National Council of the Parti Québécois | Arthabaska in the crosshairs of the PQ

(Quebec) In addition to Terrebonne, Arthabaska flashes on the radar screen of the Parti Québécois. The formation of Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will take advantage of its national council in Victoriaville to galvanize its troops in the hope of delighting this CAQ fortified castle.

The PQ forces will converge this weekend on Victoriaville where the National Council of Political Training is being held on Sunday. A choice that was not left to chance. “Arthabaska, it is not unrelated to the fact that the deputy [en place] has his head elsewhere,” admits MP Pascal Bérubé, in an interview.

Eric Lefebvre left the Coalition Avenir Québec caucus to join the Conservative Party of Canada last April. He continued to sit in the National Assembly as an independent until the federal elections were called. According to the most likely scenario, Justin Trudeau’s government could fall when the next budget is tabled next spring.

“We feel that the partial is going to be a winner,” says the president of the executive of the Parti Québécois in Arthabaska, Mathieu Girard. “It is certain that there is nothing acquired, but we are very confident that we will be able to win it,” he adds, affirming that “many” volunteers have already raised the hand to get involved in the next campaign. “We are working on the ground,” says Mr. Girard.

The PQ leader also arrived on site on Friday to attend the Victoriaville Tigers match. This Saturday, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will also answer questions for two hours as part of a citizens’ assembly – always a perilous exercise. The event is open to all and postal invitations have been sent to the population, underlines Mr. Girard.

Pascal Bérubé deplores that MP Eric Lefebvre is now devoting his efforts to his election with Pierre Poilievre’s troops.

“I think we need to do work to keep the issues of Arthabaska and Victoriaville alive and well [à l’Assemblée nationale] », pleads the member for Matane-Matapédia.

Important partials

The Parti Québécois announced Wednesday that party president Catherine Gentilcore will be on the starting line in Terrebonne, where the resignation of Pierre Fitzgibbon in September will force a by-election. François Legault has six months to trigger it, i.e. by March. We still don’t know when he could do so, but the CAQ has not yet presented a candidate.

“Everyone who looks at the figures, who is serious about politics, knows that the PQ will win Terrebonne, it’s no secret,” predicts poll aggregator and analyst Philippe J. Fournier. “It might even be an easy victory [dans Terrebonne]while Arthabaska is less natural as fit “, he said.

Terrebonne wore the PQ colors almost without interruption from 1976 to 2018. Only the Democratic Action of Quebec (ADQ) made a breakthrough there from 2007 to 2008. Buoyed by polls which place it first in voting intentions for more than a year ago, the Parti Québécois enjoyed a large lead in the riding according to the electoral projections site Qc125.

However, a hot struggle is looming in Arthabaska. According to Qc125, the CAQ and the PQ are tied at 29% in voting intentions, as of November 15. The Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) follows closely with 25%.

Éric Duhaime’s party will also hold its national council in Victoriaville on November 23. Furthermore, the possibility that the chief is a candidate in Arthabaska is not ruled out, it is indicated.

“In the projection, [le PQ] is at 29, 30, 31%, which is plausible with the available figures, but we are approaching a ceiling because it is not a region which typically votes for the Parti Québécois,” analyzes Mr. Fournier. “Even with 30%, that’s triple his score in 2022, it’s starting to be difficult to think that he could have more,” he adds.

“We are going to fight the battle. In Jean-Talon, the gap was bigger than that when we started,” retorts Pascal Bérubé. Last year, the PQ also modified its initial plans to hold its caucus in the Quebec riding. “We’re coming [dans Athabaska] very humbly, we know that the last time we won this constituency was in 1998, with Jacques Baril,” continues Mr. Bérubé.

In 2022, Eric Lefebvre was easily re-elected with 51.8% of the vote. The PCQ took second place with 24.7% of the vote, followed by the Parti Québécois with 10.2%.

The CAQ has owned Arthabaska since 2012, at the time in the hands of Sylvie Roy, a former ADQ. The region also has conservative roots. At the federal level, Richmond–Arthabaska has been represented since 2015 by the former conservative Alain Rayes, who has sat as an independent since 2022. The mayor of Victoriaville, Antoine Tardif, is a former close collaborator of the MP.

Pascal Bérubé adds that the Parti Québécois is holding “important vigils” in constituencies where a by-election could take place before the general election of 2026. Without wanting to give examples, the PQ says it is keeping an eye in particular on places where Caquistes could choose to jump into the municipal arena by running in the 2025 elections.