Slumping in the polls, members of the Parti Quebecois met in Montreal on Sunday in an attempt to right the ship heading into next year’s provincial election.
Regional presidents, representatives of the youth wing and the PQ’s executive leadership were all present for strategic discussions on how to get their message to Quebecers.
According to a Leger-Le Devoir poll released on Saturday, the PQ has reached a historically low approval rating of 19 per cent among voters, leaving the party a distant third behind the ruling Liberals and surging Coalition Avenir Quebec.
Party leader Jean-Francois Lisee said he's not worried about the numbers.
"There's a snowball effect around the CAQ. This season, people say okay, we want to get rid of the Liberals, what's the most probable vehicle?" he said. "The CAQ has achieved the notion they are this vehicle. No one looks clearly at the road map and the driver and the team, they just say there's this snowball effect. Snowballs do melt in the spring."
He lashed out at his political competition, saying the PQ is "the only one with the guts to tell the truth to Quebecers."
"The CAQ and the Liberals are saying they're going to take their taxes down and give more services to the elderly and for children and for patients," he said. "We're going to say that's not true, that cannot be done. This is a sting operation by the CAQ and Liberals. We're going to tell you we need every possible dollar to get out of austerity."
Both the CAQ and Liberals made outreach to English-speaking voters a major component of their recent conventions. Lisee, who served as the provincial minister responsible for Anglophones during the Pauline Marois administration, said his own appeal would be to Anglos looking for "good government, clean government, competent government."
"They don't buy into the right wing, let's reduce the state approach of the CAQ and PLQ," he said. "I think we have resonance with these voters and we'll keep telling them they're welcome with us."
