Québec society, Mr. Charest, through the National Assembly of Quebec delegated the Bouchard- Taylor Commission in 2007 to submit proposals to promote harmony and balance the social and political rhythm of the Quebec society two weeks before the resignation of his government.
Although Mr. Charest government was reduced to a minority after the elections in March 2007 yet won a majority soon after in December 2008; nevertheless he placed the committee's proposals which were submitted in May 2008 on the side , especially those with regard to forbidding wearing religious symbols only among employees with coercive authority , and thereafter evaded taking any position during the 9 years of his rule whether as a minority or majority governments, which in time led to a number of bills and counter bills which were a clear exhibition of the facing- off between advocating secularization and ostensibly the value system as it was claimed by the PLQ. That no-action middle of the road and colorless strategy was yet another factor leading to the temporary demise of the PLQ. The management of the crisis worked for a brief period of time but eventually backfired.
Blaming the electoral system based on the majoritarian system in the ridings and demanding electoral reform or structural and administrative reform within the PLQ is not enough to solve the party's dilemma. It is this system after all that brought the PLQ to power over many years. There must be a comprehensive and objective revision and constructive criticism of the PLQ policies, electoral programs and therefore rearrangement of priorities first and foremost.
A careful revision of the history of the PLQ, regardless of whether we support or oppose it, provides a good guide towards the policy that the party's leaders have adhered to throughout its history, from Wilfred Laurier to Jean Lesage to Robert Bourassa, which is the combination of serving the economy and paying attention to the social climates of the Quebec society in addition to keep the hand on the pulsation of the Quebec population without receding and being confined to certain and specific segments of its components.
Getting out of the dark tunnel and rebuilding the PLQ begins here and it is the point of departure to move forward.
photo : twitter