While the PLQ leadership race is underway, the average French-speaking voter shrugs their shoulders, so complete is the divorce between this party and this voter. This indifference is an error, because for more than 150 years, the destiny of Quebec and that of this party have been linked.
From the nationalization of hydroelectricity to French as an official language and health insurance, the PLQ was at the origin of major reforms that made Quebec modern. It must be said that this is a party whose ideology, while remaining federalist, adapts to the spirit of the times. This is its strength… but also its weakness, because in our era of polarization, a party must have a clear political offer.
This is what the PLQ has been lacking since 2018. Under Philippe Couillard, it was an anti-nationalist center-right party. Under Dominique Anglade, he attempted a shift toward the center left and a certain nationalism, before having to backtrack due to pressure from his English-speaking base, which led to his electoral eradication from French Quebec. Since then, he has been looking for…
Everything indicates that the leader of the race, Pablo Rodriguez, would clarify the PLQ’s offer by moving it towards the center left, to oppose the CAQ’s spending control policy and because it is the only position that a former lieutenant of the Trudeau government can embody. It would also make it evolve towards a facade of nationalism, hiding the real anti-nationalism of this Trudeauist.
Is this the recipe for success? No, because anti-nationalism is a repellent. Despite this, there is hope for the PLQ, due to the weariness of the CAQ’s power. And above all, because the history of Quebec teaches us that in the event of a battle between nationalists and anti-nationalists, the former frequently win, whereas in the event of a battle between sovereignists and federalists, it is the latter who triumph more often.
